WELCOME TO AREEKA WEB
                                                                                                                
About your privacy and this privacy policy

Your privacy is extremely important to us. We are constantly putting a great deal of thought, effort, tools, resources and procedures in place in order to protect and safeguard your privacy. This document is our "Privacy Policy" and contains details on issues related to your privacy when using our services. This Privacy Policy applies to visitors to the public websites owned and operated by AREEKA WEB, the registered users of AREEKA WEB’s associated mobile and web application (collectively with the websites, the "Platform"), and to the therapists that provide the mental health Services ("Therapists"). It is intended to inform you of our policies, procedures and practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of any information that you provide through the Platform.

The Privacy Policy is part of our Terms and Conditions. The terms in the Privacy Policy (such as, but not limited to, "we", "our", "us", "Platform", and "Therapist Services") have the same meaning as in our Terms and Conditions document. When you use our Platform you accept and agree to both the Terms and Conditions and to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to be bound to the Privacy Policy you should stop using the Platform immediately or cease to provide the Therapist Services, as applicable. By accessing and using our Platform or providing the Therapist Services, as applicable, you affirm that you have read the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy and that you understand, agree to and acknowledge all the terms contained in both of them.

The policy is founded on these rules:

Data that you are asked to be included are the key information needed to complete the process of booking appointments with a Therapist. Whatever information you provide during your therapy sessions is your own and you share it with the Therapist (based on a confidential relationship and respect for privacy). We do not collect, process or retrieve any information exchanged between you and the Therapist during the session. Nobody will know about your sessions with a Therapist through the site AREEKA WEB unless you tell them about it yourself. As part of our ability to offer our services, select members of the AREEKA WEB team, such as the site administrators, will be aware of your engagement in therapy sessions. The site administrators monitor your feedback in order to ensure you are receiving the highest level of service possible and to measure efficiency.

AREEKA WEB is devoted to safeguarding the private information of our clients and employees and to ensuring the highest level of confidentiality of our records. This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect, how we use it, and the standards and procedures put in place to safeguard your personal, non-public information.

AREEKA WEB, its personnel, and its affiliates strictly adhere to this Privacy Policy and the security practices and procedures described herein to ensure the confidentiality of customer information. It is AREEKA WEB’s policy to comply with all laws and regulations relating to the privacy of our clients’ private information (PI) and private health information (PHI).
Except as permitted by law, or as otherwise described below, AREEKA WEB does not disclose any PI/PHI about its customers, or former customers, or employees, to anyone.

Information collection, use, and disclosure

To enable us to operate the Platform effectively and to provide you with use of the Platform, including the Therapist Services, we may collect, use, and store the information described below. We also disclose certain information to third parties, as described further below. The information we collect is received directly or indirectly from you and generated in the course of your use of the Platform.

Categories of Information Collected

AREEKA WEB collects, retains, and uses PI/PHI from clients, including the following:

● “Onboarding Data”: The information that is required when you sign up to the AREEKA WEB site, as well as the information you choose to share. In addition to the questionnaire responses provided by users (including Therapists) in the process of initial registration, AREEKA WEB collects, uses, and stores certain additional data from users during the onboarding process. This data includes the pages viewed by the user.

● “Visitor Data”: AREEKA WEB collects, uses, and stores data regarding user visits to its website and use of the AREEKA WEB application, including the particular pages visited or viewed by the user, the amount of time the user spent on the website or application, website errors experienced by the user, visits to the AREEKA WEB "FAQ" page, and information about the browser or device used to access the website and application, such as the user’s mobile device ID and IP address. These practices apply to users who visit pages for prospective new customers as well as those who visit pages for prospective Therapists.

● "Public Information", which means the information you choose to make public, as well as information that is always publicly available.

● Information posted to a group chat or moderated session, and information kept within a one-on-one session.

● “Customer Data”: AREEKA WEB collects, uses, and stores certain data from users that have signed up for AREEKA WEB’s services such as a user’s self-reported name or nickname, age, gender, email address, phone number, and emergency contact information.

● “Contact Information” is personal information and/or the personal information of a family member/friend/relation that AREEKA WEB stores confidentially for your Therapist to access in case of an emergency or mental health crisis.

