Terms and Conditions

If you need to speak to someone right away, please call your local Distress Centre/Helpline. If you are having difficulty accessing our online and text services please contact us info@dcontario.org.

USE OF THIS SERVICE IS BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Thank you for visiting our online and text service. Please read the following statement before using this service. By using our service, you agree to the terms described below. If you don’t agree to the terms, you may not use this service.

Nature of this Service:
Our online and text service does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any conditions.
Your participation in our online and text services:
• Does not constitute mental health care or treatment.
• Does not constitute a therapist-patient relationship.
• Does not constitute any other sort of confidential relationship.

THIS SERVICE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL HEALTH CARE. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE EXPERIENCING A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, CALL YOUR DOCTOR OR 911 IMMEDIATELY.

Service Purpose:
The purpose of our online and text service is to provide immediate, accessible, short-term help to anyone needing it. It aims to help people in crisis, whatever that crisis may be, find immediate relief from emotional distress, explore coping strategies for the current crisis, safely manage any immediate threats to life or safety, provide suggestions for online resources/information, and consider next steps the visitor can take to follow-up on after the visit. Our services seeks to achieve these aims by supportively engaging with the visitor in an empathetic, collaborative, and non-judgemental way.

Service Perimeters:
The online and text service is being delivered by a team of experienced, trained responders. Please note that our responders are only able to provide service in English at this point in time.

The online and text services are provided on an ‘as is’ basis and ‘as available’ basis. We expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied and make no warranty that we will:
a) Meet your requirements.
b) Be uninterrupted, timely, confidential, secure, or error-free.
c) Meet your expectations.

Currently our online and text service is available 7 days a week, from 2:00 PM to 2:00 AM. EST

Visitor Etiquette:
It is expected that all visitors using our online and text services will use respectful language at all times. Failure to do so may result in the service being discontinued.

We ask that you stay focused on the conversation and avoid multi-taking or chatting with others at the same time.

If you need to step away from the chat, please let us know or end the chat and come back at another time.

We reserve the right to block inappropriate or abusive visitors.

Indemnity:
Any of our employees, volunteers or agents are not responsible for any decisions, or results of the decisions that you make while, as a result of, or after participating in our online and text service. This includes whether you choose to seek or not seek professional care, or to modify or terminate specific treatment that you are currently receiving based on the information provided by this service. You assume all risk for use of this service.

Any of our employees, volunteers or agents have no liability for actions taken by you or a third party, or not taken by you or a third party, and you agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless for damages arising out of information provided through this service. Without limiting the foregoing, in no event shall we be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, or indirect damages.

Confidentiality:
Your personal information is kept confidential. We will collect some basic information from you before you connect with our online and text responders. We will not share your information with any other organization without your express permission, except where we are required to do so by law. This may apply in circumstances where there is a life threatening situation or a child protection concern. Note that de-identified transcripts may be used for the purpose of supervision, training, reporting and evaluation. Request for transcripts is only granted once the visitor proves their identity.

Privacy and Security:
We take your privacy and security very seriously. Security controls, including encryption and authentication, are in place to ensure the protection of your information. Any information provided by you or collected on you, will not be shared or disclosed with any third party. We do, however, reserve the right to disclose personal information to the authorities at our sole discretion and as required by law.

Despite these protections, the Internet remains an imperfectly secure environment, and we cannot guarantee protection from intruders or interceptors. You agree to use this service and submit information at your own risk. You agree that we have no liability regarding unauthorized access to this service by a third party.

Modification of the Terms:
This statement may be modified from time-to-time. Any changes will be effective immediately upon posting. Each time you access this service you will be presented with the current terms, conditions and privacy statement for acceptance. You must agree to the modified terms to use this service.

If you understand and agree with everything written on this page, please click the checkbox beside “I AGREE to the Terms of Service’, here:
? I AGREE to the Terms of Service

If you have questions about anything on this page, or are not ready to use our online and text services, you can contact us, or call the participating Distress/Helpline Centres closest to you instead. You can call us anytime to talk about anything.


Distress Centre Durham: 1-905-430-2522; 1-800-452-0688
Distress Centre Niagara: 1-905-688-3711


Again, thank you for visiting our online and text service.