Privacy

• You can reach out anonymously — you never have to give your real name.
• What you type in the support form or live chat is stored so a volunteer can help you.
• The live chat starts with an automated assistant; a human volunteer can read the whole conversation.
• We are not a medical or emergency service. In a crisis, call or text 988.

Depending on how you reach out, we may collect:

• Support requests.Your name (optional), how you'd like to be helped, the contact detail you provide so we can respond, and the message you send. A message, contact method, and contact detail are required.
• Live chat messages. The messages you send, an optional first name, and the replies from our assistant and volunteers. A random session token is stored in your browser so you can return to the same conversation.
• Volunteer applications. If you apply to volunteer, the email, name, and answers you provide, plus the IP address the application came from. Active volunteers can choose whether to appear in the public directory; their profile stays hidden until they opt in, and they can opt out at any time. Showing a real name requires separate signed authorization.
• Technical data. Your IP address is used to prevent spam and abuse. Rate limiting stores a one-way, keyed identifier derived from the address rather than the address itself. If you apply to volunteer, the originating IP is saved with the application for abuse prevention; it is not used to build a profile of you.
• On your device (installable app).Still Here can be installed to your home screen. When you do, your browser stores only public files of the app (its layout, styling, fonts, and icons) on your device so it opens quickly and can show a friendly “you're offline” page. It also remembers a small setting so we don't keep re-showing the “Install” prompt. We never store your messages, support requests, or any login information on your device for offline use. The production site uses basic Vercel Analytics to understand aggregate site usage; we do not use advertising trackers.

We do not ask for and do not want government IDs, financial information, or precise location. Please don't share more identifying detail than you're comfortable with.

When you open the live chat, an automated (AI) assistant asks a few opening questions and writes a short summary so a volunteer can understand your situation quickly. This means your chat messages are sent to a third-party AI language-model provider to generate those replies and the summary. A human volunteer can read the full conversation, not just the summary. The assistant is not a therapist and does not make clinical decisions.

Messages and support requests are visible to Still Here's approved volunteers and its founder, who use them only to respond to you. New requests and completed chat intakes are also announced to our private volunteer team channel on Discord so someone can pick them up. We do not sell your information or share it for advertising.

We use a small number of service providers to run the site:

• Vercel hosts the app and provides basic production site analytics.
• Neon provides the PostgreSQL database where messages and application records are stored.
• Inception Labs processes live-chat messages to generate AI intake replies and summaries.
• Discord receives notifications in our private volunteer team channel.

Each provider receives information needed for its function; we do not sell it or share it for advertising.

We keep support requests and chat conversations only as long as needed to help you and to keep the community safe. Closed chats may be purged periodically. Volunteer application records, including submitted IP addresses, are not currently automatically deleted and may be kept for application review and abuse prevention. Blocked emails or IP addresses are kept so abusive users stay blocked. You can ask us to delete a conversation you started — reach out and we'll do our best, though we may keep limited records where needed to prevent abuse.

Still Here is here for teens. If you're a minor, please be thoughtful about what you share, and know that a trusted adult, parent, guardian, teacher, or counselor, can be an important part of getting support. If you are in immediate danger, contact a parent or guardian and call or text 988 or your local emergency number right away.

If you have a question about your privacy here, please reach out. See also our Terms & Safety page.

This page is provided for transparency and is not legal advice. Still Here is a volunteer-run peer-support project, not a law firm or healthcare provider.