Privacy Notice

1. Introduction

Welcome to MindTales’ Privacy Notice. MindTales respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal information when using our Platform and the Counselor Services, and informs you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

MindTales ltd is the controller with respect to your personal information. You can contact our Data Protection Officer with questions, concerns, or objections about this Privacy Notice, or about your personal information by emailing privacy@mindtales.me or writing to: MindTales 2406 ResCo-work02, 24th Floor, Al Sila Tower, ADGM, Al Maryah Island, P.O. Box 128666, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The Privacy Notice is part of our Terms and Conditions which can be found on our website. The terms in the Privacy Notice (such as, but not limited to, “we”, “our”, “us”, “Platform”, “Counselor”, “Counselor Services” etc) have the same meaning as in our Terms and Conditions. When you use our Platform, you accept and agree to both the Terms and Conditions and to the Privacy Notice. If you do not agree to be bound by the Privacy Notice you should stop using the Platform immediately. By accessing and using our Platform you affirm that you have read the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Notice and that you understand, agree, and acknowledge all the terms contained in both of them.

2. Information Collection, Use, and Disclosure

2.1 The data we collect about you

To enable us to operate the Platform and to enable you to use the Platform (including the Counselor Services) effectively, we may have to collect your personal information. Personal information or personal information means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified (either directly or indirectly). It does not include data where the identity has been removed (i.e., anonymous data.)

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal information about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
• Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access the Platform or website.
• Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services, including the Platform.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
• Counselor Service Data includes any information related to the Counselor Services or your need for Counselor Services, and any information which is exchanged between you and your

Counselor.

In some cases, some of the personal information that you provide to us may be considered health-related data. Data protection law recognizes that some categories of personal information are more sensitive. Sensitive personal information can include information about a person’s health, race, ethnic origin, political opinions, sex life, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. If you provide us with any sensitive personal information we will treat that information with extra care and confidentiality and always in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

We also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated data could be derived from your personal information but is not considered personal information in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website or Platform feature. However, if we combine or connect aggregated data with your personal information so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal information which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

You may decide which personal information if any, you would like to share with us, but some functions of the Platform may not be available to you without providing us the necessary personal information. By deciding to provide the personal information you agree to our methods of collections and use, as well as other terms and provisions of this Privacy Notice.

Protecting your personal information is a top priority for us. We will never sell or rent any personal information you shared on the Platform. Other than in the limited ways detailed in this Privacy Notice, we will never use or disclose any personal information unless you specifically and explicitly requested or approved us to do so.

2.2 How is your personal information collected?

We use different methods to collect data from you and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your personal information by filling in forms or by corresponding with us. This includes personal information you provide when you:

o apply for our products or services; o create an account on our Platform; o subscribe to our service or publications; o request marketing to be sent to you; o enter a competition, promotion or survey; o give us feedback or contact us

• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal information by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal information about you from various third parties [and public sources] as set out below :
• Technical Data from the following parties:
• analytics providers such as [Google] based outside the EU;
• advertising networks [such as [NAME] based [inside] [outside] the EU]
• search information providers [such as [NAME] based [inside] [outside] the EU]
• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services [such as [NAME] based [inside] [outside] the EU]
• Identity and Contact Data from data brokers or aggregators [such as [NAME] based [inside] [outside] the EU]

2.3 How we use your personal information?

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly we will use your personal information where:

• We need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• It is necessary for our Legitimate Interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. (Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal information for our Legitimate Interests. We do not use your personal information for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
• We need to comply with a legal obligation.

The following non-exhaustive list sets out how we use your personal information:

• To create your account on our Platform and let you log in to your account and use the

Platform.

• To manage your account, provide you with customer support, and ensure you are receiving quality service.
• To contact you or provide you with information, alerts, and suggestions that are related to the service.
• For billing-related purposes.
• To reach out to you, either ourselves or using the appropriate authorities, if either we or a Counselor 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.
• To match you with a Counselor.
• To enable and facilitate Counselor Services.
• To supervise, administer, and monitor the service.
• To measure and improve the quality, effectiveness, and delivery of our services.
• Market the Platform and Counselor Services to you.
• To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
• To comply with the applicable laws, including, but not limited to laws related to protecting client and public health and safety.
• To provide, support, personalize, and develop our Platform and Counselor Services.
• To personalize your website experience and to deliver content and product and service offerings relevant to your interests, including targeted offers and ads through our websites, third-party sites, and via email or text message (with your consent, where required by law).

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

2.4 How long will we retain your personal information?

We will only retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements. In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: please see section 12 (Your legal rights) below for further information.

In some circumstances we will anonymize your personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Whilst we continue to process your personal information, we will ensure that it is treated in accordance with this Privacy Notice. Otherwise, we securely erase your information once it is no longer needed.

