Stepping Stones Support Privacy Policy

                   

Stepping Stones Support ("Stepping Stones Support," "we," "us" and "our") provides a virtual mental health care chatroom intended to increase access to support. Privacy is extremely important to us, so we have taken several steps to protect your information and put you in control.

This privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") describes how we collect, use, disclose and store Personal Information you provide to us through the website and mobile application tools that provide the support service described above (the "Service"). Please review this Privacy Policy carefully and in its entirety. If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at info@steppingstonessupport.com.

This Privacy Policy describes:

  • The Personal Information we collect when you interact with the Service;
  • How we use and process the Personal Information that we collect;
  • How we may share Personal Information with third parties; and
  • The security of your Personal Information.

The following parties will comply with this Privacy Policy:

  • All Stepping Stones Support volunteers.
  • All affiliated entities and applications.

1. User Consent and Incorporation

PLEASE REVIEW THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. When you submit your Personal Information to or through the Service, you consent to the collection and processing of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy. By using the Service, you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, our Terms of Use and consent to our collection, use, disclosure and retention of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Effective Date and Changes to Privacy Policy

The Effective Date of this Privacy Policy is set forth at the top of this Privacy Policy. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time in our discretion. Changes will be posted to this page. We encourage you to return to this page frequently so that you are aware of our current privacy practices. Your continued use of the Service after the Effective Date constitutes your acceptance of the amended Privacy Policy. The amended Privacy Policy supersedes all previous versions.

3. Personal Information We Collect

  • Registration Setup. When you register with us, we ask for and collect Personal Information such as your a valid email address. We need this information to provide you with the Service.
  • Technical Support Requests. If you need technical support related to the Stepping Stones Support Site, you will need to complete a form for the purposes of defining and clarifying your technical support request. When submitting a technical support request, you will be asked to provide Personal Information, including an email address and a description of the issue. We maintain copies of all technical support requests and other information submitted with or related to such requests.
  • Browser Information and Cookies. We may use browser information (e.g., IP addresses and browser types), cookies and pixel tags to determine what data or information should be shown on your browser when you are visiting Stepping Stones Support’ Site or using Stepping Stones Support’ Listening Platform. We may also use browser information, cookies and pixel tags: to determine how you arrived at Stepping Stones Support’ Site or Listening Platform, to determine whether you are a return visitor, to help us improve our product and service offerings, for quality assurance and training purposes, to help diagnose problems with our servers, to gather broad demographic information, to administer and optimize our Service, and for other lawful purposes. Please refer to the "Cookies" section below for more information.

Any User can request a download of their own Personal Information that Stepping Stones Support currently stores, and also request deletion of their registration and associated Personal Information. The exception to this rule is if the User in question has broken the terms laid out in the Terms and caused harm or abused our Service or other members. In this case, we retain the right to keep some of your Personal Information in order to provide more security and safety to our members.

4. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small files, typically of letters and numbers, downloaded onto your computer or mobile device when you visit certain websites.

How We Use Cookies. Generally, we use first-party and third-party cookies for the following purposes:

  • to make our Service function properly;
  • to provide a secure browsing experience during your use of our Service;
  • to collect passive information about your use of our Service;
  • to help us improve our Service; and
  • to remember your preferences for your convenience.

Types of Cookies on Our Service. We use the following types of cookies on our Service:

  • Strictly Necessary Cookies. These cookies are essential because they enable you to move around and use our Service. For example, strictly necessary cookies allow you to access secure areas on our Service. Without these cookies, some Service cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you for marketing purposes. This category of cookies is essential for our Service to work and they cannot be disabled.
  • Functional Cookies. We use functional cookies to remember your choices so we can tailor our Service to provide you with enhanced features and personalized content. For example, these cookies can be used to remember your name or preferences on our Service. We do not use functional cookies to target you with online marketing. While these cookies can be disabled, this may result in less functionality during your use of our Service.

How to Manage Cookies. Depending on whether you would like to manage a first-party or third-party cookie, you will need to take the following steps:

  • First-Party Cookies. You can enable, disable or delete our cookies through the browser you are using to access our Service. To do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually located within the "Help", "Tools" or "Edit" settings). Please note, if you set your browser to disable cookies, you may not be able to access secure areas of our Service, and/or parts of the Service may not work properly for you. You can find more information about how to change your browser cookie settings at http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
  • Third-Party Cookies. Modern browsers also allow you to block third-party cookies using the steps described above.

5. How We Use Your Personal Information

We may use Personal Information that we collect about you for various purposes, including:

  • To operate, provide and improve our Service;
  • To communicate with you regarding our Service, and promotions;
  • To ensure network and information security; and
  • To share with third parties to provide our Service to you, as described in the next section.

6. How We Share Your Personal Information

We may share and disclose Personal Information as follows:

  • Third Party Service Providers Performing Service on Our Behalf. We share Personal Information, with certain third-party service providers that assist us in providing the Service and which are bound by duties of confidentiality. For example, we may use third parties to host the Service.
  • Other Users. Depending on how you interact with the Service, your Personal Information, may be shared with other Users, such as peers and other users who participate in boards on which you post information.
  • For Legal Purposes. We will disclose your Personal Information as we deem necessary to respond to a subpoena, regulation, binding order of a data protection agency, legal process, governmental request or other legal or regulatory process. We may also share your Personal Information as required to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain.

7. Security of Your Personal Information

We employ reasonable security measures designed to protect the security of information submitted through the Service. However, the security of information transmitted through the Internet can never be guaranteed. To protect you and your Personal Information we may suspend your use of the Service, without notice, pending an investigation, if any breach of security is suspected.

  • Your Responsibilities. Users of the Service are responsible for maintaining the security of any password, user ID or other form of authentication involved in obtaining access to password protected or secure areas of any of the Service.
  • Unauthorized Access. Access to and use of password protected and/or secure areas of the Service are restricted to authorised users only. Unauthorised access to such areas is prohibited.
  • Encryption and Firewalls. Chat transcripts are encrypted during transmission. We use standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption that encodes information for such transmissions. All Transcripts are maintained on secure servers. Access to stored data is protected by multi-layered security controls including firewalls, role-based access controls and passwords.

8. Retention Period

Generally, we will retain your Personal Information for as long as your account or profile is active, or for the length of time needed to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Stepping Stones Support will store your user account and associated Personal Information if your account is active.

9. Links to Other Sites

The Service may contain links and widgets related to third-party websites and Service ("Third Party Service") with which we have no affiliation. A link to any Third Party Service does not mean that we endorse it or the quality or accuracy of information presented on it. If you decide to visit any Third Party Service, you are subject to its privacy policy and practices and not this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to carefully review the legal and privacy notices of all other digital Service that you visit.

10. Nondiscrimination

Stepping Stones Support does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

11. Child Protection

Stepping Stones Support complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and clearly specifies that users must be at least 16 years old. If Stepping Stones Support learns of a user who is younger than 16, then Stepping Stones Support, at their sole discretion, can terminate that account.

The only exception to this is by users entering our RAGNAROCK room (13-19 year old). By using this site, chatters agree to be at least 13 years of age (following COPPA and EU guidelines). We will cooperate with ALL law enforcement agencies in the investigation of users over the age of 19 in contact with minors and/or suspected of a crime.

12. Notices

Please send all questions, comments and notices regarding this Privacy Policy to: info@steppingstonessupport.com.