1. Who we are and what this notice covers
This Privacy Notice sets out, in detail, how Relief Resources (“we”, “us”, “our”) receives, uses, discloses, protects, and retains personal information and personal health information in connection with the mental health and related services that we provide.
We offer services to individuals located in the United States of America (USA), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), Israel, various European countries, selected South American jurisdictions, countries commonly referred to as the Former Soviet Union (FSU), Australia, South Africa, and various other regions. We recognize that privacy laws and expectations differ between these locations and can be complex, particularly in the context of mental health and behavioral health care.
Because of this global footprint, this notice is intentionally comprehensive and less detailed than a typical summary. It is designed to give you a thorough understanding of what we do with your information, why we do it, and what rights you may have, in light of privacy and health‑information laws across the USA, Canada, the UK, Israel, various European countries, South American countries, FSU countries, Australia, South Africa, and other relevant jurisdictions.
2. Where we provide services and how law applies
We currently serve individuals in the following locations:
United States of America (USA)
Canada
United Kingdom (UK)
Israel
Various European countries –including but not limited to Belgium, France, Austria, Italy and Holland.
Selected South American jurisdictions
Countries in the Former Soviet Union (FSU)
Australia
South Africa
Other regions
Because of this multi‑jurisdictional footprint, the way your information is handled may vary slightly depending on where you are located when you receive services, whether those services are provided in‑person or remotely, the nature and purpose of those services, and our role and legal status in that particular context (for example, whether we are acting as a HIPAA “covered entity” in the USA, as a health information custodian under provincial health‑information law in Canada, or as a controller under GDPR or other national privacy laws in the UK, European states, South American countries, FSU countries, Australia, South Africa, or elsewhere).
3. The types of information we receive.
Because we are a mental health organization, much of the information we receive and hold about you is inherently sensitive. We are mindful of this and treat such information with particular care.
Depending on how and why you interact with us, we may receive the following categories of information:
Basic identification and contact details
Your name, title, date of birth, postal address, email address, telephone numbers, emergency contact details, and similar identifiers that enable us to know who you are and communicate with you.
Demographic and background information
Details such as your preferred language, gender, cultural or religious preferences (if you choose to share them), and other demographic information that can help us provide respectful and culturally informed care.
Health and mental health information
Information about your mental and physical health history where relevant to your care, including referral information, assessment results, diagnoses, treatment plans, therapy or counselling notes, risk or safety assessments, information about medication (if applicable), crisis‑related information, and ongoing information about your progress and wellbeing.
Service and engagement information
Records of your interactions with us, such as appointment dates and times, attendance, communications, participation in groups or programs, feedback, compliments or complaints, and information about your goals, outcomes, and engagement in services.
Financial and administrative information
Billing and payment information, insurance or funding details, program eligibility information, donation history if you support us financially, and other administrative data necessary for our financial and reporting obligations.
Online and technical information
Limited technical data when you access our website or online tools, such as IP address, device and browser type, time and date of access, pages visited, and similar usage information. This may involve the use of cookies or similar technologies, in accordance with applicable law and consent requirements.
Information about others
In limited circumstances, information about your family members, caregivers, or other contacts—for example, emergency contact details, information provided during family involvement in care, or information lawfully provided by another professional. We handle this information in line with privacy rules and professional duties.
We aim to collect only the information that we reasonably need and only for clearly identified and legitimate purposes, as described in the next section.
4. How we receive information
We may receive information through several pathways, depending on your relationship with us and the services involved:
Directly from you
Most information is received directly from you when you contact us, complete forms, participate in assessments, attend appointments, complete questionnaires, use electronic portals, provide feedback, or otherwise communicate with us in writing, verbally, or electronically.
From people acting on your behalf
Information may be provided by a person acting on your behalf, such as a parent, guardian, substitute decision‑maker, or other authorized representative, in accordance with consent and capacity rules in the relevant jurisdiction.
