Free, Safe, Confidential. Always.

Updated on December 20th, 2023

These Terms of Use ("Agreement") govern your use of our mental health services (“Services”) whether provided by Kooth PLC and/or one of its subsidiaries, including Kooth USA LLC and/or Kooth Digital Health Limited ("Kooth", "we", "us" or "our") either via Kooth’s websites or mobile application and forms the legal agreement between you and Kooth  . Please review these Terms of Use carefully. If you do not agree to this Agreement, you should not access our Services.  

1. Agreement

  1. This Agreement describes the terms and conditions for use of our Services and governs your access to and use of the Services provided by Kooth. You should read this Agreement carefully before using or accessing our Services. By using our Services, you are entering into this Agreement and are agreeing to the terms of this Agreement.
  2. Kooth  may revise our Terms of Use at any time by updating this Agreement and posting it. You should periodically visit either our website or application and review the Terms of Use to determine if any changes have been made.  We may also notify you by email of any material changes to this Agreement. Your continued use of our Services after any changes have been made to the Terms of Use signifies and confirms your acceptance of any such changes or amendments to the Terms of Use.

2. Privacy

  1. Protecting information you provide  is important to us. Please review our privacy policy ("Privacy Policy"). By using or accessing our Services, you are also agreeing to the terms of the Privacy Policy.

3. Ownership

  1. Kooth retains all ownership rights, title and interest (including all intellectual property rights) worldwide to the Services, including to all software and content. No rights are granted to you other than as expressly set forth in these terms. All trademarks, service marks and trade names are owned by Kooth. Except for any information that is in the public domain, you are not authorized to reproduce, transmit or distribute the proprietary information connected with our Services. Under no circumstances will you acquire any ownership rights or other interest in any content by or through your use and/or access to our Services. By posting information either through our website or our application, you represent that you have the right to grant permission for use by Kooth.

4. Site use

  1. Kooth  grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive license to use our Services solely for your own personal use and not for republication, distribution, assignment, sublicense, sale, preparation of derivative works, or other use. You agree not to copy materials accessed, reverse engineer or break into either our website and/or our application, or use Kooth’s materials, products or Services in violation of any law. The use and access of our Services is at the discretion of Kooth and  may terminate your use and/or access of our Services at any time for any reason.

Keeping yourself safe

  • Please make sure that the information you give us is accurate. This includes the area where you live and the year and month you were born. If you have entered your information incorrectly by mistake, please let one of the practitioners know so that they can advise you what to do
  • Keep your account private - don't show anyone your password or share your account with someone else
  • Don't use your full name or surname, give out details of specific locations like the name of your school or a place you like to go to with your friends or share details such as email addresses or your phone number or your date of birth

Respect others

  • Be polite to other Kooth service users and the Kooth team of practitioners and counsellors
  • Show each other kindness; rude or offensive comments won't be published
  • Be sensitive to others and remember that things you say may impact on them
  • Don't bully or be unkind to other Kooth service users or talk in a violent or aggressive way
  • Make sure your language is appropriate - try not to use swear words or use sexually explicit language. Anything that is homophobic or racist won't be published
  • It's important to be truthful on Kooth and not pretend to be someone else
  • Sometimes you might feel cross or frustrated but it's important to try not to take it out on the Kooth team of practitioners and counsellors or other service users on the site
  • Any kind of abusive, violent or threatening behavior towards other Kooth service users or our Kooth team of practitioners and counsellors will not be tolerated. This may result in your account being deactivated or we may take further action against anyone who threatens the safety of other service users or our staff. This could include an escalation to the police in cases of potential or actual criminal activity

Some topics are sensitive

  1. You might hear the word "trigger" used on Kooth, a trigger is something that can set off memories, emotions or feelings in someone else. It's hard to avoid every possible trigger but there are some common things that shouldn't be posted on Kooth as they might trigger others. These topics are best spoken about with Kooth counsellors who are trained to support you.
  • Eating disorders - we won't publish height, weight or BMI calculations, posts that are pro eating disorder or competitive, descriptions of ED behaviors or details and quantities of food in relation to ED behaviors
  • Self-harm- we won't publish any posts that contain details of methods of self-harm or descriptions of self-harm injuries
  • Feeling suicidal - we won't publish anything that talks about suicidal plans
  • Experiences of abuse or trauma - details of experiences of abuse and trauma are best discussed with counsellors, you can share with others your stories of overcoming difficult events but we won't be able to publish any specific details
  • Legal stuff - we won't be able to post anything that talks about a criminal offence or criminal behavior

