Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Unbroken Voices is a nonprofit organization dedicated to trauma-informed storytelling, mental health education, suicide prevention training, and community connection. Our website is located at www.unbroken-voices.org.

For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Unbroken Voices,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Unbroken Voices and its authorized representatives. “You” and “your” refer to any individual who visits our website, uses our services, submits a story, volunteers, donates, registers for training, or otherwise interacts with Unbroken Voices.

Questions about this Privacy Policy may be directed to: ryan@unbroken-voices.org

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in the following ways:

Information You Provide Directly

• Contact information: name, email address, phone number, and city/state when you contact us, register for events, or sign up for our newsletter.
• Volunteer applications: name, email, phone number, location, volunteer interests, availability, and a personal statement. Volunteer applicants are also required to submit a government-issued photo ID for verification purposes.
• Story submissions: personal narratives, lived experiences, and any details you choose to share through the VOICES Approach storytelling process. Story submissions may include sensitive personal information related to trauma, mental health, substance use, recovery, and other lived experiences.
• QPR training registration: name, email address, and payment information (processed by Stripe or PayPal — we do not store payment card details).
• Session bookings: scheduling information submitted through Calendly, including name, email, and selected appointment time.
• Donation information: name and contact details associated with your donation, processed through Stripe or PayPal.
• Email newsletter subscriptions: name and email address.
• Partnership and general inquiries: name, organization, email, and the contents of your message.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, and general navigation patterns — collected via website analytics tools.
• Device and browser information: browser type, operating system, and general geographic region (city/country level) based on IP address.
• Cookies and similar technologies: see Section 11 for details.

Information from Third Parties

• Payment processors (Stripe, PayPal) may provide us with transaction confirmation and basic donor information associated with a completed donation.
• Scheduling tools (Calendly) provide us with appointment details you submit when booking a session.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

Purpose	Information Used
Responding to inquiries and providing support	Name, email, message content
Processing volunteer applications and verifying eligibility	Application information, government-issued ID
Facilitating the story submission and VOICES Approach process	Story content, contact information
Processing QPR training registrations and payments	Name, email, payment confirmation
Scheduling and confirming individual sessions and events	Name, email, scheduling preferences
Processing and acknowledging donations	Donor name, contact info, transaction data
Sending newsletters and educational content (with consent)	Name, email
Improving our website, content, and services	Usage data, analytics
Meeting legal and compliance obligations	As required by applicable law
Communicating about partnerships and organizational opportunities	Name, organization, email

We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We work with trusted third-party service providers who help us operate our website and services — including Stripe (payment processing), PayPal (payment processing), Calendly (scheduling), and email marketing platforms. These providers are contractually required to protect your information and may only use it to perform services on our behalf.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, or government request, or if we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of Unbroken Voices, our users, or the public.
• With your explicit consent: We will share your information with third parties only when you have given us clear, informed consent to do so — for example, when you agree to have your story published on our platform.
• Organizational transitions: In the unlikely event that Unbroken Voices undergoes a merger, acquisition, or dissolution, your information may be transferred as part of that transition, subject to equivalent privacy protections.

Story submissions are never shared without explicit, written consent from the contributor. See Section 8 for full details on story data handling.

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required by law.

• Volunteer applications and ID documents: Retained for the duration of the volunteer relationship and for a reasonable period thereafter for compliance purposes. ID documents are deleted once verification is complete unless retention is required by law.
• Story submissions: Retained in accordance with the consent agreement signed by the contributor. Contributors may request withdrawal or deletion of their story at any time.
• Donation records: Retained for a minimum of seven (7) years in accordance with nonprofit financial record-keeping requirements.
• Email newsletter subscriptions: Retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion.
• Session and training records: Retained for a reasonable period for operational and compliance purposes.
• General contact and inquiry records: Retained for up to three (3) years after last contact, unless there is an ongoing relationship.

6. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to access: You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Right to correction: You may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to deletion: You may request that we delete your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent to process information, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
• Right to opt out of communications: You may unsubscribe from our newsletter or other communications at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us directly.
• Right to data portability: Where applicable, you may request that we provide your data in a portable, machine-readable format.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at ryan@unbroken-voices.org. We will respond to all requests within a reasonable timeframe and no later than thirty (30) days.

7. Sensitive Personal Information

By the nature of our work, Unbroken Voices may receive sensitive personal information, including information related to mental health, trauma history, substance use and recovery, medical conditions, and other deeply personal experiences.

We treat all sensitive information with the highest level of care, discretion, and confidentiality. Sensitive information is:

• Collected only when voluntarily provided by you and necessary for the services you are requesting.
• Never shared with third parties without your explicit, written, informed consent.
• Stored with appropriate technical and organizational safeguards.
• Accessible only to authorized Unbroken Voices staff and facilitators directly involved in providing your requested services.

