Privacy Policy

Self-Help Connection Website – Privacy Policy

Self-Help Connection Clearing House (“SHC”, “we”, “us”, “our“) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it by complying with this policy.

SHC is a registered charitable organization in Nova Scotia, Canada aimed at promoting wellness through self-help education, training, and community connections. SHC facilitates virtual and in-person wellness programs and events (the “Community Programs”) and provides access to various resources through Selfhelpconnection.ca (the “Website”) as well as its Community Programs (collectively, the “Services”), as further described in our Terms and Conditions, located at https://selfhelpconnection.ca/terms-of-use/. SHC is funded by the Nova Scotia Office of Addictions and Mental Health.

This policy describes:

· how we collect, use, disclose, and protect the personal information of the individuals who use our Services (“you“);

· the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the Website; and

· our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

We will only use your personal information in accordance with this policy unless otherwise required by applicable law. We take steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect about you is adequate, relevant, not excessive, and used for limited purposes.

Privacy laws in Canada generally define “personal information” as any information about an identifiable individual, which includes information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person.

This policy applies to information we collect, use, or disclose about you:

· On this Website.

· In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website.

· Through any registration forms, donation forms, feedback forms, or contest forms released by the SHC from time to time.

Please read this policy to understand how we collect, process, and store your information. If you disagree with any of the terms of the policy, please do not use our Services or submit any personal information to us. Your access or use of the Services indicates that you understand, accept, and consent to the practices described in this policy.

Information We Collect About You

We collect and use several types of information from and about you, including:

Personal information, including but not limited to your: name, age, mailing address, business address, e-mail address, telephone number, feedback relating to the Community Programs, profession, Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, and any other identifier we may use to contact you (“personal information“).

Non-personal information, that does not directly or indirectly disclose your identity or directly relate to an identifiable individual. This includes demographic information or statistical or

aggregated information. Although statistical or aggregated data does not directly identify a specific person, we may derive non-personal data from personal information.

Technical information, including your browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, or information about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access the Website, and usage details.

Non-personal details about your Website interactions, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), or methods used to browse away from the page.

We use the hCaptcha anti-bot security service on the Website to monitor for unauthorized attempts to access our Website. This is done by analysing the behaviour of the Website visitor based on various characteristics, including, but not limited to, the user’s IP address, how long the user has been on the website or app, any mouse movements made by the user, information from the browser, and the user’s answers to any challenges. This information is shared with the third party responsible for the hCaptcha service. For more information about hCaptcha’s privacy policy and terms of use, please visit the following links: https://www.hcaptcha.com/privacy and https://www.hcaptcha.com/terms

How We Collect Information About You

We may use the following methods to collect your information:

Information You Provide to Us, including:

· Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website, including information you provide when donating to SHC, registering for one of our Community Programs, providing feedback for a Community Program, or signing up for a contest we are offering or sponsoring.

· Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.

· Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.

Information We Collect Through Cookies and Other Automatic Data Collection Technologies, including cookies. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web server. As you use our Website, we may use cookies or other automatic data collection technologies to collect information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

· Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website; and

· Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.

The information we collect automatically is statistical data and does not include personal information.

We use third parties, such as Google Analytics, to collect such data. To learn more about how Google collects and processes data and the choices Google may offer to control these activities, you may visit: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/partners/

Opt-Out of Collection

You can opt out of the collection of data by not visiting the Website, participating in Community Programs, donating, filling out registration forms, participating in surveys, or otherwise interacting with the Services.

How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information to:

· present our Website and its contents to you.

· fulfil the purposes for which you provided the information or that were described when it was collected, such as contests, surveys, marketing, donations, or the Community Programs;

· monitor the Community Programs to ensure they are effective and relevant to community needs; or

· collect insights into Community Program participants’ demographics and frequency of participation.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

· to fulfil the purpose for which you provide it or for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information;

· with your consent;

· to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request, in accordance with applicable law;

· to enforce or apply our terms of use (https://selfhelpconnection.ca/terms-of-use/); or

· if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of SHC.

Transferring Your Personal Information

We may process, store, and transfer your personal information in and to a foreign country, with different privacy laws that may or may not be as comprehensive as Canadian law. In these circumstances, the governments, courts, law enforcement, or regulatory agencies of that country may be able to obtain access to your personal information through the laws of the foreign country. Whenever we engage a service provider or disclose your information to a third party, we take all reasonable steps to ensure that the third party’s privacy and security standards adhere to this Policy and applicable Canadian privacy legislation.

By submitting your personal information or engaging with the Website, you consent to the transfer, storage, and/or processing described above.

Data Security

The security of your personal information is very important to us. We use commercially reasonable efforts to store and maintain your personal information in a secure environment. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, any transmission of personal information is at your own risk.

Data Retention

Except as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulation, we will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Under some circumstances we may anonymize your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you. We reserve the right to use such anonymous and de-identified data for any legitimate business purpose without further notice to you or your consent.

Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information

By law you have the right to request access to and to correct the personal information that we hold about you. If you have submitted personal information and would like to have access to it, or if you would like to have it corrected, please contact us using the contact information provided below. We may require you verify your identity before allowing you to access your Personal Information.

Changes To Our Privacy Policy

SHC reserves the right to revise this Privacy Statement at any time subject to applicable law.

Contact Information

We welcome your questions, comments, and requests regarding this privacy policy and our privacy practices. Please contact us at: executivedirector@selfhelpconnection.ca