From other professionals or organizations
With appropriate consent or as permitted or required by law, we may receive information from referral sources, clinicians, hospitals, community agencies or funders, typically to support coordinated care, confirm eligibility, meet reporting obligations, or ensure continuity of services.
Automatically through our website or online tools
Some technical data may be collected automatically when you access our website or online tools via log data, cookies, or similar technologies that help us understand usage patterns, maintain security, and improve functionality.
Should you ask us to inform you that we obtained information from a source other than you, we will do so and, where appropriate, explain the nature of that information and the purposes for which we intend to use it.
5. Why we use your information (purposes)
We use personal information and personal health information only for purposes that are, legitimate, and connected to the services and activities we provide. These purposes include:
Providing mental health and related services
Assessing your needs, planning and delivering care, providing therapy or support, coordinating services across providers, monitoring progress, managing risk, and providing follow‑up and continuity of care.
Communicating with you
Scheduling appointments, sending reminders, responding to inquiries, sharing information about your care, and providing relevant updates about our services, policies, and programs.
Running and improving our services
Managing day‑to‑day operations, conducting quality assurance and supervision, evaluating programs, planning services, carrying out audits, and reporting internally to keep services safe, effective, and compliant.
Meeting contractual obligations (where applicable)
Complying with health and privacy expectations, professional standards, mandatory reporting or notification duties, safeguarding or child‑protection requirements, regulatory oversight, and obligations under contracts or funding agreements.
Research, statistics, and learning (where applicable)
Using de‑identified or pseudonymized information, where permitted, for research, service planning, or statistical analysis, under strict safeguards, ethics review where appropriate, and rules governing health data used for research.
Safeguarding and risk management
Using and disclosing information where we believe there is a serious and imminent risk of harm to you or others, where we detect or suspect abuse or neglect, or where required or authorized to disclosure to protect safety.
The precise basis for processing may differ between jurisdictions, but in all cases we aim to ensure that our use of information is necessary, proportionate, respectful, and aligned with proper guidance and ethical duties.
7. When and how we share information
We do not sell your personal health information or psychotherapy information.
We may, however, share information in a number of carefully controlled circumstances, such as:
Within our organization
With members of our clinical, administrative, supervision, and quality teams who need information to provide services, coordinate care, manage risk, or carry out their roles, subject to confidentiality obligations.
With other health and social care providers
With your consent where required, or as permitted, we may share information with your other health and community providers to support coordinated and continuous care, for example your family physician, psychiatrist, or community agency.
With technology and service providers
We may engage secure third‑party providers (for example, secure electronic health record platforms, telehealth tools, AI live monitoring of calls, or appointment systems) to process information on our behalf under contracts that require them to keep information confidential and secure.
With funders, insurers, or oversight bodies
Where necessary for eligibility, billing, audit, accreditation, program evaluation, or regulatory oversight, we may provide information to funders, insurers, or regulators, but always subject to privacy and confidentiality safeguards.
For legal, safeguarding, and public interest reasons
We may share information where required or authorized by law—for example, to respond to a court order, comply with child protection or safeguarding laws, report certain risks or injuries, cooperate with regulatory investigations, or intervene where there is a serious risk of harm.
Whenever we consider sharing information, we aim to share the minimum necessary for the purpose, in line with legal and ethical expectations.
8. International transfers of information
Because we serve individuals in different countries and may rely on service providers in various regions, your information may occasionally be transferred across national borders. This can occur when we provide remote mental‑health services across borders, or when systems we use are hosted elsewhere.
When we transfer information between the USA, Canada, the UK, European states, Israel or other regions, we may take steps required by law—such as using approved contractual clauses, conducting risk assessments, or implementing other recognized safeguards—to ensure that your information remains appropriately protected and that your rights are respected. Where a particular law restricts certain kinds of cross‑border transfers, we assume based on your engagement with us that you consent to us sharing it.
9. How we protect your information
We employ administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information and personal health information against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification.
