Terms of Use and Conditions of Service

Effective Date: June 25, 2026
Last Updated: June 25, 2026

Welcome to approvedtherapists.com (the "Site", "Service", "we", "us", or "our"). These Terms of Use ("Terms" or "Agreement") constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity ("you", "your", "User", "Client", or "Therapist"), and approvedtherapists.com, concerning your access to and use of our website and all digital directory applications, communication utilities, tools, and assets related thereto (collectively, the "Services").

Please read these Terms carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing, browsing, searching, registering an account, or using the Services in any capacity, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms, including our Privacy Policy and the Binding Arbitration Agreement and Class Action Waiver set forth in Section XIV. If you do not agree with all of these Terms, you are expressly prohibited from using our Services, and you must discontinue use immediately.

I. Critical Disclosure & Passive Directory Disclaimer

1. No Verification of Credentials

• approvedtherapists.com operates solely as a passive online platform and informational database designed to assist individuals in locating independent mental health practitioners.
• We do not verify, vet, validate, monitor, background check, or audit the licenses, medical degrees, certifications, insurance coverage, clinical competencies, or professional standing of any Therapist or healthcare provider listed on the platform.
• All profile data, biographical materials, educational histories, statements of expertise, pricing schedules, and professional credentials displayed on Therapist listings are entirely self-reported and uploaded by the respective Therapist or their authorized representatives.
• We do not warrant or guarantee that any information presented on the platform is current, complete, accurate, or compliant with state, federal, or regional licensing regulations.

2. User Assumption of Sole Risk

• The ultimate selection, vetting, and engagement of any Therapist or clinical provider listed on the platform is your exclusive and absolute responsibility.
• Users are strictly and strongly advised to execute their own independent investigations, clinical consultations, and reference checks prior to choosing a Therapist.
• This independent verification should include making direct inquiries to corresponding state medical boards, regional licensing authorities, professional associations, or specialized insurance databases to confirm active credentials and malpractice standings.
• Any relationship, contractual agreement, or professional interaction entered into between a Client and a Therapist listed on our Site is strictly between those parties.
• We are not a party to, nor do we monitor, enforce, or accept any liability for interactions, treatments, outcomes, diagnostic errors, billing disputes, or professional malpractice occurring as a result of such engagements.
• By utilizing the Services, you acknowledge and agree that any reliance on profile descriptions or platform search results is executed strictly at your own risk.

II. No Doctor-Patient Relationship & Medical Liability Exclusion

1. Information Only; Not Clinical Care

• All data, clinical summaries, descriptive texts, blog articles, tests, questionnaires, and materials visible through the Services are offered strictly for general informational, educational, scheduling, and directory index matching purposes.
• Nothing published on, transmitted through, or made available by or through the platform should be construed, interpreted, or relied upon as the practice of medicine, psychiatry, clinical psychology, counseling, or professional healthcare advice.
• The provision of the platform, the indexing of mental health providers, and the routing of message inquiry forms do not create a licensed medical professional-patient relationship, a clinical counselor-client relationship, or a fiduciary advisory relationship between you and approvedtherapists.com.

2. Clinical Care Advice Disclaimer

• approvedtherapists.com does not provide medical treatment, psychiatric diagnostics, drug prescription advice, clinical therapies, or specialized diagnostic evaluations.
• You must never depend on information found across our Services to make severe personal health or therapeutic decisions.
• You must never disregard, avoid, circumvent, or delay acquiring direct clinical evaluation or professional medical support from your primary physician or other qualified health practitioner because of content, text, or matches viewed within our platform.
• If you experience an unexpected shift in physical or psychological health, you must immediately contact your local physician or licensed emergency team.

3. Crisis & Emergency Protocols

• Our Services are not intended for emergency use, crisis intervention, or life-threatening situations.
• If you are experiencing acute suicidal ideation, are considering severe self-harm or actions that could cause immediate danger to others, find yourself in a psychological or domestic emergency, or face a medical crisis, you must immediately halt your use of this platform.
• You are directed to immediately contact your local emergency services (e.g., calling 911 or 988 inside the United States) or navigate to the nearest hospital emergency department.
• Our platform is unequipped to deliver, and expressly disclaims the ability to provide, real-time diagnostic support or emergency medical response utilities.

