Terms and Conditions

The following are the Terms and Conditions (the “Agreement”) which govern your access and use of our online platform through which mental health counseling may be provided (collectively the “Platform”). This website is owned and operated by GetHelpFirst. The Platform may be provided or be accessible via multiple websites or applications whether owned and/or operated by us or by third parties, including, without limitation, the website GetHelpFirst.com and its related apps.

By accessing or using the Platform, you are entering into this Agreement. You should read this Agreement carefully before starting to use the Platform. If you do not agree to be bound to any term of this Agreement, you must not access the Platform.

When the terms “we”, “us”, “our” or similar are used in this Agreement, they refer to any company that owns and operates the Platform (the “Company”).

IMPORTANT NOTICE: THIS AGREEMENT IS SUBJECT TO BINDING ARBITRATION AND A CLASS ACTION WAIVER AS DETAILED IN SECTION 7.

The Therapists and Therapist Services

The Platform may be used to connect you with a provider, variously credentialed and experienced based on the applicable jurisdiction (“Therapist”) who will provide services to you through the Platform (“Therapist Services”).

Our Therapists

We require every therapist providing Therapist Services on the Platform to be a trained, and experienced counselor, psychologist, social worker, or therapist. Therapists must have a relevant academic degree in their field, at least 3 years of experience, and have to be qualified and credentialed by their respective professional organization after successfully completing the necessary education, exams, training, and practice requirements as applicable.

Therapist Services

The Therapists are independent providers who are neither our employees nor agents nor representatives. The Platform’s role is limited to enabling the Therapist Services. The Company does not itself provide Therapy Services and is not a healthcare entity. The Therapists themselves are responsible for the performance of the Therapist Services. If you feel the Therapist Services provided by the Therapist do not fit your needs or expectations, you may change to a different Therapist who provides services through the Platform. While we have a large database of Therapists, you should note that because of licensure requirements that differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, not all Therapists available on our database will be available for you to match with, or at any particular or convenient time, or for any set period of time. If a Therapist you have been connected with stops using the Platform at any time after you have been connected, we will send an email to notify you that your Therapist is no longer on the Platform and that you have the opportunity to match with a new Therapist.

While we hope the Therapist Services are beneficial to you, you understand, agree and acknowledge that they may not be the appropriate solution for everyone’s needs and that they may not be appropriate for every particular situation and/or a substitute for certain mental health needs that might require in-person therapy services, such as active withdrawal from certain substances or anorexia nervosa.

IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT SUICIDE OR IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING HARMING YOURSELF OR OTHERS OR IF YOU FEEL THAT ANY OTHER PERSON MAY BE IN ANY DANGER OR IF YOU HAVE ANY MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CALL YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY SERVICES NUMBER AND NOTIFY THE RELEVANT. THE PLATFORM IS NOT DESIGNED FOR USE IN ANY OF THE AFOREMENTIONED CASES AND THE THERAPISTS CANNOT PROVIDE THE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED IN ANY OF THE AFOREMENTIONED CASES. IF YOU PROCEED TO USE THE PLATFORM NOTWITHSTANDING THIS NOTICE, YOU DO SO ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

THE PLATFORM IS NOT INTENDED FOR THE PROVISION OF CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS REQUIRING AN IN-PERSON EVALUATION AND YOU SHOULD NOT USE IT IF YOU NEED ANY OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION OR APPROVALS FOR PURPOSES SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COURT-ORDERED THERAPY. IT IS ALSO NOT INTENDED FOR ANY INFORMATION REGARDING WHICH DRUGS OR MEDICAL TREATMENT MAY BE APPROPRIATE FOR YOU, AND YOU SHOULD DISREGARD ANY SUCH ADVICE IF DELIVERED THROUGH THE PLATFORM.

DO NOT DISREGARD, AVOID, OR DELAY IN OBTAINING IN-PERSON CARE FROM YOUR DOCTOR OR OTHER QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL BECAUSE OF INFORMATION OR ADVICE YOU RECEIVED THROUGH THE PLATFORM.

Privacy and Security

Protecting and safeguarding any information you provide through the Platform is extremely important to us. Information about our security and privacy practices can be found on our Privacy Policy available at gethelpfirst.com/privacy (The ‘Privacy Policy’).

BY AGREEING TO THIS AGREEMENT AND/OR BY USING THE PLATFORM, YOU ARE ALSO AGREEING TO THE TERMS OF THE PRIVACY POLICY. THE PRIVACY POLICY IS INCORPORATED INTO AND DEEMED A PART OF THIS AGREEMENT. THE SAME RULES THAT APPLY REGARDING CHANGES AND REVISIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT ALSO APPLY TO CHANGES AND REVISIONS OF THE PRIVACY POLICY.