2.5 Who do we share your personal information with?

We’ll always conduct a full review of our suppliers’ processes and procedures including storage solutions for our data to ensure adequacy when sending your data abroad, we put in place contracts based on the standard contractual clauses to guarantee adequacy, we also use alternative safeguards where standard contract clauses are not suitable. o We may share your information internally on a need to know basis when required for our business to function.

• We may share your information externally with our core service providers when required for our business to function.
• In connection with a sale or business transaction. If Mindtales is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, your information may be transferred prior to, upon or following the transaction. We will provide notice before your information is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Notice.
• We may need to share personal information in order to protect ourselves against fraudulent claims and to manage insurance and legal claims.
• We may need to share personal information to support our IT system providers to keep our systems secure. Each of the external companies we work with has been selected by us for their ability to provide what we need to our required specification, including their ability to handle sensitive data (like your personal information) securely and appropriately.
• We may need to share personal information when we receive requests for information from government departments, the police and other enforcement agencies. If this happens, and there is a proper legal basis for providing your personal information, we will provide it to the organization asking for it.

2.6 Disclosure of Your Personal information

For other purposes: We may use your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, and your experience.

• Law enforcement

Under certain circumstances, we may be required to disclose Your Personal information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency).

• Other legal requirements

We may disclose Your Personal information in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

• Comply with a legal obligation
• Protect and defend the our rights or property
• Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
• Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
• Protect against legal liability

3. Opting out of Marketing Communication

You can opt-out of receiving email marketing by unsubscribing using the unsubscribe link provided in all of our marketing email communications.

4. Notice Social and General Information Tool

We use several publicly-available tools and information exchange resources, such as (but not limited to) a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and others (collectively “Social and General Information Tools”). Any information you provide or share while using Social and General Information Tools may be read, accessed, collected by that site, and users of that site according to their privacy Notice.

5. Phishing

Online identity theft and account hacking, including the practice currently known as “phishing”, are of great concern. You should always be diligent when you are being asked for your account information and you must always make sure you do that in our secure system. We will never request your login information or your credit card information in any non-secure or unsolicited communication (email, phone, or otherwise).

6. Links

The Platform may contain links to other websites, services, or offers that are owned, operated, or maintained by third parties. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third website or service. The fact that we link to a website or service is not an endorsement, authorization, or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not have control over third party websites and services and we do not have control over their privacy policies and terms of use.

7. Security

While using any Internet-based service carries inherent security risks that cannot be 100% prevented, our systems, infrastructure, encryption technology, operation, and processes are all designed, built, and maintained with your security and privacy in mind. We apply industry standards and best practices to prevent any unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. We comply with the applicable law and regulations regarding data privacy. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal information breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where legally required to do so.

8. Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Platform, to perform certain tasks that are related to the Platform, or to provide audit, legal, operational, or other services for us. These tasks include, but are not limited to: customer service, technical maintenance, monitoring, email management and communication, database management, billing and payment processing, reporting, and analytics. We will share with them only the minimum necessary information to perform their task for us and only after entering into appropriate confidentiality agreements.

9. Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly collect or solicit any information from anyone under the age of 13 or knowingly allow such persons to become our users. The Platform is not intended to be used by children under the age of 13. If you’re aware that we have collected Personal Information from a child under age 13 please let us know by contacting us and we will delete that information.

10. International Transfer

Your information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your province, country, or another governmental jurisdiction. Regardless of where your data is stored, it will be maintained securely as outlined in this Notice. Your consent to our Terms and Conditions and the submission of your personal information to us represents your agreement to such transfers.

11. Your legal rights

Depending on your country, you may have rights under applicable data protection laws in relation to your personal information. The various rights are not absolute and each is subject to certain exceptions or qualifications. We will grant your request only to the extent that it follows from our assessment of your request that we are allowed and required to do so under applicable data protection laws. Nothing in this Privacy Notice is intended to provide you with rights beyond or in addition to your rights as a data subject under applicable data protection laws. You have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal information to comply with local law. Note that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a Legitimate Interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal information in the following scenarios:
  • Where you want us to establish the data’s accuracy. o Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
  • Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
  • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal information. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. You will not ordinarily have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response. We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

12. Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement

We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials to enforce and comply with the applicable law. We may disclose information necessary or appropriate to protect the safety of the public or any person, to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas), and to prevent or stop the activity that may be illegal or dangerous. You should also be aware that Counselors 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 mental health professionals are obliged 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.

13. Changes to the Privacy Notice and your duty to inform us of changes

We may update this Privacy Notice at our sole discretion. The date of the last revision of this Notice appears at the end of this page. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our Privacy Notice and practices. Regardless of changes to our Privacy Notice, we will never use the information you submit under our current privacy notice in a new way without first notifying you and giving you the option to opt-out.

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your relationship with us.