Terms of Service

Safe Harbor is a peer support space: a place to talk anonymously with a member of our team, and a wall where people leave short messages of encouragement for strangers. Using the site means you agree to these terms. Please read the safety notice below first, it matters more than the rest of this page.

Not an emergency or medical service

Safe Harbor is not a crisis hotline, not a medical service, and not a substitute for professional mental health care. It is not monitored around the clock, and there is no guarantee that a team member is available or will reply within any particular time. If you are in immediate danger or think you might act on thoughts of suicide right now, please contact your local emergency number or a crisis line immediately. Our Get help page lists services that are staffed 24/7 for exactly this situation.

Team members who reply to you are trained volunteers or staff, not licensed doctors, therapists, or counselors, unless we tell you otherwise in a specific conversation. Nothing said in a Safe Harbor conversation is medical or clinical advice.

If you tell us you're in immediate danger

We are not an emergency dispatch service and we cannot see your location or call for help on your behalf. If a team member believes you may be in immediate danger, they will encourage you, as clearly and directly as they can, to contact emergency services or a crisis line right away. Responsibility for making that call ultimately sits with you or the people around you, not with us.

Who can use Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor doesn't ask for your age, and we don't verify who is using the site. If you are under 18, we'd still encourage you to loop in a parent, guardian, teacher, or another trusted adult, in addition to anything you talk to us about.

Using Talk and the Wall of Hope

You agree not to use Safe Harbor to:

• Harass, threaten, or abuse a team member or another person
• Share someone else's private information, or try to identify a team member or another visitor
• Impersonate Safe Harbor staff or another organization
• Post spam, advertising, or content unrelated to peer support
• Post anything illegal, or content that sexualizes minors

Wall of Hope posts are read by our team before they go live, and we can decline or remove a post for any reason, including if it names specific methods of self-harm, shares identifying details, or otherwise doesn't fit a space meant to be safe for people who are struggling. We can also end a Talk conversation at our discretion.

No warranty

Safe Harbor is provided as is, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including any warranty that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure. We try to keep the site reliable and the crisis line information accurate, but we don't guarantee it.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Safe Harbor, its operators, and its team members are not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, or for any decision or action you take based on a conversation on this site or a message on the Wall of Hope. This doesn't limit any liability that the law does not allow us to limit.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the site changes. If we make a material change, we'll update the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to [email protected].