HelpHorizons.com - Virtual Office: Registration

February 4, 2012

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Professional Registration

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We're pleased you'd like to become a member of our professional community. Registered members have full and unrestricted access to all of the services we offer, including their own customized Virtual Office space. Your first month of service use is free. Two membership levels are available: Silver ($9.95/month) or Gold ($19.95/month). We require all professional members to provide proof of licensure (or certification) and professional liability insurance. (Malpractice insurance options are available through many professional associations.) Before you begin the registration process, please read and signal your agreement with the following terms and conditions (a full page version is also available): Mental Health Professional's Registration Agreement HelpHorizons.com, Inc. (hereafter, "HelpHorizons.com"), makes every reasonable effort to maintain a safe and useful Web site for the benefit of the general public. This includes random monitoring of the site’s message boards and chat rooms (for the purpose of detecting abuses), and screening of all articles submitted by mental health professionals to the site. All mental health professionals who wish to utilize the site in the capacity of a counselor must provide proof of licensure (or certification) and professional liability insurance to HelpHorizons.com before being granted registered access to the site. HelpHorizons.com asks you, the Mental Health Professional, to carefully read and signal your agreement with the terms and conditions detailed below. HelpHorizons.com could not adequately protect its users, nor could it even exist without taking such precautions. 1. Independent Practitioner You are an independent practitioner and not in any way an employee of HelpHorizons.com. You "rent" the Virtual Office; this includes using the infrastructure that we make available to you and the privilege of participating on the Web site by posting articles, hosting chat rooms, and interacting with consumers in general. You are solely responsible for your actions in this regard. You are also solely responsible for your contact and interaction with consumers and other mental health professionals in or out of the Virtual Office. This includes interactions that, for whatever the reason, you choose to take face-to-face. The arrangements you make with consumers for fees and billing are strictly your responsibility. HelpHorizons.com provides you with a template for a personal disclaimer and fee agreement, but it is up to you to edit it in whatever way you see fit. HelpHorizons.com does not accept any responsibility for your use of our Personal Disclaimer and Fee Agreement Template, or your failure to edit it. HelpHorizons.com expects you to practice within the framework of the written statements and disclaimers that have been built into this site. You are responsible for knowing and abiding by these statements and disclaimers. Questions about this can be addressed to info@helphorizons.com. Failure to abide by the terms and conditions of this Registration Agreement could result in the termination of your account. In severe cases, accounts can and will be suspended immediately, if that is deemed necessary to protect consumers. Please understand that the health and safety of the consumer is of paramount importance to HelpHorizons.com, and that these disclaimers are intended chiefly to protect the consumer, as well as HelpHorizons.com, Inc. 2. Mental Health Professional Representations and Warranties You hereby represent and warrant that: - you are duly licensed, certified, and/or otherwise qualified to render counseling services; - you will only provide counseling services when you are qualified to do so (given the subject area); - you will not provide counseling services to persons residing in or using HelpHorizons.com from jurisdictions which do not allow you to legally do so; - it is your responsibility to investigate and determine the effect of all laws pertaining to online counseling on your practice. Currently, HelpHorizons.com is not aware of any jurisdiction in the United States and its territories that has passed laws specific to the provision of therapy and/or counseling services over the Internet. 3. HelpHorizons.com's Prerogatives HelpHorizons.com makes it possible for you to submit articles you have written for publishing in relevant areas on this Web site. HelpHorizons.com reserves the right to accept or reject articles you submit, and to edit accepted articles as we deem appropriate. HelpHorizons.com also has the right to move an article within the site, or to retire it – either by archiving it in our online library, or removing it from the site. HelpHorizons.com also makes it possible for you to host chats, based on a topic that you propose, on the consumer side of the Web site. HelpHorizons.com reserves the right to accept or reject your chat topic proposal, based on questions about the proposed topic, or time considerations. Unethical or inappropriate behavior by a chat host during a scheduled chat will result in a warning, or even termination of that host's account with HelpHorizons.com. HelpHorizons.com has the right to discontinue your use of the Virtual Office and to ban you from the Web site in general, for non-payment of fees, for breach of these terms and conditions, or for misconduct. In most cases, one or more warnings will be issued before that occurs. 