Confidentiality

1 Our Commitment

BrightHope values the trust users place in pastoral counseling. We expect counselors to handle counselee communications with care, discretion, and respect, and we design the platform to limit access to those with a legitimate need.

Your conversations are intended to remain between you and the counselor you select, subject to the limits explained below.

2 Pastoral, Not Clinical

BrightHope provides Christian pastoral counseling and spiritual guidance. It is not clinical therapy, psychiatric treatment, medical care, diagnosis, or emergency intervention.

Because BrightHope is not a medical or clinical service, HIPAA does not apply to BrightHope in the same way it applies to covered healthcare providers and health plans. BrightHope still treats confidentiality as a serious pastoral and platform obligation.

3 Who May See Your Information

Your selected counselor

The counselor you choose may access information needed to provide pastoral support, including your session details and information you share through the platform.

BrightHope operations

Limited BrightHope personnel or service providers may access records only where needed to operate, maintain, support, secure, troubleshoot, improve, or legally protect the platform.

Payment and technical providers

Third-party providers may process limited information needed for payments, hosting, email, analytics, security, and infrastructure. These providers are not authorized to use information for their own unrelated purposes.

4 Limits to Confidentiality

Pastoral confidentiality may have narrow limits. Information may be disclosed when BrightHope or a counselor reasonably believes disclosure is necessary or legally required, including:

• Serious risk of harm to you or another person;
• Threats of suicide, violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, or other emergencies;
• Suspected abuse or neglect where reporting is required by law;
• Court orders, subpoenas, law enforcement requests, or other legal process;
• Fraud, platform abuse, security incidents, or violations of our Terms;
• Payment disputes, chargebacks, or account-support issues where disclosure is reasonably necessary.

5 Emergencies & Crisis

BrightHope is not for emergencies. If you are in immediate danger or may harm yourself or someone else, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. In the United States, you can call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

BrightHope counselors may not be able to monitor messages in real time, provide emergency rescue, or guarantee immediate intervention.

6 Counselor Responsibilities

Counselors are independent pastoral counselors. Each counselor is responsible for honoring confidentiality, maintaining appropriate boundaries, keeping session information secure, and complying with applicable law and the BrightHope Terms.

Counselors may not use counselee stories, screenshots, recordings, messages, or identifying details for marketing, social media, training, or testimony without clear permission and any required legal authorization.

7 Platform Records

BrightHope may maintain account records, appointment records, payment metadata, support communications, logs, and other records needed to provide and protect the service. These records are handled according to our Privacy Policy and Terms.

8 User Responsibilities

Please protect your own account credentials, use a private device where possible, avoid sharing screenshots or recordings of sessions without consent, and do not use BrightHope to threaten, harass, exploit, or harm anyone.

9 Questions

Questions about confidentiality can be sent to support@brighthopeapp.com.