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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 5 October 2026

1. Who We Are

HelpSelf is an AI-powered mental health companion. We are the data controller for your personal information.

  • Organisation: HelpSelf
  • Contact: privacy@helpself.uk

2. Your Mental Health Data

We process special category health data (therapy conversations, emotional patterns, mental health insights) under GDPR Article 9(2)(a), explicit consent.

You provide explicit consent via the Health Data Consent screen during onboarding. This consent is separate from accepting this Privacy Policy.

Withdrawing consent: You can withdraw consent at any time by contacting support@helpself.uk. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

3. What Data We Collect

Special Category Health Data (Article 9)

  • Therapy conversations (messages you send to the AI)
  • AI-extracted psychological facts and patterns
  • Information about people in your life (relationship dynamics)
  • Exercise completion data

Personal Data (Article 4)

  • Email address (for authentication)
  • Name and pronouns (profile information)
  • Birth year (for age-appropriate support)
  • Subscription status (via RevenueCat)

Technical Data

  • Hashed IP addresses (login attempts only, never stored in plaintext)
  • Device information (model, OS version)
  • App version and screen analytics

4. How We Use Your Data

We process your data for the following purposes:

  • AI therapy support: To provide personalised responses and remember your context (Consent, Art 6(1)(a) + Art 9(2)(a))
  • Profile building: To extract and store psychological insights for better future support (Explicit consent, Art 9(2)(a))
  • Exercise suggestions: To detect distress and suggest calming techniques (Explicit consent, Art 9(2)(a))
  • Service improvement: To analyse usage patterns and fix bugs (Legitimate interest, Art 6(1)(f))
  • Customer support: To respond to feedback and issues (Legitimate interest, Art 6(1)(f))

5. Who We Share Data With

We use these services to run HelpSelf. Each one handles your data only to provide its part of the service:

  • Google: Gemini, the AI model that writes replies, transcribes voice notes and makes embeddings (SOC 2, GDPR DPA)
  • OpenRouter: Routes each AI request to the model that answers it
  • Vercel: Routes AI requests through its AI Gateway, and hosts this website
  • Neon: Database hosting (SOC 2, ISO 27001, EU region)
  • Cloudflare: API hosting and media storage (ISO 27001)
  • Clerk: User authentication (SOC 2)
  • RevenueCat: Subscription management (SOC 2)
  • Sentry: Error reports, so that faults can be found and fixed

We do NOT sell your data to third parties. We do NOT use your therapy conversations for advertising.

6. Data Storage & Security

Your data is stored in the EU (Frankfurt, AWS eu-central-1) and protected with:

  • Encryption at rest (AES-256 via Neon)
  • Encryption in transit (TLS 1.3)
  • Hashed IP addresses (HMAC-SHA256)
  • Access controls (authentication required for all data access)

7. How Long We Keep Your Data

  • Conversations, and the notes it keeps about you: While your account exists
  • Usage logs (counts and costs, never your words): Kept. When you delete your account, they are no longer linked to you.
  • Account data: Until you delete your account

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • Right of Access (Article 15): Request a copy of your data via Settings → Privacy → Export Data
  • Right to Rectification (Article 16): Update your profile information in Settings
  • Right to Erasure (Article 17): Delete your account and all data via Settings → Account → Delete Account
  • Right to Data Portability (Article 20): Export your data in machine-readable JSON format
  • Right to Withdraw Consent (Article 7): Contact support@helpself.uk to withdraw health data consent
  • Right to Lodge Complaint: Contact the ICO (ico.org.uk) if you believe we've violated your rights

9. Automated Decision-Making

We use AI to generate therapy responses and suggest exercises based on your emotional state. This automated processing:

  • Does NOT make legally binding decisions about you
  • Does NOT affect credit, employment, or insurance decisions
  • Can be stopped or overridden at any time (you control the conversation)

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make significant changes (e.g., new data processing purposes), we'll notify you via the app.

11. Contact Us

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact us at:

Email: privacy@helpself.uk