You are never required to share sensitive personal information to access our educational content, resources, or general community programming.

8. Story Submissions & the VOICES Approach

Story submissions are handled under the specific consent framework of the VOICES Approach — our trauma-informed, ethically grounded storytelling process. The following principles govern how story data is handled:

• Voluntary participation: Story submission is entirely voluntary. You are never required to share your story to participate in any Unbroken Voices program.
• Informed consent: Before any story is published, you will review and approve the exact content, format, and presentation. Nothing is published without your written consent.
• Ownership: You retain ownership of your story at all times. Unbroken Voices does not claim intellectual property rights over your personal narrative.
• Right to withdraw: You may update, revise, or withdraw your story at any time, for any reason, without explanation required.
• Anonymity options: You may choose to share your story anonymously or under a pseudonym. We will honor your preference completely.
• Non-exploitation: Your story will never be used for commercial profit, sold, licensed to third parties, or repurposed beyond what you have explicitly consented to.
• Confidentiality of the process: What you share during facilitation sessions is treated with strict confidentiality and is not published or shared without your explicit permission.

Story submissions that are published on the Unbroken Voices website are covered by a separate Story Contributor Agreement, which you will receive and sign before publication.

9. Government-Issued ID Verification

Volunteer applicants are required to submit a government-issued photo ID (such as a driver’s license, state ID, or passport) as part of the volunteer application process. This requirement exists to verify that all volunteers are 18 years of age or older and to protect the individuals and communities we serve.

• ID documents are used solely for verification purposes.
• ID documents are handled with strict confidentiality and are accessible only to authorized Unbroken Voices personnel responsible for volunteer onboarding.
• ID documents are not shared with third parties.
• Once verification is complete, ID documents are deleted unless retention is required by law or organizational policy.
• ID documents are stored using secure, encrypted methods during the verification period.

If you have questions about the handling of your ID document, please contact us at ryan@unbroken-voices.org.

10. Donations & Payment Processing

Donations to Unbroken Voices are processed securely through Stripe and PayPal. We do not collect, store, or have access to your payment card numbers, bank account information, or other financial credentials.

• All payment transactions are encrypted and handled entirely by Stripe or PayPal under their respective privacy policies and security standards.
• We receive transaction confirmation and basic donor information (name, email, donation amount) to process receipts and maintain financial records.
• Donation records are retained for a minimum of seven (7) years in accordance with nonprofit financial record-keeping requirements.
• Donor information is never sold, shared with third parties for marketing purposes, or used beyond the purposes of processing your donation and maintaining required records.

For information about Stripe’s privacy practices, visit stripe.com/privacy. For PayPal’s privacy practices, visit paypal.com/privacy.

11. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to improve your experience and understand how our site is used.

Types of Cookies We May Use

• Essential cookies: Required for the website to function properly. These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it. We use only privacy-respecting analytics tools and do not share analytics data with advertising networks.
• Functional cookies: Remember your preferences and settings to improve your experience.

We do not use advertising cookies or tracking pixels for behavioral advertising purposes. We do not participate in cross-site tracking or sell browsing data to data brokers.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of some features of our website.

12. Third-Party Services

Our website and services use the following third-party platforms, each with their own privacy policies:

• Stripe — Payment processing. Privacy Policy
• PayPal — Payment processing. Privacy Policy
• Calendly — Appointment scheduling. Privacy Policy
• Google Fonts — Typography rendering. Privacy Policy

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party platforms. We encourage you to review their privacy policies directly. We select third-party providers that we believe maintain reasonable privacy and security standards.

Our website may contain links to external websites, including resource directories and support organizations. Clicking these links will take you to sites outside our control. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites and encourage you to review their policies.

13. Children’s Privacy

Unbroken Voices does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. Our services are directed at adults and older teenagers, and we require all volunteers to be 18 years of age or older.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child under 13 has provided personal information to us without your consent, please contact us immediately at ryan@unbroken-voices.org and we will take steps to delete that information promptly.

Educational content on our website is intended for a general audience. If young people access our website, we encourage parents and guardians to supervise their online activity and discuss the content with them, particularly content related to mental health, trauma, and substance use.

14. Data Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously and implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect it against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

• Our website uses SSL/TLS encryption for data transmission.
• Payment processing is handled entirely by PCI-compliant third parties (Stripe and PayPal).
• Access to personal information is limited to authorized personnel with a legitimate need to access it.
• ID documents submitted for volunteer verification are stored using secure, encrypted methods.
• We regularly review and update our security practices.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or the services we offer. When we make significant changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of our website and services after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy. If we make material changes that significantly affect how we handle your personal information, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you directly — such as by sending an email to the address on file or posting a prominent notice on our website.

16. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests related to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, please contact us:

We are committed to resolving privacy concerns promptly and transparently. All privacy inquiries will receive a response within thirty (30) days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.