III. Platform Eligibility & User Account Compliance

1. Age Threshold and Jurisdiction Requirements

• By interacting with the Services, you represent, warrant, and certify that you are at least 18 years of age (or have reached the legal age of contractual majority in your state or country of residence if that limit exceeds 18).
• If you are accessing the Services on behalf of a minor child, you certify that you are the minor's lawful parent or legally appointed guardian, and you expressly bind both yourself and the minor to this Agreement.
• Any use of or registration on our platform by individuals under the age of 13 is strictly unauthorized and void.
• Access to our Services is restricted or void where local legislation prohibits directory usage.

2. Credential Confidentiality and Security

• To engage in specific platform interactive modules or maintain a directory listing, you may be required to register an account and furnish profile information.
• You agree to maintain accurate, complete, and regularly updated account details.
• You are fully accountable for maintaining the secrecy of your username, credentials, and password.
• You accept full legal liability for any actions, communications, bookings, updates, or transactions that take place through your authenticated account, whether authorized by you or resulting from negligence.
• You must immediately notify support@approvedtherapists.com if you suspect or identify an unauthorized breach of your account security.

IV. Therapist Rules, Standards, and Compliance

If you register, apply for inclusion, or operate an active profile as a Therapist or healthcare provider on approvedtherapists.com, you are subject to the following rules and guidelines:

1. Continuous Professional Licensure

• You represent and warrant that you hold an active, valid, and unrestricted license, registration, or regulatory permit to deliver the mental health, diagnostic, therapeutic, or counseling services you claim to offer.
• This credential must be active in every state or country where you accept Clients or operate a clinical practice.
• You must immediately notify our administration and proactively take down your profile if your license is suspended, revoked, investigated, placed on probation, or otherwise limited by an administrative agency or legal tribunal.

2. Complete Profile Data Honesty

• You assume full responsibility for ensuring that all listing attributes, biographical histories, certification statements, language claims, insurance information, pricing estimates, and images uploaded to your profile are honest, factual, and free of misleading content.
• approvedtherapists.com retains the right, but does not assume the obligation, to perform random reviews, disable profile displays, or erase account records if your uploaded information violates content policies or appears fraudulent.

3. Client Interaction Independence

• You acknowledge that approvedtherapists.com has zero oversight, input, or control over the behavior, reliability, financial capacity, or clinical appropriateness of any User or Client who contacts you through our platform.
• We disclaim any and all liability for unfulfilled patient bookings, negative platform feedback, cancelled consultation sessions, financial non-payment, or unpermitted client conduct.

V. Visitor and Client Inquiry Capabilities

1. Passive Messaging Protocols

• The platform integrates web forms and contact mechanics to assist Users in transmitting direct messages or booking inquiries directly to chosen Therapists.
• You acknowledge and agree that approvedtherapists.com acts as a delivery agent for these communications; we do not read, process, validate, store indefinitely, or review the clinical suitability of these transmissions.
• We do not promise, warrant, or guarantee that any Therapist reached through our directory will read your message, execute a timely response, or grant you a client consultation session.

2. Communication Security Risk Acknowledgment

• You explicitly acknowledge that transmitting information through internet message forms and standard unencrypted email is not a fully secure channel.
• By using our contact forms to send messages to listed Therapists, you choose to assume the privacy risks of digital interception, data leakage, and exposure.
• Users are strongly cautioned against inputting highly sensitive or descriptive diagnostic histories inside free-form inquiry fields.

VI. Prohibited Uses and Behavior Limitations

In addition to other prohibitions established throughout this Agreement, you are strictly forbidden from utilizing our Services for any of the following unauthorized or unlawful activities:

