HOPE COUNSELING SERVICES

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices for www.hopecounseling.net (including all sub-domains, the "Sites"), which are owned and operated by Hope Counseling Services, LLC  ("Hope Counseling Services" "our," "we" or "us"). Hope Counseling Services provides a public service to individual consumers (“Users”) who may access the Sites for mental health information, to find a mental health provider, to find a facility for inpatient or outpatient treatment, or to register for mental health related workshops and events. Mental health service providers (“Members”) access the Sites to list their services, workshops, and events and obtain and manage referrals to interested Users.  Rehab and Treatment Centers (“Facilities”) access the Sites to list their services and to obtain and manage referrals to interested Users. Services provided via the Sites to Users, Members, and Facilities may be collectively referred to as “Hope Counseling Services–Services” or “Services.”

This Privacy Policy applies to our collection and use of information from all users of Hope Counseling Services–Services, including, without limitation, visitors using only free services offered on the Sites and is incorporated into our Terms of Service for Users, Terms of Service for Members, and Terms of Service for Facilities. Please note, this Privacy Policy does not address the privacy practices of third parties, including those with whom we may share information as set forth below. Please review the privacy policies of any third parties before you disclose information to them. Through your use of Hope Counseling Services, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We collect information, including personal information from you when you register for a Member account or a Facilities account, when you utilize our User email or telephone referral service, when you register for a workshop or event, when you subscribe to a newsletter or blog, when you submit a question, or when you provide your information to us directly through any service. For purposes of this policy, “personal information” refers to any information about an identified or identifiable individual, including financial account information and Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI). 

We collect personal information from and about Members and Facilities through paid services, and publish that information in public directories. We collect personal information from and about consumers and other individuals who as free Users of the Sites submit their information for a specific purpose; and we utilize that information to fulfill the Users’ request. 

By providing information to us through any services, consumers consent to our collection of such information and our sharing of that information with a Member or Facility as set forth in this policy. Users, Members, and Facilities certify that in all cases where personal information is submitted via services that the disclosure does not violate the PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, or any other law or regulation.

We generally collect and use information as follows:

From Consumer Users accessing and utilizing GoodTherapy.org Sites and Services
Any Personal Information we collect about a consumer or other individual, is used solely for the purpose of providing services or as otherwise set forth herein.

When a User sends an email to a Member or Facility through the Sites, the User’s name, phone number, email address, and message is recorded as part of the transmission process. This information is utilized by Hope Counseling Services for purposes of administering the Sites and Services, including but not limited to moderating for spam or other content that is in violation of our Terms of Service for Users. This information is also provided to the Member or Facility to which the User directs the email. When the Member or Facility has been contacted, the User is notified via the provided email address. 

When a User calls a Member or Facility through the telephone number posted on the Sites, standard caller identification information is collected including the caller’s phone number and the name to which the line is registered.  This information is shared with the Member or Facility to which the User directs the call, and it is stored by Hope Counseling Services for use in administering its Services. 

When a User registers (or attempts to register) for a public event, workshop, web conference or public non-professional membership, GoodTherapy.org stores all information entered on the registration form, regardless of whether the registration is successful. This information may be used by GoodTherapy.org for communicating with you about the registration, for administering our Services, and for internal analysis of site usage, and sales and marketing campaigns. In some cases (as disclosed on the registration page) this information is shared with the third party sponsoring the public event, workshop, web conference, or membership. 

When a User subscribes to a GoodTherapy.org newsletter or blog (including but not limited to the Therapy News Newsletter, the GoodTherapy.org Newsletter, and the Good Therapy Blog), GoodTherapy.org collects and store’s the User’s email address. The User’s email address is used to send newsletters, blog posts, blog comment summaries, and other information based on the selections made by the User. Additionally, GoodTherapy.org may use the email address of any subscriber to send occasional email updates on helpful resources related to therapy and counseling.