4. Copyright Issues HelpHorizons.com holds you responsible for acknowledging your sources in the articles that you submit to this Web site, and for not plagiarizing or in any other way misrepresenting your authorship of submitted articles. Ownership of an article remains in the hands of the author, but by submitting an article to HelpHorizons.com, you are agreeing not to publish it on any other Web site (or anywhere else on the net, such as in a newsgroup) for a period of no less than two years. You are free, however, to publish the same article in printed media (e.g., magazines, journals or newspapers) at any time. This agreed limitation applies to any information you post on message boards, or anywhere else in this Web site. 5. Privacy Statement See our Privacy Statement at http://www.helphorizons.com/about/privacy.htm 6. Rules for Online Conduct for Service Chat Rooms and Message Boards By using HelpHorizons.com, you agree that you will not post any of the following material in its chat rooms, message boards, or other forums: - Material that defames, abuses or threatens others; - Statements that are bigoted, hateful or racially offensive; - Material that advocates illegal activity or discusses illegal activities with the intent to commit those illegal activities; - Unauthorized copyrighted material; - Material that contains vulgar, obscene or indecent language or images; - Advertising or any form of commercial solicitation. Statements or postings that violate the above terms will be deleted from postings upon discovery. Except in severe or dangerous situations, people who violate these terms will receive a warning from the forum supervisor or another agent of HelpHorizons.com stating that they have committed a violation and that further violations may result in the termination of their account. After one or more warnings, depending on the nature of the violation, HelpHorizons.com, at its sole discretion, may terminate a person’s account. If you use the chat rooms or message boards found on HelpHorizons.com, you are solely responsible for your own communications and the consequences of posting those communications. HelpHorizons.com does not assume any responsibility for the consequences of such communications. In cases where you feel threatened or believe that someone else is in danger, you should contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. HelpHorizons.com reserves the right to record the dialogue in public chat rooms. HelpHorizons.com does not screen communications in advance and is not responsible for screening or monitoring material posted by consumers, professionals, or any other person or entity. If notified by a user of communication(s) which are alleged not to conform to the terms of this Section, HelpHorizons.com may investigate the allegation and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request removal of the communication(s). HelpHorizons.com reserves the right, but is not obligated, to monitor, edit, or disclose any type of posting on the message boards or chat rooms for adherence to these terms and conditions, if required in the course of normal operation and maintenance of this Web site, or if required to do so by law, or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: - comply with the law or comply with legal process served; - protect and defend the rights of HelpHorizons.com. or others; or - act in an emergency to protect the personal safety of our guests or the public. HelpHorizons.com has no liability or responsibility to subscribers or any other person or entity for performance or nonperformance of the aforementioned screening activities. 7. Accurate and Updated Information About Yourself It is your responsibility and it is the expectation of HelpHorizons.com that the personal information you submit to this Web site (and any information about yourself which you state on the Web site in general) will be accurate and updated when necessary, and in no way will such information be intentionally or otherwise misleading. HelpHorizons.com reserves the right to verify all information provided and assertions made by mental health professionals registering to use this Web site. 8. Responsible and Ethical Conduct You are obligated to conduct yourself in a responsible and ethical manner while using this Web site, and while interacting with consumers, other participants and professionals, or the staff of HelpHorizons.com. Ethical guidelines applying to your particular profession, and the guidelines of the State and other jurisdictions in which you practice, apply equally to your behavior on and in relation to this Web site. HelpHorizons.com expects you to behave in accordance with these ethical standards. 9. Fees and Payments Professional membership at HelpHorizons.com includes 1 free month of access to a personalized Virtual Office, and 1 free month of unlimited use of our secure e-mail system and online session system. After this introductory period, HelpHorizons.com will automatically bill your credit card a monthly membership charge based upon the level of membership you signed up for (Silver: $9.95 or Gold: $19.95), as well as any additional charges resulting from the purchase of premium services (e.g., enhanced advertising on the site). All charges will be billed at the start of every month. After your introductory period has ended, you will also be charged transaction fees based upon your level of membership. Silver members will be charged $8.00 per online session and $4.00 per e-mail. Gold members will be charged $5.00 per online session and $3.00 per e-mail. E-mail fees are waived if you do not charge your client for an e-mail. You will also be billed $1.00 for