These measures include secure facilities, controlled access to records, encryption and security controls for electronic systems, staff training and confidentiality agreements, strong authentication practices, and regular review of our privacy and security measures. While no system can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure, we are committed to ongoing vigilance and improvement.
10. How long we keep information
We retain personal information and personal health information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet our professional obligations.
Retention periods vary depending on:
the type of record (clinical, administrative, or financial);
professional guidelines in the relevant jurisdiction; and
applicable timeframes for audits, legal claims, or complaints.
Once the relevant retention period has expired, we securely delete, anonymize, or otherwise de‑identify your information, in line with our policies and duties.
11. Your rights
Your rights in relation to your information depend, in part, on where you are located and which legal framework applies.
To match your preferred ordering, you can present rights in this sequence:
United States – key rights
If HIPAA applies to services provided to you in the USA, you may have rights to access and obtain copies of certain health information, request amendments, request restrictions (with some limitations), request confidential communications, receive an accounting of certain disclosures, and receive a Notice of Privacy Practices describing your rights and our duties. State laws may grant additional rights, particularly for mental‑health or substance‑use information.
Canada – key rights
If you are in Canada, you may have rights under federal and provincial privacy laws to know why we collect your information and how it is used, to access your information, and to request correction of inaccurate information. You may also have rights to withdraw consent for certain uses (subject to limitations), challenge compliance, and complain to privacy commissioners or regulators. Provincial health‑information laws may govern how you access and correct personal health information and set out limited exceptions, for example where access could cause serious harm or reveal information about others.
United Kingdom – key rights
UK GDPR and related law may grant you rights to be informed, access, rectification, erasure in certain cases, restriction, portability for certain data, objection to certain processing, and rights in relation to automated decision‑making and profiling, subject to conditions and exemptions in the health‑care context.
Israel – key rights
In Israel, you may have rights to inspect information we hold about you, request correction of inaccurate information, and, in some contexts, request deletion or restriction or withdraw consent for specific uses, subject to legal conditions and exceptions.
Various European countries – key rights under GDPR
In European countries such as Belgium and France, you generally have GDPR rights similar to those described for the UK: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, and portability, subject to EU and national rules. Because health data are special‑category and subject to national requirements (for example, professional secrecy, hosting rules, and public‑health provisions), some rights may be exercised in ways adapted to clinical and legal realities.
South American jurisdictions – rights under national law
If you are located in a South American jurisdiction, you may have rights under that country’s privacy and health‑information laws, which can include rights to information, access, correction, and, in some cases, objection or restriction. We respond in accordance with the law of the relevant country.
FSU countries – rights under national law
If you are located in an FSU country, you may have rights under national data‑protection and health‑information laws, including the ability to seek information, access, and correction, subject to local conditions and exceptions.
Australia – key rights
If you are in Australia, you may have rights under the Privacy Act and relevant health‑privacy frameworks to request access to and correction of health information we hold about you, subject to legal, clinical, and safety considerations. We act in line with national and state or territory rules.
South Africa – rights under national law
If you are in South Africa, you may have rights under national privacy and data‑protection laws to understand how your information is used, to access information, and to request correction, subject to applicable legal and health‑care requirements.
12. Exercising your rights
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details on the site, indicating your country or region, the right you wish to exercise, and enough detail for us to identify you and locate relevant records. We may ask for additional information to verify your identity or clarify your request and will respond within reasonable timeframes, explaining where something may limit our ability to act.
13. Cookies and website tracking
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to support basic functionality, improve your experience, understand how visitors use the site, and, in some cases, maintain security and analytics. Where required, we will obtain your consent for non‑essential cookies and explain how you can manage preferences in your browser or on the site. Disabling certain cookies may affect functionality.
14. Children and young people
We apply age‑appropriate consent, capacity, and confidentiality rules when working with children and young people. We explain privacy in accessible language, involve parents or guardians where required, and clearly communicate limits of confidentiality in safeguarding or serious‑risk situations.