When a User posts a comment to a GoodTherapy.org blog (including but not limited to the Good Therapy Blog) we store the User’s name, email address, and comment text. Users understand that any information submitted via a blog comment form may be made public in any form (including but not limited to any edits deemed appropriate by GoodTherapy.org) at the sole discretion of GoodTherapy.org.  The email address provided will be used to acknowledge the submission and to communicate with the User regarding the submission. Users submitting comments to a blog post represent and warrant that the disclosure of any information, content, data, or materials provided is properly authorized, anonymized where necessary, and does not violate the HIPAA, GDPR, or any other law or regulation.

When a User submits a question via "Dear GoodTherapy.org" or the "Ask a Question" form, the User’s email address, selected nickname, and full text of the question is stored by GoodTherapy.org. This information may be shared with GoodTherapy.org Members and/or Facilities, and may be made public in any form (including but not limited to any edits deemed appropriate by GoodTherapy.org) at the sole discretion of GoodTherapy.org.  The email address provided will be used to acknowledge the submission and to communicate with the User regarding the submission. Users submitting content via "Dear GoodTherapy.org" or the "Ask a Question" form represent and warrant that the disclosure of any information, content, data, or materials provided is properly authorized, anonymized where necessary, and does not violate the HIPAA, GDPR, or any other law or regulation.

When a User submits a personal story via the "Submit Your Story" form, the User’s email address, name, biography, submitted photos, and full text of the story submission is stored by GoodTherapy.org. This information may be shared with GoodTherapy.org Members and/or Facilities, and may be made public in any form (including but not limited to any edits deemed appropriate by GoodTherapy.org) at the sole discretion of GoodTherapy.org.  The email address provided will be used to acknowledge the submission and to communicate with the User regarding the submission. Users submitting content via the "Submit Your Story" form represent and warrant that the disclosure of any information, content, data, or materials provided is properly authorized, anonymized where necessary, and does not violate the HIPAA, GDPR, or any other law or regulation.

In some cases the combination of data we collect, may be classified as Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI). We may store indefinitely, on behalf of GoodTherapy.org, Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI), personal, and other information collected as part of your use of GoodTherapy.org Services, and this PHI/ePHI may be made visible to a Member or Facility.  As such Members and Facilities may have access to that personal information, including your Protected Health Information, as part of our Services. The Member or Facility may also use the information you provided us for marketing and other similar purposes, and may combine that information with other information the Member or Facility holds about you as set forth in the Member’s/Facility’s privacy policy or other terms and conditions between you and the Member or Facility. By providing information to us through the GoodTherapy.org Services, you consent to our collection of such information and our sharing of that information with the Member/Facility as set forth in this policy.

Additionally, to make our Sites more useful to you, and to adhere to the PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and other applicable laws and regulations our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) collect personal information and other data from you, including (without limitation) browser type, operating system, Internet Protocol (IP) address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the internet, which may vary from session to session), domain name, and/or a date/time stamp for your visit. Like most internet services, we automatically gather this information and store it in log files each time you visit our website or access your account on our network.

We may also create anonymous records from Personal Information by excluding information (such as name) that makes the information personally identifiable to a specific consumer or other individual. We may use this anonymous information for certain business purposes of GoodTherapy.org or its parent company, subsidiaries or affiliates, including but not limited to, directing future development efforts, analyzing usage patterns so that we may enhance our services, and providing reports based on anonymous non-personal information. We may also use anonymized PHI/ePHI as authorized by HIPAA.

COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Certain portions of our Services may collect information via cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, and similar digital tracking technologies. These technologies can be used to collect and analyze other information related to the devices you use to access the Services, such as IP addresses, browser types, browser language, unique device identifiers and other information about your computer(s) and/or mobile device(s).

We may also use these technologies to log click-stream or similar data collected from certain portions of our Sites. Generally, this information is collected when you request pages from our Sites, and typically includes information such as the page served, the time, the source and type of browser making the request, the most recent page view, what you clicked on in order to arrive at our Sites, the content you viewed on our Sites, and other similar information relating to your use of our Sites.