● “Therapist Data”: In order to verify, re-verify, run checks on, and pay Therapists, AREEKA WEB collects, uses, and stores certain data from Therapists. This data includes information such as the Therapist’s name, email address, phone number, home address, and education and job history.

● “Counseling Session Data”: AREEKA WEB collects, uses, and stores certain general data regarding user counseling sessions, such as whether a live session has been scheduled by the user, whether a Therapist or user joins a scheduled session, when a counseling session began and ended, and whether a counseling session was canceled or re-scheduled.

● “Banking information” for billing purposes, such as account number and routing information for invoicing purposes.

● “Communications Data”: AREEKA WEB collects, uses, and stores communications between users and Therapists on the Platform, and communications between users and AREEKA WEB’s customer service team.

Purposes for which information is used

We may use the information we collect for one or more of the following purposes:

Communication with you

1. To contact you or provide you with information, alerts and suggestions that are related to the Platform.

2. To verify your identity.

3. To complete an activity you requested, such as register for the Platform or obtain more information.

4. To reach out to you, either ourselves or using the appropriate authorities, if we have a good reason to believe that you or any other person may be in danger, or may be either the cause or the victim of a criminal act.

Delivery of services to you

1. To create your account on our Platform and enable you to log in to your account and use the Platform.

2. To manage your account, provide you with customer support, and ensure you are receiving quality service

3. For billing and transaction processing purposes.

4. To match users with Therapists and facilitate the Therapist Services.

5. ​​​To provide, support, personalise, and develop our Platform and the Therapist Services.

Administration and improvement of services

1. To supervise, administer and monitor the Platform.
Customisation and marketing

1. To advertise and market the Platform and Therapist Services to potential users and Therapists.

2. ​​​​​​To personalise the website experience and to deliver content, and product and service offerings relevant to individual interests, including targeted offers and advertisements through our websites, third-party sites, and via email or text message.

Compliance with law

1. To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.

2. ​​​To comply with applicable laws, including, but not limited to, laws related to protecting client and public health and safety.

Other uses with consent
Disclosure of personal information
Information about you may be disclosed to third parties for one or more of the following purposes/reasons:

For business purposes and advertising: We may share a user’s information with a Therapist and a Therapist’s information with a user only as necessary for facilitating the Therapist Services. We may also share your information with vendors and service providers, including our data hosting and data storage partners, analytics and advertising providers, and vendors providing technology services and support, payment processing, and data security. We may also share information with professional advisers, such as auditors, law firms, and accounting firms.

With your direction or consent: We may share your information with third parties if you request or direct us to do so.

With affiliates within our corporate group: We may share your information with any subsidiaries or parent companies within our corporate group.

Compliance with law: We may share your information with a court, government or regulatory entity, law enforcement personnel, or, pursuant to a subpoena, to comply with applicable law, a legal summons, court order or a similar legal process, audit or investigation or any obligations thereunder.

In the context of a transaction: We may share your information in connection with an asset sale, merger, bankruptcy, or other business transaction.

For other business reasons: We may share your information to enforce any applicable Terms and Conditions and Terms of Use, to ensure the safety and security of the Platform and our users, to computer services consultants and technicians or other security consultants, in order to ensure the confidentiality and security of customer and employee records, to service Therapists or consultants to carry out requested services, and/or to protect against or prevent actual or potential fraud, unauthorised transactions, claims, or other liability.

Note that if you make any information publicly available on the Platform, anyone may see and use such information.

The uses of the collected data by AREEKA WEB

AREEKA WEB uses non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our website and to use in research and trend analyses. For example, we may tell an advertiser that X number of individuals visited a certain area on our website, or that Y number of men and Z number of women filled out a site survey or form, but we would not disclose anything that could be used to identify those individuals. We only provide data to our partners, if any, after we have removed your name and any other personally identifying information from it, or have combined it with other people's data in a way that it no longer personally identifies you.

AREEKA WEB uses non-identifying and aggregate information about responses to the clinical outcome assessments (personal assessments), and the frequency of the utilisation of the AREEKA WEB service. These efforts enhance program evaluation.

The anonymous and aggregated data may also be published through various media platforms/academic journals. No personal identifying information is tied to the results, and AREEKA WEB does not share anything that could be used to identify your account or your private information.

From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will contact you before we use your data for these new purposes, to notify you of the policy change, and to provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses.

