Online IOP for College Students and Emerging Adults in MA

Austen Riggs Center Website Privacy Policy
I. Overview
The Austen Riggs Center ("Riggs") welcomes you. This policy will explain the approach we take in protecting, collecting, and using the information we gather from you in connection with our website, www.AustenRiggs.org. (Please check the Definition section at the end of this Policy for the meaning of any terms you do not understand.)
Please note: This policy applies only to information collected through the Austen Riggs Center website. Any other sites that are linked to this website are governed by their own Privacy Policies and Terms of Use. Please consult these sites directly for information on how they collect, use, and share your information.
II. Collection and Use of Information
This site collects information from you in order to improve the usefulness of the online information we offer to our users. It collects both personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information.
A. Automatically Collected Information
Information that does not identify you by name or other identifying information (non-personally identifiable information) is routinely gathered from all site visitors by third party providers through the use of web server logs, cookie technology, and clear GIFs. The information collected includes how many people visit the site, the pages they visit, what website they are coming from, how long visitors remain on our website, and related information.
This data is collected on an aggregated, anonymous basis, and, standing alone, does not identify any individual. However, in some cases this aggregated, anonymous information may be associated with information that does contain personal identifiers, in which case the combination will be treated as personally identifiable information as described below.
Information is automatically collected in the following ways:
i. Third Party Ad Servers
We may use third-party advertising companies to display ads on a variety of different websites that are intended to attract visitors to our site. These companies may employ cookies, clear GIFs, and other technologies to track non-personally identifiable information about your visits to other sites involved in our marketing efforts. This helps us measure and improve the effectiveness of our marketing. This information may be shared with Riggs and others performing services on behalf of Riggs.
If you would like more information about how third party ad servers work and to understand your choices about not having this information used by these companies, see the Network Advertising Initiative's consumer web site at http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising.
ii. Cookies
This site uses cookies to accurately track the number of website users. We store a unique identifier in the cookie to properly distinguish a user’s workstation. Cookies allow a web application to respond to you as an individual; they do not, however, obtain personally identifiable information. If you are concerned about the use of cookies, you may opt to enable a feature in your browser software that will erase cookies, block all cookies, or warn you before cookies are stored or exchanged. If you reject a cookie, you may still use our site. However, disabling all cookies may stop certain features of the site from working properly.
iii. Embedded External Platforms
Users may access content on external platforms (such as SoundCloud, Vimeo, and YouTube) from the pages of this site. These types of services may collect web traffic data, cookies, and usage data for the pages of this site where the service is installed, even when users do not visit the external platform directly. For example, YouTube may collect information when you play a YouTube video from one of the pages of our site. For more details on a specific platform’s data collection practices, please see that platform’s privacy policy.
B. User-Submitted Information
Our website collects information that you submit when you interact with certain features on the site.
i. Sign Up for Updates/Contact Us Forms
If you sign up to receive updates from our website or fill out a contact form, you may be required to provide the following personally identifiable information:
  • Your name;
  • Your email address;
  • Your mailing address; and
  • Your phone number.
Your first name will be used only to address you personally in any email notifications that are sent to the email address you provide. Your email address will be used to send you information from Riggs. To unsubscribe to these communications, follow the language within the email notifications. Your mailing address will be used if you asked to have something mailed to you or to be notified of Riggs updates by mail. Your phone number will be used if you would like someone to contact you by telephone.
ii. Employment Applications
Our website allows visitors to upload their cover letters, resumes and an Austen Riggs Center application for employment. This information is collected and reviewed by the Riggs Human Resources Office.
iii. Erikson Prize Submissions
Our website allows visitors to upload submissions to the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. This information is collected and reviewed by a committee of Riggs clinicians and Trustees.
iv. Continuing Education Accreditation
Our website shares information about the general usage of the site’s continuing education resources to licensing bodies for accreditation purposes. No personally identifiable information is shared in this process.
C. Third-Party Providers
Our website uses third-party providers to perform various functions, and those providers may collect personally identifiable information, as described by their own privacy policies. For more details on a specific third-party provider, and to make certain all information is current, please see that provider’s privacy policy.
III. Sharing Information
In addition to the uses and disclosures described above, we may disclose personally identifiable information to governmental authorities and to other third parties when compelled to do so by governmental authorities, or as otherwise required or permitted by law, including, for example, in response to court orders and subpoenas.
We also may disclose personally identifiable information when we have reason to believe that someone is causing injury to or interference with our rights or property, other users of the website, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities.
IV. Security of Your Information
We take reasonable steps to safeguard personally identifiable information as you transmit it to our site and to protect such information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access or disclosure. You should keep in mind, however, that no internet transmission is ever completely secure or error-free. In particular, email sent to or from this site may not be secure.
Please do not provide medical or other sensitive personal information to Riggs by email, and instead use telephone, fax, or mail.
V. Definitions
In order to understand the way in which we collect and use information on this site, you should be familiar with the following terms:
Personally identifiable information: Personally identifiable information is any data element or collection of data elements that directly identifies an individual, including, but not limited to, name, mailing address, phone number, and email address.
Non-personally identifiable information: Non-personally identifiable information is any data element or collection of data elements that, standing alone, cannot be associated with a specific individual.
Clear GIFs: A clear GIF is typically a one-pixel, transparent image (although it can be a visible image as well), located on a web page or in an email or other type of message, which enables us to track and analyze your use of our site. The information collected through clear GIFs is non-personally identifiable information.
Cookie technology: Cookie technology enables websites to store small bits of information on your computer, and then ask for that information back at a later time. A cookie is a text file that is sent to the hard drive where your browser files are kept.
Web server logs: A web server log is a file where website activity (such as your internet provider (IP) address, date of visit, length of visit, what pages you visit on our website, etc.) is stored.
VI. Notification of Change
We reserve the right at our discretion to change, modify, add or remove portions of this policy, at any time.
We will communicate any updates to our policy on our site for any site visitors.
We encourage you to check this policy from time to time to review any changes that might be made. The date found below tells you when this policy was last updated.
Date last updated January 2022.