We typically use these cookies and similar technologies for essential and functional purposes (e.g. to maintain an active session), to improve the performance and usability of our Sites, and to analyze how users interact with the Services (e.g. to understand how long users stay on a page, how often they return, and how they arrived at our Site). On certain portions of our Sites we may collect data through these technologies for advertising, remarketing, or other similar purposes. Click-stream and related data is typically used for purposes of system administration, to improve our Services, for marketing and advertising-related purposes, and other similar uses.

Some tracking technologies on our Services may be provided by a third party (which may collect information on its own behalf, or may provide such information to us). For example, we use Google Analytics on our Sites. Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect anonymous traffic data to help use analyze how users use the website. The information generated by a cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the Sites, compiling reports on Site activity for us and providing other services relating to Site activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. By using the Sites, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

To learn more about cookies and similar tracking technologies, and how they can affect your privacy, visit allaboutcookies.org. To learn more about how to opt out of Google’s use of cookies, visit the Google’s Ads Settings, here. Alternatively, you can opt out of certain pieces by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on. If you wish to take steps to opt-out of tracking by certain online advertisers, you can visit the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page at http://www.aboutads.info/choices or the Network Advertising Initiative at www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp. You may control Facebook’s use of interest-based ads through your Facebook account settings, or may visit the customer support page here. Please note, at this time we do not respond to browser-based "do not track" signals.

When You Contact us Through the Services
When you submit an online "contact us" or other online inquiry form, or when you call, write, fax or otherwise initiate contact with GoodTherapy.org, we record your contact information (name, address, phone number, email address, and topics, therapist type, or facility type of interest) in our systems. This information is used for answering your questions, connecting you with a Member or Facility, as well as ongoing marketing communication programs. In some cases, you may be referred to a GoodTherapy.org online inquiry form via a link on a third party referral website. In that case, any information collected on the GoodTherapy.org hosted online inquiry form may be shared with the referring party, and that referring party may use it for their own, non-GoodTherapy.org related, marketing communication programs. If you exchange any messages through our Sites or through our Services, we may store those as well.

From Online Surveys
We may occasionally ask Users, Members, and Facilities to complete optional online surveys. These surveys may ask for contact information and demographic information (like zip code, age or income level). We may use this data to tailor the experience on the Sites, provide content that we think might be of interest, and to display content according to a User’s, Member’s or Facility’s stated preferences. We sometimes use contact data from our surveys to send information about our company and/or promotional material on behalf of our parent company, partners, subsidiaries or affiliates. 

LINKS TO THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES 

The GoodTherapy.org Sites contain links to third-party websites. These links are provided for your convenience and to connect you with resources you may find useful. GoodTherapy.org has no control of such websites and you understand that these websites are not under our control and are not subject to this Privacy Policy.   Your use and access to these websites is solely at your own risk; and you should consult the Terms and Privacy Policy for any third-party website you access via a GoodTherapy link to determine how they store, process, transmit, and otherwise utilize and protect your personally identifiable information.

HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

Except as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy or in accordance with any request or consent you provide, GoodTherapy.org does not sell, share, or in any other way transmit personal information (names, address, phone numbers, financial account information, Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI), etc.) submitted by Users, Members, or Facilities to any other persons or companies. We reserve the right, however, to use and disclose anonymous information to third parties, at our discretion. Except as limited below, third parties may use information we share with them for any purpose for which we may use such information.

Personal information we collect may be shared with service providers who provide certain services on our behalf, including but not limited to, payment processing, business intelligence, customer relationship management, bill collection, marketing, hosting, and other common technology services. Our contracts dictate that these service providers only use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and in accordance with this Privacy Policy, and you consent to our sharing with these parties by using our Service and accepting the terms of this Privacy Policy.
We may provide information, including personal information of registered Members and Facilities to third party service providers and referral partners that work on behalf of or with us to provide some of the aspects of our services, to help us communicate with you, or to provide Members and Facilities with ancillary services offered by such service providers and referral partners. We may also receive information about you, including personal information, from our third party service providers and referral partners. However, these service providers and referral partners do not have any independent right to disclose this information (except to the same extent we would have a right to disclose that information under this Privacy Policy).