Intellectual Property

The Platform, the website gethelpfirst.com and all rights, title, and interest, including all related intellectual property rights therein are owned by the Company, its licensors, or other providers of such material. This Agreement is not a sale and does not convey or grant you any rights in or related to the Platform, or any intellectual property rights owned by GetHelpFirst.com.

“GetHelpFirst”, and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans are trademarks of the Company or its affiliates or licensors. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs, and slogans on the Platform and the website are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, GetHelpFirst grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, revocable, non-transferable license to: (i) access and use the Platform solely in connection with your use of the Services on your personal device; and (ii) access and use any content, information and related materials that may be made available through the Services, in each case solely for your personal, noncommercial use. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by the Company and its licensors.

Third Party Content

The Platform may contain other content, products or services which are offered or provided by third parties (“Third Party Content”), links to Third Party Content (including but not limited to links to other websites) or advertisements which are related to Third Party Content. We have no responsibility for the creation of any such Third Party Content, including (but not limited to) any related products, practices, terms or policies, and we will not be liable for any damage or loss caused by any Third Party Content.

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU HEREBY RELEASE US AND AGREE TO HOLD US HARMLESS FROM ANY AND ALL CAUSES OF ACTION AND CLAIMS OF ANY NATURE RESULTING FROM THE THERAPIST SERVICES OR THE PLATFORM, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) ANY ACT, OMISSION, OPINION, RESPONSE, ADVICE, SUGGESTION, INFORMATION AND/OR SERVICE OF ANY THERAPIST AND/OR ANY OTHER CONTENT OR INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE PLATFORM.

 

YOU UNDERSTAND, AGREE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, SECURITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR ACCURACY. THE USE OF THE PLATFORM IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.

YOU UNDERSTAND, AGREE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES.

If the applicable law does not allow the limitation of liability as set forth above, the limitation will be deemed modified solely to the extent necessary to comply with applicable law.

This section (limitation of liability) shall survive the termination or expiration of this Agreement.

Your Subscription

We offer different subscription options that you can choose; including billing that can occur weekly, every (4) four weeks, or quarterly. Any type of subscription you choose will continue and automatically renew until you cancel the membership. By choosing a recurring Membership Service, you acknowledge that such paid services have a recurring payment and you accept responsibility for all recurring charges prior to cancellation. Once you provide complete payment information and conclude the payment transaction, you will be charged for the subscription immediately but it may take some time before you are matched and can begin therapy with your therapist. Your subscription/billing period will run from the date you are matched to ensure you are given the entire duration of that billing cycle to use the services. For example, if you pay on July 1st and get matched to a therapist on July 2nd, your four week billing period will run from July 2nd rather than July 1st.

You can cancel the subscription to the service at any time for any reason. Your membership must be canceled before it renews in order to avoid the next billing cycle. For the further avoidance of any doubt, unless otherwise advised by GetHelpFirst, any sessions (video, phone or chat) accrued but unused within a billing cycle will not roll over or be eligible for use after that billing cycle concludes. For example, if you commence your membership on May 1, only use 3 out of 4 live video sessions for that monthly billing cycle, that additional live session credit does not rollover into June such that you will have 5 sessions available in June. All sessions expire within the applicable billing cycle.

We reserve the right to change our subscription or adjust prices of our services. Any changes to your subscribed services will only take effect following proper notice to you. While we do our best to avoid increasing prices unnecessarily, we may need to increase prices from time to time to accommodate inflation, increased operational costs and changes in market conditions. As always, you will have the opportunity to cancel your subscription at anytime if these changes are not satisfactory to you.

Free Trials: Occasionally, we offer free trials for our Therapist Services. Once a free trial expires, the paid membership will commence following a notice to you.

Session Cancellation Policy: Late cancellations (within 24 hours of the session time) and missed sessions will be charged at the full price. This policy ensures therapists receive sufficient advance notice to plan effectively in the event that you are unable to attend your session. Timely cancellations help therapists utilize open slots for other members seeking their help. Late cancellations and missed sessions impact your therapist’s availability and earnings, leading to therapist dissatisfaction and a poor quality experience for you and them.

How you are matched with a Therapist for Therapist Service depends on a number of factors. As a threshold matter, we require every Therapist to be experienced and and credentialed (as applicable). As an initial matter, you will be matched with one of these “opted-in” therapists based on where you reside. After location criteria, member/therapist matches are based several hundred different inputs weighted in a complex way. At risk of oversimplifying the complexity of the referral logic, the relative importance of the main factors are as follows: data GetHelpFirst considers indicative of sustained therapist/client engagement, the composite “quality” score of the Therapist based on factors such as the Therapists’s reliability, punctuality, and how they are rated by other users, how available the Therapist is to engage with users, the experience level of the Therapist and other factors selected as important to users such as whether the Therapist is a certain gender, age or has focuses on a certain area of expertise.