AREEKA WEB stores data only for as long as it is necessary to provide products and services to you and others, including those described above, and for legal protections, or as required by applicable laws and regulations.

AREEKA WEB may enable access to public information that has been shared through our services.

AREEKA WEB may allow service Therapists to access information so they can help us provide services. IP addresses are used to identify the location of users, the number of visits from different countries, to block disruptive use, and to analyse and improve the services offered on our website, for example, to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience.

Certain information is needed to provide you with services, so we only delete this information after you delete your account. Some forms of processing (sending promotional information, commercial profiling, behavioral advertising, geo-location, etc.) may require the express consent of the User. Specific information may be shown on the pages of the Site in connection with particular services or processing of Data provided by the Site User.

Upon request, we provide site visitors with access to a description of information that we maintain about them. AREEKA WEB uses industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving consumer data exchanged with our site. If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us [email protected].

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos, you specifically grant AREEKA WEB a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with AREEKA WEB (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it. This paragraph does NOT apply to photos, images or other videos shared ONLY with your Therapist in your private “Room” on the Platform.

When you delete your IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).

Protection: How we protect personal information

We restrict access to information about you to those employees who need to know that information as part of their job responsibilities. We also educate our employees about the importance of confidentiality and customer privacy through standard operating procedures, special training programs, and our Code of Conduct. We take appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce employee privacy responsibilities. We have developed precautions to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer records and information, to guard against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such records, and to protect against unauthorised access to, or use of, such records or information which could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to our clients or our employees.

AREEKA WEB maintains strict information security procedures to protect the confidentiality of your information. We update our technology to improve the protection of information storage.

How we protect non-public, personal information

We protect your non-public, personal information by:

● Restricting access to customer information only to those personnel for whom the information is necessary.

● Entering into written confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements with third party service providers and Therapists for certain disclosures.

● Conducting Security Training and Awareness training programs to communicate and educate employees about information security policies and procedures in order to make them aware of their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding information resources.

● AREEKA WEB uses firewall barriers and digital certifications to maintain the security of your online sessions and information.

● We do not collect any non-public personal information about visitors on our website, unless information is provided to us voluntarily or derived from website navigation and usage of the AREEKA WEB website and online platforms.

● We may gather and analyse information regarding usage of our website, including domain name, the number of hits, the pages visited, previous/subsequent sites visited, and length of user sessions. This information may be gathered by using cookies. AREEKA WEB uses cookies and similar technologies to track usage of the website and to address security issues. We may also use cookies to store your preferences relating to the use of our website. A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier, that is sent to your computer, tablet, phablet, cell phone or other electronic device (referred to here as a "device") browser from a website's computer and is stored on your device's hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track traffic flows.

Cookies record information about your preferences and allow us to tailor AREEKA WEB to your interests. During the course of, or any visit to, the Site, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are downloaded to your device. Many websites do this, because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things such as finding out whether the device (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking for the cookie left there on the previous visit. Information supplied by cookies can help us to analyse the profile of our visitors so we can provide you with a better user experience.

Protecting the privacy of your fellow AREEKA WEB users

1. During the use of AREEKA WEB’s services, you will not send, or otherwise post, unauthorised commercial communications (such as spam) on areekaweb.com. 

2. You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise . access areekaweb.com, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission.

3. You will not upload viruses or other malicious code.

4. You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.

5. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any other user.

6. You will not post content that is: hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

7. You will not provide any false personal information on areekaweb.com, or create an account for anyone other than for yourself without permission. You will not create more than one personal profile.

8. You will not post content, or take any action, on areekaweb.com that infringes or violates someone else's rights or otherwise violates the law.

9. You will not post anyone's identification documents or sensitive financial information on areekaweb.com.

10. You will not tag AREEKA WEB’s fellow users, or send email invitations to non-users, without their consent.

11. You will not use our copyrights or any confusingly similar marks, without our written permission.

We respect other people's rights, and expect you to do the same. We can remove any content or information you post on areekaweb.com if we believe that it violates this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Use on this Site. If you collect information from AREEKA WEB Users, you will: obtain their consent, make it clear you (and not AREEKA WEB) are the one collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you collect and how you will use it.