If you use the Services to contact a Member or Facility via email or phone, we may grant access to or share with the Member or Facility any and all information we collect as part of that communication, including Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI), except where that disclosure is prohibited by law, regulation or other obligations (e.g. for data security).

You hereby agree that we may share some or all of your personal information with a parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control with us (collectively, "Affiliates"). We will require our Affiliates to comply with this Privacy Policy. If our company or some or all of our assets are acquired by another company, any personal or other information we possess may be a part of the assets transferred, and that company will possess any rights granted to us under this Privacy Policy.

Finally, in extraordinary circumstances, we may share any personal or other information we possess, including but not limited to credit card and other financial account information, Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI), and content submitted via any form on the Sites, when necessary or appropriate to: comply with the law; cooperate with law enforcement or national security requirements; prevent physical harm to one or more individuals or serve the interest of public safety; respond to lawful requests; comply with law or credit card rules; participate in a lawful federal, state or local government investigation; protect the rights of GoodTherapy.org, GoodTherapy.org Users, Members, and Facilities; or to investigate violations of or to enforce our Terms of Service for Users, Terms of Service for Members, and Terms of Service for Facilities. However, in doing so, we may: (i) dispute demands for release to the extent we believe, in our sole discretion, are unwarranted, illegitimate or overbroad; and (ii) when we determine that it is necessary or appropriate, we will notify  you of any requests for release. 

In all cases where we share Personal Information with third parties, we will use a "minimum necessary" standard to disclose only that information required to perform the service for which the information is disclosed.

DATA RETENTION POLICY, MANAGING YOUR INFORMATION

We will retain personal information for as long as you remain an active GoodTherapy.org User, Member or Facility, and for a reasonable time thereafter. 

We may store for as long as a valid business reason exists, which may be indefinitely, any Personal Information, including but not limited to Protected Health Information (PHI/ePHI), collected about a consumer or other individual, whether entered directly into our systems via the Sties by the consumer, or entered by an authorized GoodTherapy.org staff member, authorized Member User, or authorized Facility User.  

We may retain anonymized and aggregate data indefinitely.

Upon termination of a contract with a Covered Entity, we will remove any ePHI stored in our systems on behalf of that Covered Entity where required by applicable law.

SECURITY

GoodTherapy.org takes security very seriously and has security measures in place designed to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Our platform uses the most powerful security tools that exist in the marketplace.  

The GoodTherapy.org Sites, including hosted web forms, utilize secure SSL for all form data submissions in conjunction with a 256-bit GlobalSign certificate, but accommodate the majority of browsers at 128-bit encryption.

GoodTherapy.org does not directly store, process, or transmit bank account and credit card information. All payment processing, and collection of payment account data, is accomplished via an integration with third-party service providers.  These providers are contractually required to maintain compliance with the PCI DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, and with all NACHA rules for ACH transaction processing.  This includes secure transmission of credit card/bank account information, and encrypted storage of all payment account information.

CHOICE/OPT-OUT

You may opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by following the opt-out instructions we include in such communications.

You may unsubscribe from any GoodTherapy.org newsletter or blog by following opt-out instructions we include in such communications, or by completing the unsubscribe form on our website.

To the extent required by law, you may choose to opt out of sharing with any other parties with whom we may share your personal information; however, you may be unable to use the Services or certain features if you wish to limit such sharing.

ACCESSING, CORRECTING AND DELETING YOUR INFORMATION

GoodTherapy.org acknowledges the right of individuals to access their personal data. If you are a Member or Facility, you may access and modify your personal and other account information using your account settings page. You may also access, change and modify information previously provided or collected by sending an email to GoodTherapy.org at privacy@goodtherapy.org to initiate changes or modifications or to obtain a file for review. Note that GoodTherapy.org will require you to verify your identity prior to releasing any personal information.

You may close your GoodTherapy.org Member of Facility account by contacting GoodTherapy.org Customer Care at 888-563-2112 or support@goodtherapy.org.

Further, you may request that your personal information be removed from all GoodTherapy.org systems. This request must be made in writing to the address provided below. Note that if you request removal of your personal information you will no longer have access to any existing GoodTherapy.org account and will not be able to use any GoodTherapy.org product or service. GoodTherapy.org reserves the right to retain certain account information for its recordkeeping or compliance purposes.