• Systematic Scraping & Data Extraction: Utilizing manual processes or automated software mechanisms, including crawlers, indexing bots, scraping scripts, or automated offline readers, to harvest, parse, mine, or extract data, email addresses, phone numbers, or code libraries from our Services.
• Database Aggregation: Compiling, collecting, copying, indexing, or recreating our list of Therapists to assemble a competitive directory or commercial database without our explicit written permission.
• Deceptive Profiles: Fabricating false user accounts, impersonating existing individuals, misrepresenting your clinical standing, or inputting fraudulent profile information.
• Security Subversion: Attempting to scan, probe, test, or subvert the security boundaries, verification controls, or encryption protections of our platform.
• Malicious Infrastructure Disruption: Uploading, embedding, or transmitting software viruses, Trojan horses, logic bombs, ransomware, or malicious code designed to impair, overload, crash, or freeze our host architecture or network.
• Commercial Solicitation Misuse: Harnessing our Therapist communication pathways to propagate unpermitted advertisements, junk mail, affiliate marketing schemes, spam, chain letters, or multi-level marketing proposals.
• Harassment and Hate Speech: Deploying our platform to intimidate, threaten, defame, abuse, stalk, or actively discriminate against any Client, Therapist, employee, or community participant based on race, gender expression, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, disability status, national origin, or age.

VII. Intellectual Property Entitlements

1. Proprietary Platform Ownership

• approvedtherapists.com and its respective licensors retain total, exclusive right, title, and ownership over all technological assets, portal architecture, visual assets, proprietary databases, layout features, brand methodologies, system designs, code bases, and custom content compiled across the platform (collectively, "Our Content").
• No implicit rights or licenses are assigned to you by virtue of accessing our platform.
• Any unauthorized duplication, reverse-engineering, modification, derivative generation, or commercial exploitation of Our Content without explicit written license from our board is strictly prohibited and subject to immediate litigation.

2. User Content License Grant

• By uploading text, biographical metrics, reviews, feedback, profile photos, or information to our Site ("Your Content"), you hereby grant approvedtherapists.com an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable license to utilize, host, replicate, display, broadcast, modify, and format Your Content solely to support, operate, index, and optimize our directory Services.
• You represent and warrant that you hold undisputed copyright authority and possess all mandatory rights and permissions required to authorize this license grant without violating any third-party privacy or intellectual property claims.

VIII. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Protection Policy

approvedtherapists.com takes copyright protections seriously. If you believe that any material or Therapist profile content visible on our platform infringes upon a copyright that you own or legally control, you may submit a formal notification of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512) to our Designated Copyright Agent:

• Designated DMCA Agent: Legal Department / DMCA Compliance Officer
• Email: dmca@approvedtherapists.com

To serve as a valid notification under Section 512(c)(3), your communication must provide:

1. An authentic physical or electronic signature of an individual authorized to represent the copyright owner.
2. Clear identification of the copyrighted work asserted to have been infringed.
3. Specific URL links pinpointing the material you claim is infringing so that our agents can locate and remove the asset.
4. Your complete contact data, including mailing address, phone number, and email address.
5. A statement that you possess a good-faith belief that the disputed use of the material is unauthorized by the copyright holder, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, verified under penalty of perjury, that the information supplied in your notification is accurate and that you are legally empowered to act for the copyright owner.

IX. No Warranty Provisions ("As Is" Clause)

• The Services and all content indexed therein are provided entirely on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without warranties or guarantees of any kind, either expressly stated or inherently implied.
• To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, approvedtherapists.com disclaims all warranties, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a specific purpose, compliance with trade codes, and non-infringement of intellectual property rights.
• We make no representation that the Services will remain fully uninterrupted, operational at all hours, timely, secure, error-free, or free from viruses or malicious code.
• We make no warranties concerning the accuracy, timeliness, validity, or clinical outcome of any disclosures made by Therapists or advertisers listed across our pages.
• You acknowledge that your choice to access, use, browse, or depend upon data acquired through the Services is concluded exclusively at your personal risk.

X. Limitation of Absolute Liability

• To the maximum extent authorized by prevailing law, in no event shall approvedtherapists.com, its corporate directors, executives, employees, contracted developers, service providers, or legal agents be liable to you or any third party for any personal injury, wrongful death, malpractice claims, property damage, loss of profits, lost data, replacement service expenses, or any incidental, consequential, special, punitive, or indirect damages arising from your selection, engagement, or use of the Services or content discovered on our Site.
• This limitation applies regardless of whether claims are anchored in breach of contract, tort theories (including negligence), strict liability, professional malpractice, or any other cause of action, even if our administrators were previously apprised of the probability of such complications.
• approvedtherapists.com does not operate as an agent, healthcare employer, professional partner, supervisory tribunal, or licensed counselor for any independent clinician indexed within the database.
• If approvedtherapists.com is ultimately determined by a competent judicial forum to possess liability under applicable law, you explicitly agree that our aggregate, maximum cumulative liability shall be capped at one hundred dollars ($100.00 USD) in total.