15. Changes to this notice
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in services, technology, law, or best practice. When we do, we update the “Effective date” and, where appropriate, provide additional notice via our website, email, or service communications.
The following information is designed to help you better understand the information we gather from our Website and through our other services, how we protect the information once we gather it, and whether and how we disclose it.
We may, from time to time, make changes to this policy. By visiting this Website, you are accepting the practices described in the current version of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, do not use the Website.
Please note that this Privacy Policy applies only to this Website and Relief’s use of information, and not to other companies’ or organizations’ websites, including any websites to which we link. You are advised to consult the privacy policies of other websites that you visit.
16. Our primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you with a smooth, efficient, and customized experience, to send you information upon your request, and to thank you for your generosity as a donor. Specifically, we may collect personal information:
· If you register for and participate in programs, activities, and events;
· Upon submission of employment inquiries or applications;
· If you sign up to receive email newsletters; and
· If you participate in surveys or research.
17. In addition, when you interact with the Website, we may automatically gather certain usage information, such as the number and frequency of visitors to this Website and what features of the Website are most popular to our visitors. This information may include which URL you just came from, which URL you next go to, what browser you are using, what features you click on and read (in whole or in part), and your IP address. We use such data only in the aggregate. This collective data helps us to determine how much our visitors use parts of the Website, and to do internal research on our users’ demographics, interests, and behavior, so as to better understand and serve you. In addition, we may aggregate data and disclose such information in a non-personally identifiable manner to third parties for developing marketing and promotional services.
18.If you sign up or book an appointment, we will request personally identifiable information about you, such as your name, address, phone number, and email address and reason for contacting us. We seek such information primarily to communicate with you. In addition, we may use such information to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, analyze Website usage, improve our content and product offerings, and customize our Website’s content, layout, and services. If you opt in to communications from Relief when prompted, we may use personal information to contact you and send you information, such as email updates.
18. If you opt to make a donation or any type of payment through the Website, your personally identifiable information, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, and debit/credit card information, will be collected and stored by various third-party providers who process credit card payments on behalf of Relief. Please review these third-party providers’ individual terms and conditions and privacy policies for more information about the collection and storage of your information.
In addition, we may use outside service providers to facilitate Relief’s Website and overall operation and to perform functions on our behalf, such as sending postal mail and email, removing repetitive information from donor lists, analyzing data, and providing customer service. These third parties may have access to your personal information as needed to perform their functions, but they may not use it for any other purpose.
19.“Cookies” are small files placed on your hard drive; each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser preferences allow it. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. (Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.) You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although in that case, you may not be able to interact with certain features on our Website. In addition, a number of companies offer utilities designed to help you visit websites anonymously.
Cookies help us to provide customized services and information that is targeted to your interests. We use cookies on the Website to tell us how and when pages in our Website are visited, what our users’ technology preferences are and whether our website is functioning properly. We also use cookies to temporarily retain the information you enter into a form.
Additionally, you may encounter cookies or other similar devices on our Website that are placed by third parties. We do not control the use of cookies by third parties.
20.We care about the security of your transactions and use standard industry practices to safeguard your information. We use high-grade encryption and the secure https protocol to communicate with your browser software. We also employ several different security techniques to protect your personally identifiable information from unauthorized access or use. You should be aware, however, that “perfect security” does not exist on the Internet, and that third parties may be able to intercept private communications and/or access your personally identifiable information.
21. In general, we will not sell, share, or rent information about you in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement. However, we may be forced to disclose information to the government or third parties under certain circumstances. We cooperate with governments and private parties to enforce laws such as those regarding intellectual property rights, fraud, data privacy, and security. We can (and you authorize us to) disclose any information about you to government officials and private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, or other activity connected to this Website that is illegal or may expose us or you to liability.
22. How to contact us and complaints to regulators
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Notice or our handling of information, please contact us: info@reliefhelp.org
