The Academy for Couples Therapists 
Dr. Sara Schwarzbaum, Ed.D., LCPC, LMFT
Revision Date:  November 1, 2021

Privacy Policy

The Academy for Couples Therapists (“the Academy” or "us", "we", or "our" in context) operates the website: https://theacademyforcouplestherapists.com (the "Site") and the therapist and counselor education and training service headed by Dr. Sara Schwarzbaum. This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which the Academy collects, uses, maintains and discloses personally identifiable information (“personal information”) from users of the Site and prospective and registered subscribers to the Academy.

By using this Site, and joining the Academy, you signify your acceptance of this policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site, services or materials.

Site Visitors and Academy Subscribers

We collect personal information from Site users and subscribers only if they voluntarily submit such information to us in the course of applying to the Academy and subscriber activities. Our services do not address and we do not provide education or training services to anyone under the age of 18. Potential subscribers may visit our Site anonymously to learn about the Academy. During the application process they provide name, email address, username and password, and other identifying and payment information. Once registered, subscribers may disclose additional information in the course of the services we provide.

Why We Collect User Information

We may collect subscriber’s personal information for the following purposes:

• To register subscribers.
• To contact users and subscribers about, and in the course of, our education and training services and to provide updates.
• To allow users and subscribers to participate in interactive features of our services when they choose to do so.
• To monitor the usage of our services.
• To improve customer service information and respond to service requests and support needs.
• To personalize user experience. We may use information in the aggregate to understand how our subscribers as a group use the services and resources provided on our Site.
• To use feedback that users and subscribers provide to improve our Site.
• To send users and subscribers other Site feature information they agree to receive about topics we believe will be of interest to them.

We generally use email addresses to send information and updates pertaining to our services. Email may also be used to respond to user inquiries, questions, and/or other requests. For users and subscribers who opt-in to our mailing list, they will receive emails that may include practice news, updates, helpful information or related service information.

How We Protect Your Information

We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information, including email address, sign-in and transaction information and data stored on our Site. We maintain internal policies on information security, including information and communication technology security, physical security and access security. We destroy and de-identify personal information in accordance with our destruction policies. The security of your data is important to us, but no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee it will be free from all security breaches.

Sharing Your Personal Information

We do not sell or rent users’ or subscribers’ personal information to others or without your permission exchange or share it. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal information regarding visitors, users or subscribers with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for our stated purposes.

Other Disclosure Circumstances

Under certain circumstances we may disclose your personal information in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

• To comply with a legal obligation
• To protect and defend the rights or intellectual property
• To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
• To protect the personal safety of users of the service or the public
• To protect against legal liability

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below:

• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers
• Service providers who provide IT and system administration services
• Third party software providers such as an email marketing service.

We require all third parties to whom we transfer your data to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We only allow such third parties to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Access and Usage Data

We may collect information about how our services are accessed and used that are not personally identifiable. Access and usage data may include the browser IP address, the pages visited and time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers, and other diagnostic data about users and subscribers means of connecting to our Site including operating system and the internet service providers utilized.

Web Browser Cookies and Other Tracking Data

Our Site may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance user experience. Cookies are files with small amounts of data that may include an anonymous, unique identifier.  They may be sent to the user’s browser from a website and stored on the user’s device.  Other tracking technologies include beacons, tags and scripts to collect and track information to improve and analyze our services. Users may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert them when cookies are being sent. (If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function as intended.)

“Do Not Track” is a preference users and subscribers can set in their web browser to inform websites that they do not want to be tracked. Selecting Do Not Track in your settings may not prevent tracking if a site does not have enabling support.

Analytics and Behavioral Remarketing

We may use third-party service providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Site. We may also use remarketing services to advertise to visitors on third party websites after they visit our Site. We and our third-party vendors may use cookies to inform, optimize and serve ads based on your past visits to our Site.

Payment Processing

We use third-party services for payment processing. The Academy will not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to our third-party payment processors whose use of your personal information is governed by their privacy policies. Neither the Academy nor our subscribers are enabled to see this information. These payment processors adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.

Third Party Links and Other Resources

The Site and our services and materials may contain links to third party websites and other resources. Such links are for your information and convenience without any recommendation or affiliation by the Academy. We do not control the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our Site. You acknowledge sole responsibility for and assume any risk arising from your use of any such websites or resources. We recommend that you review the terms of use and privacy policies of any third-party website you visit

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We have the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will change the revision date at the beginning of this document. We encourage users and subscribers to frequently check this policy for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications. Your continued use of the Site or the Academy materials or services following the posting of changes to this policy, will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

To Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your dealings with this Site or the Academy, please contact Dr. Schwarzbaum directly at:
support@theacademyforcouplestherapists.com

Provisions for Legal Compliance Outside the USA

The Academy may have subscribers from diverse countries outside the US whose sharing of personal information may subject us to additional or restated privacy requirements. It would not be possible to identify all these requirements in this policy, but users of the Site outside the USA should feel free to contact us in the event they have questions about our handling of their information.
We have set forth below applicable supplemental provisions of the European Economic Union (EEU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is often a model for other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom (UK). Our review has been based on the Guide to the GDPR published by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

Provisions Applicable to EEU Users

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights under the European Economic Union (EEU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that may be additional or restated from the Academy’s USA edition. These rights concern “Personal Data” as defined by the GDPR. This supplement will identify our legal basis for collecting and using Personal Data consistent with GDPR requirements.
Our compliance depends on the Personal Data we collect and the specific context in which we collect it. Our lawful basis for processing your Personal Data must, summarily worded, only be because:

• You have given us your consent to do so
• We need to perform under a contract with you
• We have a legal obligation to do so
• We need to perform a necessary task in the public interest or by governmental demand
• Our action is in our necessary legitimate interests balanced against your rights
• As to special category sensitive data, we have complied with separate stated rule justifications
• As to criminal records, if it meets with separate stated rule conditions or in an official capacity

If you wish to be informed what Personal Data we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us.

Depending on the circumstances, the GPDR gives you the following data protection rights:

• The right to be informed about collection and use of Personal Data
• The right to access, update or to delete the information we have on you. Whenever made possible, you can access, update or request deletion of your Personal Data directly within your account settings section. If you are unable to perform these actions yourself, please contact us to assist you.
• The right of rectification. You have the right to have your information corrected if that information is inaccurate or incomplete
• The right to erasure of your Personal Data.
• The right to restrict our processing of your Personal Data.
• The right of restriction. You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information.
• The right to data portability, to be provided with a copy of the information we have on you in a structured, machine-readable and commonly used format.
• The right to object and withdraw consent at any time where we have relied on your consent to process your Personal Data.
• As to automated processing and profiling, the right to require us to conform to stated rule requirements.

We will ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests.
You have the right to complain to a GDPR Data Protection Authority about our collection and use of your Personal Data. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority in the EEA.