XI. Contractual Indemnification

To the maximum extent authorized by prevailing law, you agree to fully defend, indemnify, and hold harmless approvedtherapists.com, our parent organizations, corporate subsidiaries, legal affiliates, executives, directors, employees, staff agents, and successors from and against any third-party claims, civil lawsuits, liabilities, damages, judgments, legal awards, financial losses, regulatory penalties, and costs (including reasonable attorney fees) arising directly or indirectly out of:

1. Your misuse or unauthorized deployment of our directory platform or its data.
2. Any profile materials, reviews, text entries, or files you submit, distribute, or transmit through our directory communication channels.
3. Your clinical engagement, professional treatment, financial transactions, or independent therapeutic relationships with any Therapist located via our platform.
4. Your direct violation of any parameters established across these Terms, our Privacy Policy, or any relevant federal, state, or international law.

XII. General Release of Civil Claims

• By leveraging our directory platform and messaging pipelines, you knowingly, voluntarily, and irrevocably release, acquit, waive, and forever discharge approvedtherapists.com and our corporate executives, directors, affiliates, and employees from any and all losses, emotional distress damages, civil actions, clinical injuries, legal claims, and causes of action of every kind (including wrongful death or severe diagnostic complications) arising directly or indirectly from any act, error, omission, medical choice, therapeutic strategy, or professional service executed by an independent Therapist listed on our Services.
• If you are a resident of California or a jurisdiction with similar protections, you explicitly waive all protections established under California Civil Code Section 1542, which states: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party."

XIII. Governing Law and Court Jurisdiction

• All legal matters, contractual interpretations, or claims arising from your use of the platform shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Delaware, without giving effect to choice-of-law principles that would require application of another state's laws.
• Subject to the mandatory Arbitration provisions outlined in Section XIV, any legal suit or proceeding not subject to binding arbitration must be instituted exclusively within the state or federal courts located inside the County of New Castle, Delaware, and you irrevocably consent to personal jurisdiction and venue within those tribunals.
• You and approvedtherapists.com hereby knowingly and voluntarily waive any right to demand a trial by jury for any court proceedings connected to this Agreement.

XIV. Dispute Resolution: Binding Arbitration Agreement & Class Waiver

1. Absolute Agreement to Arbitrate All Claims

• You and approvedtherapists.com agree that any past, present, or future dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of, relating to, or connecting with these Terms, our directory platform, our Privacy Policy, or your access to or use of our Services, shall be determined exclusively by final, binding, and individualized arbitration.
• Arbitration is more informal than traditional courtroom litigation, deploying a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, allowing more constrained evidentiary discovery, and remaining subject to highly restrictive appellate review.
• By entering into this contract, you explicitly concede that the United States Federal Arbitration Act governs the enforcement of this provision, and you waive the right to participate in a class action lawsuit or demand a jury trial.

2. Mandatory Pre-Filing Informal Mediation Step

• Prior to filing for arbitration, the party asserting a legal grievance must first transmit a detailed, written Notice of Claim to the receiving party via trackable courier.
• Your formal Notice of Claim must be sent to: approvedtherapists.com, Legal Affairs Department via email at support@approvedtherapists.com.
• The Notice of Claim must outline: (a) your complete legal name, mailing address, and email address; (b) a thorough narrative describing the factual circumstances of the dispute; and (c) the explicit financial or equitable remedy sought.
• Following receipt of that notice, both parties agree to engage in good-faith settlement negotiations for a period of sixty (60) days.
• If no mutual settlement is reached within those 60 days, either party may formally advance the dispute by initiating an arbitration action through the American Arbitration Association ("AAA").