Your Account, Representations, Conduct and Commitments

You hereby confirm that you are legally able to consent to receive Therapist Services, or have the consent of a parent or guardian, and are legally able to enter into a contract.

Minor Consent: Where consent from a parent or guardian is required to receive Therapist Services, you hereby confirm that as the consenting parent or guardian, you have the sole right to consent to Therapist Services for the minor seeking therapy and are not legally mandated to confer with or get consent from any other legal guardian before consenting. You also give affirmative consent to the provisions set forth in the accompanying Privacy Policy regarding the collection, process, and use of personal information on behalf of the minor. You also agree that consent to Therapist Services remains valid until membership is canceled.

You hereby confirm and agree that all the information that you provided in or through the Platform, and the information that you will provide in or through the Platform in the future, is accurate, true, current and complete. Furthermore, you agree that during the term of this Agreement you will make sure to maintain and update this information so it will continue to be accurate, current and complete.

You agree, confirm and acknowledge that you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and any other security information related to your account (collectively “Account Access”). We advise you to change your password frequently and to take extra care in safeguarding your password.

You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your Account Access or any other concern for breach of your account security.

You agree, confirm and acknowledge that we will not be liable for any loss or damage that incurred as a result of someone else using your account, either with or without your consent and/or knowledge.

 

You agree, confirm and acknowledge that you are solely and fully liable and responsible for all activities performed using your Account Access. You further acknowledge and agree that we will hold you liable and responsible for any damage or loss incurred as a result of the use of your Account Access by any person whether authorized by you or not, and you agree to indemnify us for any such damage or loss.

You agree and commit not to use the account or Account Access of any other person for any reason.

You agree and commit not to interfere with or disrupt, or attempt to interfere with or disrupt, any of our systems, services, servers, networks or infrastructure, or any of the Platform’s systems, services, servers, networks or infrastructure, including without limitation obtaining unauthorized access to the aforementioned.

 

You agree and commit not to make any use of the Platform for the posting, sending or delivering of either of the following: (a) unsolicited email and/or advertisement or promotion of goods and services; (b) malicious software or code; (c) unlawful, harassing, privacy invading, abusive, threatening, vulgar, obscene, racist or potentially harmful content; (d) any content that infringes a third party right including intellectual property rights; (e) any content that may cause damage to a third party; (f) any content which may constitute, cause or encourage a criminal action or violate any applicable law.

You agree and commit not to violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, statute, ordinance, rule, regulation or ethical code in relation to your use of the Platform and your relationship with the Therapists and us.

If you receive any file from us or from a Therapist, whether through the Platform or not, you agree to check and scan this file for any virus or malicious software prior to opening or using this file.

You will indemnify us, defend us, and hold us harmless from and against any and all claims, losses, causes of action, demands, liabilities, costs or expenses (including, but not limited to, litigation and reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses) arising out of or relating to any of the following: (a) your access to or use of the Platform; (b) any actions made with your account or Account Access whether by you or by someone else; (c) your violation of any of the provisions of this Agreement; (d) non-payment for any of the services (including Therapist Services) which were provided through the Platform; (e) your violation of any third party right, including, without limitation, any intellectual property right, publicity, confidentiality, property or privacy right. This clause shall survive expiration or termination of this Agreement.

You confirm and agree to use only credit cards or other payment means (collectively “Payment Means”) which you are duly and fully authorized to use, and that all payment related information that you provided and will provide in the future, to or through the Platform, is accurate, current and correct and will continue to be accurate, current and correct.

You agree to pay all fees and charges associated with your account on a timely basis and according to the fees schedule, the terms and the rates as published in the Platform. By providing us with your Payment Means you authorize us to bill and charge you through that Payment Means and you agree to maintain valid Payment Means information in your account information.

Modifications, Termination, Interruption and Disruptions to the Platform

You understand, agree and acknowledge that we may modify, suspend, disrupt or discontinue the Platform, any part of the Platform or the use of the Platform, whether to all clients or to you specifically, at any time with or without notice to you. You agree and acknowledge that we will not be liable for any of the aforementioned actions or for any losses or damages that are caused by any of the aforementioned actions.

The Platform depends on various factors such as software, hardware and tools, either our own or those owned and/or operated by our contractors and suppliers. While we make commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the Platform’s reliability and accessibility, you understand and agree that no platform can be 100% reliable and accessible and so we cannot guarantee that access to the Platform will be uninterrupted or that it will be accessible, consistent, timely or error-free at all times.

Contact/Complaints

Please direct any communications, including complaints about the Platform, to info@gethelpfirst.com.

 

Important Notes about our Agreement

This Agreement and our relationship with you shall both be interpreted solely in accordance with the laws of Pakistan excluding any rules governing choice of laws.

 

THIS AGREEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND US. YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE NOT RELIED UPON ANY PROMISES OR REPRESENTATIONS BY US EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT.

Last Updated: December 1, 2024