If you are a User who utilized GoodTherapy.org Services to contact or otherwise submit information to a Member or Facility, you must contact that provider/company directly to request that the Member/Facility provide you with access to the Personal Health Information (PHI/ePHI) stored in GoodTherapy.org systems on its behalf, that it make changes to that ePHI, and/or that the ePHI be deleted from GoodTherapy.org systems.  Additionally, any Member or Facility that has received your personal information or PHI/ePHI via GoodTherapy.org Services may have stored it in systems outside of GoodTherapy.org.  In these situations, you must contact the Member or Facility independently and request access to your personal information, correction of your personal information, and/or deletion of your personal information.  GoodTherapy.org has no control over the data retention and removal policies of its Members or Facilities, and can in no way guarantee the security, accuracy, or privacy of data once it leaves our environments.

Note that using the system delete function to remove any data, or to remove any personal data associated with your Member or Facility account, only restricts viewing that data from any system interface and prevents utilizing that data for any system function. It does not permanently delete the data from GoodTherapy.org systems. To have any personal data permanently deleted from GoodTherapy.org systems, you must make an official request in writing, to the address provided below or by emailing privacy@goodtherapy.org, that includes the specific information that you would like permanently deleted from GoodTherapy.org systems. Note that GoodTherapy.org will require you to verify your identity prior to executing any request to permanently delete data.

California residents may request and obtain from us a list of what personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year and the names and addresses of those third parties. You may make one request each year by contacting us as set forth below.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact GoodTherapy.org by email at privacy@goodtherapy.org. We will do our best to address your concerns. If you feel that your complaint has been addressed incompletely, we invite you to let us know for further investigation. If we are unable to reach a resolution to the dispute, you and GoodTherapy.org will settle the dispute exclusively as set forth in the Terms of Service for Users, Terms of Service for Members, and Terms of Service for Facilities, as applicable.

A NOTE ABOUT CHILDREN

We do not intentionally gather information about visitors who are under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18 you should not use our Sites or Services.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

We operate in the United States. Our Sites may be accessed from anywhere, and users outside of our target United States markets may submit their Personal Data to us via forms, comment fields, or other input mechanisms. If you are accessing the Sites from outside the United States, or submitting your Personal Data to us from outside the United States, your Personal Data may be transferred to, stored, or processed in the United States and maintained on computers or servers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the privacy laws may not be as protective those in your jurisdiction.

By accessing our Sites, you understand and consent to the transfer of your information to the United States and to those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Policy, whether or not we can currently serve your jurisdiction.

GDPR RIGHTS FOR EU USERS, MEMBERS, AND FACILITIES

This Privacy Policy serves as notice to inform you of our policy about all information that we record about you, as required by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It sets out the conditions under which we may process any information that we collect from you, or that you provide to us. It covers information that could identify you (“personal information”) and information that could not. In the context of the law and this notice, “process” means collect, store, transfer, use or otherwise act on information.

In the event that you do not agree to be governed by this Privacy Policy, you will not be able to utilize the GoodTherapy.org Sites and Services, and you should leave our website immediately. 

GoodTherapy.org takes the protection of your privacy and confidentiality very seriously. We understand that all visitors to our Sites are entitled to know that their personal data will not be used for any purpose unintended by them, and will not accidentally fall into the hands of a third party.  We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of all information you provide to us. However, GoodTherapy.org cannot be responsible for ensuring the security, accuracy, or privacy of your data once it leaves our environments (as directed by Users, Merchants, and Facilities utilizing the Services).

GDPR requires us to tell you about your rights and our obligations to you in regards to the processing and control of your personal data. We do this now, by requesting that you read the information provided at www.knowyourprivacyrights.org.

Except as set out otherwise in this Privacy Policy, we do not share, or sell, or disclose to a third party, any information collected through GoodTherapy.org Sites.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of the policy will govern our use of your information and will always be at https://www.goodtherapy.org/privacy-policy.html. By continuing to access or use the Services after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.