3. Arbitration Rules and Administration Fees

• The arbitration shall be administered by the AAA under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (collectively, the "AAA Rules"), as amended and modified by this Agreement.
• The AAA rules and submission forms are available at www.adr.org.
• The chosen arbitrator is strictly bound by the legal parameters and liability limits of this Agreement.
• Unless explicitly agreed in writing by both parties, all arbitration hearings shall take place inside New Castle County, Delaware.
• If your individual dispute asserts a total claim value under $10,000 USD, you may select whether the arbitrator resolves the issue based on documents submitted, via a remote telephonic hearing, or through standard in-person hearings under AAA guidelines.
• If your claim is validly filed and falls below $10,000 USD, our corporate treasury will promptly reimburse your individual AAA filing fees upon written confirmation of the active filing, unless the arbitrator finds your claims to be frivolous.

4. Class Action Waiver and Injunctive Relief Caps

• You and approvedtherapists.com explicitly agree that each party may only resolve claims against the other in an entirely individual capacity, and never as a plaintiff, representative, or member in a class action lawsuit or representative action.
• The arbitrator is unauthorized to combine, aggregate, or consolidate the legal claims of multiple distinct users, and is barred from presiding over any representative or class dispute mechanism.
• The arbitrator can only award monetary or injunctive relief in favor of the individual filing party, and strictly to the extent required to satisfy that party's personal claim.
• If this class waiver is found to be invalid or unenforceable as applied to a particular claim, then the entirety of this Section XIV Arbitration Agreement shall be declared null and void.

5. Right to Opt-Out

• You retain the right to opt out of this binding Arbitration clause within exactly fourteen (14) days from the date of your first interaction with the platform.
• To be legally effective, a signed opt-out notice must be sent via trackable mail to our corporate address with the clear statement: "I elect to opt out of the Arbitration Agreement in the approvedtherapists.com Terms of Use."

XV. Contract Claims Limitation Period

• To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you explicitly agree that any legal claim, complaint, cause of action, or arbitration demand arising out of or connected with the platform must be officially filed within exactly one (1) year from the date the underlying claim first accrued or occurred.
• If a formal filing is not initiated within that 1-year window, the claim or cause of action shall be permanently and irrevocably barred under contract law.

XVI. Account Suspension, Cancellation, and Termination

• approvedtherapists.com reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, without prior notice or explanation, to suspend, terminate, freeze, disable, or delete your account, your profile display, or your access to any element of our Services effective immediately.
• Reasons for immediate termination include, but are not limited to, suspected breach of any segment of these Terms, profile inaccuracy, user harassment reports, or behavior damaging to our business reputation.
• If your directory membership or user access is suspended or terminated, any future re-establishment of a directory profile is subject to our explicit review and approval.
• We shall have zero liability to you or any third party for the cancellation of your platform records or the suspension of directory communication workflows.
• Upon any cancellation or deletion of a Therapist account, we are under no contractual obligation to return, delete, or maintain any profile texts, reviews, or materials previously furnished to the database.

XVII. General Contractual Provisions

1. Entirety of the Contract

These Terms of Use, together with our integrated Privacy Policy and any specialized billing contracts signed by Therapists, constitute the entire and exclusive agreement between you and approvedtherapists.com regarding the platform, and completely replace all prior written or oral representations, proposals, or understandings.

2. Severability

If any section, clause, or specific text block of these Terms is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction or a certified arbitrator to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, that single parameter shall be severed, and the remaining portions of this contract shall remain in full force and effect.

3. Non-Waiver of Enforcement Rights

Any failure by our corporate management to strictly enforce a specific provision, right, or rule established across these Terms shall never be interpreted as a permanent waiver of our right to enforce that parameter or any other parameter in the future.

4. Electronic Communications Consent

• All information, transaction records, contact form routing, and account filings executed across our platform are considered formal electronic communications under federal law.
• You agree that we may deliver notices, billing statements, privacy updates, and regulatory disclosures to you electronically via your account email address, and that all such electronic documents carry identical legal effect as if executed physically in writing.
• By clicking interface buttons labeled "SUBMIT", "REGISTER", "I AGREE", "CONTINUE", or similar indicators, you provide a legally binding electronic signature and enter into a valid digital contract.

5. Corporate Inquiries and Legal Correspondence Contact

For all questions, notices, or general feedback regarding these Services, please contact us:

• Email: support@approvedtherapists.com
• Website: https://www.approvedtherapists.com