Soulio is not an emergency service

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, stop and contact your local emergency services now. Soulio cannot dispatch help, cannot guarantee that anyone will read your message in time, and does not monitor conversations in real time.

What Soulio is

Soulio is a platform that connects people seeking emotional support with two kinds of members:

• Peer supporters — members who volunteer support based on their own lived experience. They are not clinicians and are not trained to treat any condition.
• Specialists — mental health professionals who state that they hold a relevant licence or credential.

What Soulio is not

• Soulio does not provide medical or psychiatric diagnosis.
• Soulio does not provide treatment, therapy, or prescriptions.
• Soulio does not provide crisis intervention or suicide prevention services.
• Nothing on Soulio is a substitute for advice from a qualified healthcare professional.

Never disregard professional medical advice, or delay seeking it, because of something you read or were told on Soulio.

About specialist verification

We ask specialists for credential documents and review them before granting a "Verified" badge. That review confirms that documents were supplied and appeared consistent — it is not an endorsement, a guarantee of competence, and not a substitute for your own checks. Verify any professional independently with their licensing body before relying on them. Any relationship you form with a specialist is between you and them; Soulio is not a party to it and does not supervise clinical work.

About peer support

Peer supporters offer companionship and shared experience, nothing more. They must not diagnose, advise on medication, or present themselves as clinicians. If a peer supporter does any of these things, please report it.

Safety monitoring

Soulio automatically scans messages for language suggesting risk of harm. When such language is detected you will be shown crisis resources, and our safety team may be alerted so a human can follow up. This scanning is imperfect: it misses real risk and flags harmless messages. It is a safety net, not a guarantee of anyone's safety, and it does not amount to monitoring or clinical supervision of your conversations.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Soulio is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. We are not liable for any action or inaction taken on the basis of content exchanged on the platform, or for the conduct of any member.

Age requirement

You must be 18 or older to use Soulio.

Peer support works because someone listens without judgement. It stops working — and becomes harmful — the moment it imitates clinical care. Every member agrees to these rules.

Always

• Listen more than you speak.
• Share your own experience rather than instructions ("what helped me was…" not "you should…").
• Respect that the other person knows their situation better than you do.
• Point someone toward professional help when their needs go beyond peer support.
• Use Get help now and tell our safety team if someone may be in danger.

Never

• Never diagnose anyone, or suggest what condition they "probably have".
• Never advise anyone to start, stop, or change a medication or a treatment.
• Never claim or imply that you are a licensed professional if you are not.
• Never share another member's disclosures with anyone.
• Never move a supportive relationship into something romantic or sexual. Soulio is not a dating platform, and members here are often vulnerable.
• Never ask for money, gifts, or personal financial information.

Look after yourself too

Supporting others is draining. Step back whenever you need to, and never take on more conversations than you can hold. You are not responsible for anyone's outcome.

Breaking these guidelines can end your access to Soulio immediately and without warning.

These Terms govern your use of Soulio, a platform connecting people seeking emotional support with peer supporters and mental health specialists. By creating an account you agree to them.

1. What Soulio is for

• Soulio exists to help people find emotional support — from trained peer supporters and from specialists who state they hold a relevant licence or credential.
• Soulio is not a dating or matchmaking service, and must not be used to seek romantic or sexual relationships. See the Clinical Disclaimer and Peer Support Guidelines for what Soulio does and does not provide.
• Soulio is not an emergency service. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

2. Eligibility and your account

• You must be 18 or older to register.
• The information you provide must be accurate. Impersonating another person is not allowed.
• One account per person. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential.
• A specialist account requires supplying genuine credential documents for review — see the Specialist Agreement.

3. Acceptable use

4. Messaging and safety monitoring

Messages are scanned automatically for language suggesting risk of harm — see the Clinical Disclaimer for how that works. Soulio's safety team may review reported conversations. We may restrict or suspend messaging for any member who violates these Terms.

5. Photos and content

Uploaded photos are reviewed before becoming visible to other members. We may remove any content that violates these Terms. Do not upload a photo of anyone but yourself.

6. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate any account that violates these Terms, without prior notice — including impersonation, harassment, unlicensed clinical practice, or romantic/sexual conduct toward another member.

7. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced to members. Continuing to use Soulio after a change takes effect means you accept the update.

This policy explains what data Soulio collects, how it is used, and how it is protected. We built Soulio for people in emotionally vulnerable moments — protecting your privacy is central to that, not an afterthought.

1. What we collect

• Account data: username, email, password (hashed), gender, role (seeker / peer / specialist), interface language.
• Profile data: nickname, age, country, bio, the topics you seek or offer support on, and — for specialists — professional credentials submitted for review.
• Usage data: login times, messages exchanged, last-seen time.
• Safety data: automated crisis-language detections tied to your account, kept to support the safety team's follow-up — see "Safety monitoring" below.
• Technical data: IP address, browser type, device — for security purposes only.

2. How we use it

3. Anonymity by default

New accounts are anonymous by default: other members see your nickname, not your legal name, and your real photo is hidden unless you choose to show it. You control this from your profile settings.

4. Safety monitoring

Messages are scanned for language suggesting risk of self-harm or harm to others. A detection creates a record — the member, a short excerpt, and the matched terms — visible to Soulio's safety team so a human can follow up. This exists to protect members in crisis, and is handled with the same care as any other sensitive data.

5. Sharing with others

Only what your privacy settings allow (nickname, photo if shown, bio, topics) is visible to other members. Your email and password are never shared. Specialist credential documents are seen only by Soulio's verification team.

6. Data security

• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt and never stored or visible in plain text.
• Traffic is protected by HTTPS/SSL.
• You can change your password at any time from your profile settings.

7. Your rights

• Access and correction: update your profile data at any time.
• Deletion: request permanent deletion of your account and data by contacting us.
• Hiding your profile: ask us to temporarily hide your profile.

8. Cookies

We use cookies only to keep you signed in. We do not use third-party tracking or behavioural advertising cookies. You can clear cookies from your browser settings; you may need to sign in again afterwards.