Publishing and downloads

  1. On Soluna, everything that you post or submit to the site is checked by staff members who moderate what you've written and make sure it doesn't break any of the community boundaries.
  • Sometimes a moderator might delete your post, whoever moderates what you've written will message you to let you know if your post can't be published
  • Documents on the site may be downloaded and used for personal, non-commercial use only
  • All rights are reserved; no part of Kooth, including information, images, photos, trademarks & logos may be copied, republished, posted, broadcast or reproduced in any form whatsoever without our prior written permission from Kooth

5. Right to monitor

  1. Kooth reserves the right to monitor materials or information posted to our website and/or application and shall have the right to remove or modify any information for any reason. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you remain solely responsible for your use of any information contained on the Site.

6. Compliance with laws

  1. You agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding your access and/or use of our Services. You further agree that information provided by you is truthful and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

7. Indemnification

  1. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold Kooth  and our partners, employees and affiliates, harmless from any liability, loss, claim and expense, including reasonable attorney's fees, related to your violation of this Agreement or use of our Services.

8. Disclaimer

  1. The information on our website and/or application is provided on an "as is", "as available" basis. You agree that use of our Services is at your sole risk. Kooth  disclaims all warranties of any kind, including but not limited to any express warranties, statutory warranties, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. To the extent your jurisdiction does not allow limitations on warranties, this limitation may not apply to you. Your sole and exclusive remedy relating to your use of our Services shall be to discontinue accessing those Services.

9. Limitation of liability

  1. Under no circumstances will Kooth  be liable or responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential (including damages from loss of business, lost profits, litigation, or the like), special, exemplary, punitive or other damages, under any legal theory, arising out of or in any way relating to our Services, your use of our Services, or content created in connection with our Services, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with our Services and/or content is to cease all of your use of the Services.
  2. You may have additional rights under certain laws (including consumer laws) which do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, or the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. If these laws apply to you, the exclusions or limitations in this Agreement that directly conflict with such laws may not apply to you.

10. Use of information

  1. Kooth  reserves the right, and you authorize us, to use and assign all information regarding the  use by you of our Services and all information provided by you in any manner consistent with our Privacy Policy.

11. Applicable law

  1. You agree that the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflicts of laws provisions, will govern this Agreement and any dispute that may arise between you and Kooth or its affiliates.

12. Severability

  1. If any provision of this Agreement shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement will otherwise remain in full force and effect.

13. Waiver

  1. The failure of Kooth  to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. Any waiver of this Agreement by Kooth  must be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of Kooth.

14. Termination

  1. Kooth may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without notice, for any reason.

15. Relationship of the parties

  1. Nothing contained in this Agreement or your use of our Services shall be construed to constitute either party as a partner, joint venturer, employee or agent of the other party, nor shall either party hold itself out as such. Neither party has any right or authority to incur, assume or create, in writing or otherwise, any warranty, liability or other obligation of any kind, express or implied, in the name of or on behalf of the other party, it being intended by both parties that each shall remain independent contractors responsible for its own actions.

16. Entire agreement

  1. This Agreement constitutes the entire Agreement between you and Kooth and governs your access and/or use of our Services, and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals, whether electronic, oral or written, between you and Kooth with respect to the Services. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may also be subject to additional Terms of Use, posted policies (including but not limited to the Kooth’s Privacy Policy), guidelines or rules that may apply when you use the Site.

17. Contact information

167 North Green Street Chicago, IL, 60607, USA or by e-mail at thoughts@kooth.com

 

California Residents

The Board of Behavioral Sciences receives and responds to complaints regarding services provided by therapists, clinical social workers, or professional clinical counselors. You may contact the board online at bbs.ca.gov, or by calling (916) 574-7830.