The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy ("the Society," "we," "us") is a nonprofit membership organization and a division of the American Psychological Association. This policy explains what personal information we collect through societyforpsychotherapy.org, why we collect it, and the choices you have.
Information We Collect
We collect personal information only when you choose to give it to us:
- Membership applications. Name, email address, postal address, phone number, professional affiliation, degree, membership category, and any discount code you supply.
- eBulletin signups. Name and email address.
- Author and article submissions. Name, email address, biography, professional affiliation, social media handles, and any files or images you upload.
- Website feedback and contact forms. Name, email address, and the content of your message.
- Payments. Membership dues are processed by PayPal. Card and bank details are entered directly with PayPal and are never transmitted to or stored by the Society.
Information Collected Automatically
Like most websites, we collect limited technical information automatically: IP address, browser type and version, device type, referring page, pages viewed, and the dates and times of those visits. This is used to understand how the site is used and to keep it secure and working correctly. See our Cookie Policy for details on the specific technologies involved.
How We Use Your Information
- To process and administer membership applications and renewals
- To send the eBulletin and Society announcements you signed up for
- To review, edit, and publish submitted articles and author profiles
- To respond to your questions, feedback, and requests
- To operate, secure, analyze, and improve the website
- To meet our legal, tax, and accounting obligations
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling. See Do Not Sell My Information.
Service Providers
We share information with a small number of vendors who process it on our behalf, under contract and only for the purposes described above:
- Vercel — website hosting and delivery
- Hetzner — content management system hosting
- Google — Analytics, Workspace email, Sheets and Drive for form submissions, and Google Translate
- PayPal — membership dues payment processing
- Resend — transactional and notification email delivery
- Mailchimp — eBulletin distribution
- American Psychological Association — shared membership administration, as a division of the APA
We may also disclose information where required by law, to enforce our Terms of Use, or to protect the rights and safety of the Society, our members, or others.
International Transfers
The Society is based in the United States, and our service providers process data in the United States and the European Union. If you access the site from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where data protection law may differ from that of your country. Where required, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses for these transfers. See our GDPR Notice for more.
Data Retention
Membership records are kept for as long as you remain a member and for seven years afterward, to meet nonprofit accounting and audit requirements. eBulletin subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe. Published articles and author profiles remain part of the permanent scholarly record. Form submissions and correspondence are kept for up to three years.
Security
The site is served exclusively over HTTPS, form submissions are transmitted over encrypted connections, and access to submission records is restricted to the Society officers and editorial staff who need it. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect your information.
Children's Privacy
This website is intended for mental health professionals, researchers, and students in the field. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
Your Rights and Choices
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information at any time, and you may unsubscribe from the eBulletin using the link in any message. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights — see our GDPR Notice (European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland) or our CCPA Privacy Notice (California).
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced on this page with a revised effective date.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy can be sent to editor@societyforpsychotherapy.org, or through our website feedback form.