Privacy Policy

Summary

We collect the minimum information needed to run this website and answer people who contact us. We do not sell user data. We do not run third-party advertising cookies. We do not load Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, TikTok Pixel, or any other cross-site advertising tracker. We use a privacy-respecting analytics tool hosted on our own infrastructure that does not set cookies and does not identify individual visitors. Phone calls placed from our helpline are protected by the same federal confidentiality framework that applies to substance-use treatment providers.

What We Collect

Automatically, when you visit the site: your approximate geographic region (country and state, derived from IP address), the pages you view, the type of device and browser you use, and whether you arrived from a search engine or another site. This data is collected by our self-hosted analytics system. It is aggregated and not tied to your identity. We do not collect your precise location, your IP address in raw form after geographic resolution, or any persistent identifier.

When you fill in our contact form: we collect your name, email address, subject, and message text, plus the IP address of the device submitting the form (for spam filtering) and the time of submission. This information is stored in our contact database and used only to respond to you. It is not added to any marketing list, shared with treatment centers, or sold to third parties.

When you call our helpline: your call is answered by a trained referral specialist. The specialist will ask questions necessary to route you to appropriate care (type of substance, insurance, geography, level-of-care needs). The content of that call is treated as confidential substance-use treatment information and is protected under 42 CFR Part 2, the federal privacy rule that governs substance-use disorder records. Call metadata (phone number, call time, duration) is retained for operational and quality purposes for no more than 12 months, then deleted.

What we do not collect: we do not require registration or accounts. We do not ask for Social Security numbers, date of birth, or medical history through our website. We do not use form-field keystroke logging, session replay, or heat-mapping tools that record visitor behavior.

Cookies & Tracking

Our analytics tool does not set cookies. Our contact form uses a short-lived session cookie for CSRF (cross-site request forgery) protection, required for form security; this cookie expires when you close your browser and contains no identifying information. We do not run any advertising, retargeting, or conversion-tracking cookies, and we do not share data with ad networks.

Some pages include links to third-party sites (SAMHSA, CDC, peer-reviewed journals, treatment centers). When you click those links, you leave our site and the destination's privacy practices apply. We do not receive information about your activity on those sites.

Helpline Calls and 42 CFR Part 2

Our helpline is operated by licensed admissions staff at treatment-center networks we partner with. When you call the number displayed on this site, you are routed to one of those networks based on geography and the time of day. The partner's staff — not our editorial team — handles your call. Because these partners are licensed providers of substance-use-disorder care, any disclosures you make during the call are protected by 42 CFR Part 2, the federal rule that gives addiction-treatment records a higher level of confidentiality than general medical records under HIPAA. In short: information about your substance use cannot be disclosed to family members, employers, insurers, or law enforcement without your written consent, except in narrow emergencies.

We receive from the helpline partner, for our own billing and quality reconciliation, aggregated reports of call volume and whether calls resulted in an admissions inquiry. We do not receive identifying information about the caller, clinical details, or the content of conversations.

Data Security

The entire site is served over HTTPS with modern TLS settings. Our servers run on hardened infrastructure with access controls limited to the small operations team. Our contact-form database is encrypted at rest. We do not store contact-form submissions longer than 24 months unless the exchange is part of an ongoing editorial correction or legal matter. Log files containing IP addresses are retained for 30 days for abuse-detection purposes, then automatically deleted.

We will never be able to honestly promise that data is 100% secure — no internet service can — but we limit exposure by collecting the minimum information, storing it for the shortest reasonable period, and not sharing it outside the immediate team.

Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have legal rights over the personal information we hold about you. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK equivalent, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA / CPRA), and similar laws in other US states, these rights typically include:

• The right to know what personal information we hold about you.
• The right to request a copy of that information.
• The right to request that we correct inaccurate information.
• The right to request deletion of your information, subject to legal retention obligations.
• The right to object to processing for specific purposes.
• The right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] with the subject "Privacy Request." Because we collect very little identifying information, we may need to ask for details that help us locate your data (for example, the email address you used on a contact form). We will acknowledge your request within five business days and fulfill it within 30 days, consistent with applicable law.

Children's Privacy

This site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 in a manner that would violate the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you believe a child has submitted information through our contact form, contact us and we will delete it. We recognize that young people in crisis may land here, and we will not treat any helpful request for information as a violation.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy when our data practices change, when our hosting infrastructure changes, or when new laws take effect. Material changes will be reflected in the "last updated" date at the top of this page. We will not retroactively apply a weaker protection to data collected under an earlier, stronger policy.

Contact

Questions, concerns, or privacy requests should go to [email protected]. For general editorial questions, see our contact page.