Privacy enforcement

Personnel using AREEKA WEB’s information resources in opposition to this policy may be subject to limitations on the use of these resources, suspension of privileges (including internet access), as well as disciplinary and/or legal action, including termination of employment. Employees, contractors, consultants, interns, and all personnel affiliated via third parties must sign the Privacy Policy agreement to comply with, and be governed by, this policy and the AREEKA WEB Information Security Policies, upon hire and again annually. All Employees have background checks performed. All Therapists acting as contractors go through rigorous vetting processes meeting or exceeding national credentialing standards.

Portable electronic devices

The AREEKA WEB Platform is available on a multitude of portable electronic devices. We provide our connection to mobile services for free, but please be aware that your carrier's normal rates and fees, such as text messaging fees, may still apply. We provide all rights necessary to enable AREEKA WEB Users to sync (including through an application) their contact lists with any basic information and contact information that is visible to them on areekaweb.com, as well as your name and profile picture.

Privacy in international use

The AREEKA WEB Platform advises both its Clients/Users and practicing Platform Therapists to be aware of, and respect and comply with, the local laws of any international based Client.

Access to collected data: At AREEKA WEB, you already have the ability to access your shared data (your personal information, your emergency contact information, and all your interactions with your Therapists) and use it as you wish.

Clear Consent: At AREEKA WEB, our Terms of Use are clear on what consent we seek with regards to your data. Prior to your engagement with your Therapist, you review and agree to a further “informed consent” process.

Unlike some data platforms, AREEKA WEB cannot erase private health data directly upon a Client’s request as it may be considered essential for other medical file retention purposes.

Privacy disputes

You will resolve any claim, cause of action, or dispute (claim) you have with us arising out of, or relating to, this Statement or areekaweb.com exclusively in Lebanese courts. The laws of the Republic of Lebanon will govern this Statement, as well as any claim that might arise between you and us, without regard to conflict of law provisions.

If anyone brings a claim against us related to your actions, content or information on areekaweb.com, you will indemnify us and hold us harmless from and against all damages, losses, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) related to such claim.

Compliance with laws and law enforcement

We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials to enforce and comply with the law. We may disclose information necessary or appropriate to protect the safety of the public or any person, to respond to claims and legal processes (including, but not limited to, subpoenas), and to prevent or stop activity that may be illegal or dangerous. You should also be aware that Therapists may be obliged to disclose information to law enforcement or other authorities to conform to their professional and legal responsibilities. Specifically, and without limitation, you should be aware that the law requires mental health professionals to disclose information and/or take action in the following cases: (a) reported or suspected abuse of a child or vulnerable adult; (b) serious suicidal potential; (c) threatened harm to another person; (d) court-ordered presentation of treatment.

Final words from AREEKA WEB

We try to keep AREEKA WEB safe, but you use it at your own risk. We are providing AREEKA WEB “As Is” without any express or implied warranties. We do not guarantee that AREEKA WEB will be safe or secure. AREEKA WEB is not responsible for the actions, content, information, or data of third parties and you release us, our directors, officers, employees, and agents from any claims and damages, known and unknown, arising out of, or in any way connected with, any claim you have against any such third parties.

We strive to create a global community with consistent standards for everyone, but we also strive to respect local laws. By content we mean anything you post on AREEKA WEB that would not be included in the definition of information. By data we mean content and information that third parties can retrieve from AREEKA WEB or provide to AREEKA WEB through the Platform. By post we mean post on AREEKA WEB or otherwise make available to us (such as by using an application). By use we mean use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and/or create derivative works.

AREEKA WEB openly volunteers its practices of collecting information, its targeting capabilities, and its use of cookies.

Your use of our Platform is regarded with the utmost respect to your privacy. We keep all information, not disclosed above, private between the Therapist and the User, keeping only non-decimated "file" copies for reference in case of legal dispute, or if summoned by court order, as required by law, for period up to ten years. File retention protects both the User’s and the Therapist’s safety. AREEKA WEB is not responsible for any data lost/exposed/used due to the nature of the internet and digital environments, including illegal actions of hackers and criminals, technical malfunctions of servers and database, or any other reason. These are the accepted risks of our users and users of the internet in general. You are agreeing to this standard by using our site.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to amend and update this Privacy Statement at our sole discretion, at any time and without notice. The date of the last revision of this policy appears at the end of this page. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our Privacy Policy and practices.

The Privacy Policy was last updated on August 1, 2021 and is deemed effective as amended as of this date.