Tending the chair
Hearth is built for the things you don’t say out loud elsewhere. That puts a particular weight on us — to handle what you bring with the same care your Keeper does. Here’s how we do it. Plainly, without legalese.
These aren’t aspirations. They’re how the product is built — in the database, in the auth layer, in the Keeper’s interface, in the lawyer’s contract.
What you say stays here
Everything you bring to a Sit or write into the Long Talk is between you and your Keeper. We don't share it with other Keepers. We don't share it with our team beyond what's needed for safety and quality. We don't sell it. We don't use it to train AI. Ever.
Encrypted, end to end
Long Talk messages, voice notes, and Sit notes are encrypted at rest and in transit. We use HIPAA-comparable security infrastructure — even though Hearth is not a healthcare provider, we hold ourselves to that standard.
No trackers in the room
Once you sign in, there are no Facebook pixels, no Google ads tags, no third-party analytics watching what you read or write. Marketing pages have minimal, privacy-respecting analytics. Member pages have none.
You own your story
You can request a full export of your Sit notes, Long Talk messages, and account data at any time. You can delete your account permanently — and within 30 days, your conversation data is removed from our systems and backups.
Security infrastructure
The hardest part of building Hearth is not the encryption. It is choosing the people who hold what you bring. We treat that choosing seriously.
Every Keeper completes a background check, a structured interview, two reference checks, and a 120-hour pre-launch training. We accept fewer than 1 in 12 applicants.
Keeper training covers active listening, cultural fluency, scope boundaries, and crisis protocol. The most important thing they learn is what is not theirs to handle — and how to walk you to a clinician when it is.
Every Keeper meets with a Lead Keeper monthly for case review and supervision. We take peer support as seriously as a clinical practice takes its own — without pretending it is one.
Keepers are paid contractors, not gig workers. Living wages adjusted for their region. We do not optimise for cheap support; we optimise for consistent, slow, careful support.
We’d rather tell you what Hearth is not than let you discover it in a moment that needed something different.
Hearth is not a crisis service. If you are in immediate danger, please call 988 (US), 1-866-585-0445 (Canada), 116 123 (UK Samaritans), or text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line). We have a full list at /crisis.
If a Keeper notices something that needs a clinician — sustained suicidal ideation, an active crisis, abuse, anything outside peer support's scope — they pause the Sit gently, share the appropriate crisis resource, and walk you to The Bridge by name. They do not disappear. They do not pretend they can hold it.
Keepers are not licensed clinicians and do not have the same mandatory reporting obligations therapists do. But we follow the law in your jurisdiction for child safety and immediate danger. We will be honest with you about what that means before your first Sit.
Eight things we will not do
We will tell you what Hearth is not, clearly, repeatedly, without apology.
We will not invent therapy credentials our Keepers don't have.
We will not gamify your healing with streaks, badges, or points.
We will not run dark-pattern cancellation flows. One click. No exit interview.
We will not raise your price after you've signed up. Locked at your tier for as long as you stay.
We will not sell, share, or rent your data — to anyone, ever.
We will not let an algorithm match you. A human does it. By hand. In 72 hours.
We will not pretend our Keepers can hold what only a clinician can. The Bridge is a value, not a feature.
Found a security issue?
Email security@dearhearth.com. Responsible disclosure is welcomed and rewarded. Please give us a reasonable window to fix before publishing.
Privacy questions
Our Privacy Policy spells out the legal detail. For anything not answered there, email privacy@dearhearth.com.
You can pull up a chair knowing the room is built carefully.
Begin the First Sit →