each claim processed through HelpHorizons.com, to bill an insurance company or other entity. You will also be billed $3.00 for each credit card transaction successfully processed through HelpHorizons.com for all of your face-to-face clients. (You are not charged this additional credit card processing fee for your online clients or transactions.) If you so choose, HelpHorizons.com will collect all credit card payments owed to you by online or face-to-face clients in your HelpHorizons.com account. At the end of each calendar month, your account's balance minus membership and transaction fees (after your free marketing period expires) will be paid to you via check sent through first-class postal mail. HelpHorizons.com reserves the right to change these fees in the future; members will be notified of such a change at least one month prior to the effective date of that change. 10. Customizing We offer you the opportunity to customize various aspects of the Virtual Office. You are solely responsible for your decisions in this regard. 11. Limitation of Liability and Warranty You agree that use of any or every part of HelpHorizons.com is entirely at your own risk. HelpHorizons.com’s services are provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation any warranty for information, services, counseling, uninterrupted access, or products and services provided through or in connection with HelpHorizons.com, including without limitation the provider software licensed to you and the results obtained through HelpHorizons.com. This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injury caused by the failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation of transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence, or under any other cause of action. You specifically acknowledge that HelpHorizons.com is not liable for the defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you. Neither HelpHorizons.com nor any of its agents, affiliates or content providers shall be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of use of this Web site or inability to gain access to or use the service or out of any breach of any warranty. You hereby acknowledge that the provisions of this section shall apply to all content on HelpHorizons.com. 12. Character Declaration By signaling your agreement with this document, you declare that you have never been convicted of a crime involving assault, battery, children, fraud, or either legal or illegal drugs, or been sanctioned by a professional association for ethical violations. If you cannot truthfully declare this, click "I disagree" at the end of this document. 13. Links to Other Sites HelpHorizons.com contains links to other Web sites, sometimes called "third party" websites. These links are provided solely as a convenience to you and not as an endorsement by HelpHorizons.com of the content on such third party Web sites. HelpHorizons.com is not responsible for the content of linked third party sites and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third party websites. If you decide to access these third party websites, you do so at your own risk. 14. Advertisements HelpHorizons.com contains advertisements by third parties, and these advertisements may contain links to other websites. Unless otherwise specifically stated, HelpHorizons.com does not endorse any product or make any representation regarding the content or accuracy of any materials contained in, or linked to, any advertisement on HelpHorizons.com. 15. Servicemarks and Trademarks The HelpHorizons.com, Inc., HelpHorizons.com logos, and "Welcome to a community of people who care" are servicemarks of HelpHorizons.com, Inc. All other servicemarks and trademarks appearing on the Web site belong to their respective owners. 16. Indemnification You agree to indemnify and hold HelpHorizons.com harmless from any dispute that may arise from a breach of the terms of this Agreement. You agree to hold HelpHorizons.com harmless from any claims and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees and court costs, related to a violation of this agreement. 17. Choice of Law This agreement shall be construed and controlled by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Any dispute arising from the terms of this Agreement or a breach of this Agreement will be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You agree to personal jurisdiction by the state and federal courts sitting in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 18. Merger Clause This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between HelpHorizons.com and you with respect to the subject matter contained herein and supersedes all previous and contemporaneous agreements, proposals and communications, written or oral between HelpHorizons.com representatives and you. HelpHorizons.com may, at any time, amend or modify this agreement or impose new conditions at any time upon notice from HelpHorizons.com to you as published through this Web site. Any use of HelpHorizons.com by you after such notice shall be deemed to constitute acceptance by you of such amendments, modifications or new conditions. It is understood and agreed that if any part, term, or provision of this agreement is held by a court to be illegal or in conflict with any law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the validity of the remaining terms of this agreement shall not be altered, and the rights and obligations of the parties shall be construed and enforced as if the Agreement did not contain the part, term, or provision held invalid.
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