Volunteer Host & Moderator Agreement

This agreement is between HEAL and members who volunteer as meeting hosts (including co-hosts) or moderators. It adds to the Terms of Use and Community Guidelines, which still apply to you as a member. Where something here applies to one role only, we say so.

Thank you. HEAL meetings don’t go live without a human host, and the community stays safe because people like you give their time.

It is our intent, and your understanding, that:

• you volunteer freely, for civic and charitable reasons, and not in expectation of pay or any other compensation;
• you are not an employee, contractor, agent or partner of HEAL, and nothing in this agreement creates an employment relationship;
• you won’t receive wages, fees, stipends or benefits for volunteering. If HEAL ever reimburses specific pre-approved expenses, it will say so in writing first;
• you can’t make promises, sign agreements or speak to the media on HEAL’s behalf;
• you choose when and how often you volunteer, and you can stop at any time.

Volunteer status is set by law and by how the role works in practice, not only by this document. The final wording of this section will be confirmed by counsel.

Hosting and moderating are roles the HEAL team grants. Nobody can host or moderate just by signing up. To volunteer you must:

• be a HEAL member aged 18 or over in good standing, with no recent suspensions;
• apply through the volunteer page and talk with someone on the team;
• complete the training HEAL provides before you take on the role, and any refresher training we ask you to do;
• tell us about any conflict of interest (see below);
• if you are in recovery yourself, feel steady enough in your own recovery to hold space for others. There’s no fixed amount of time; we’ll talk about it together.

Training will cover running a room, the room rules, the crisis protocol, privacy and confidentiality, boundaries, and how to escalate. We may ask new hosts to co-host alongside an experienced host first.

HEAL decides who holds a role and may grant, pause or remove it.

• Schedule. Set up your meeting’s title, category, time and time zone, once or weekly, and keep it accurate. Cancel with as much notice as you can, and tell us if you can’t make a session.
• Open the room. Doors open 15 minutes before start. The meeting goes live when you arrive, or when you press Start. Read or point to the room rules at the beginning.
• Hold the room. Everyone joins muted. Invite raised hands in order, gently keep shares focused, and stop cross-talk, advice-giving, solicitation or anything that makes the room unsafe.
• Use your controls fairly. You can mute one person (they stay muted until you allow them back), mute everyone, lower a hand, lock the room to new arrivals, and remove someone who makes the room unsafe. A removed person can’t rejoin that meeting, and removals are logged for moderators. Use the lightest step that works, and give a short, factual reason when you remove someone.
• Close the room. End the meeting on time for everyone. Nothing is recorded, so nothing is left behind.
• Report. Report anything moderators should know, and every safety concern, through the app or to staff.

Moderators use the HEAL staff console to work the reports queue and the help-board review queue. They can assign reports to themselves, hide or restore help-board content, warn members, suspend accounts for a set period, remove someone from a meeting, dismiss reports, and escalate to senior staff. Moderators can also manage the meeting schedule and step in to cover a room.

Moderators must:

• apply the Community Guidelines consistently, using the enforcement ladder they describe;
• write a clear, factual note for every action;
• review danger, privacy and unsafe-advice reports first;
• step aside from any report involving someone they know personally, or where they have a conflict;
• escalate anything involving a threat to life, minors, possible crimes, law enforcement or legal risk to senior staff rather than deciding alone.

You are not an emergency responder, and no one expects you to be one. If you hear that someone may be in danger, such as talk of suicide, an overdose, withdrawal or violence:

1. Respond calmly and share resources with the room or the person:

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 · chat at 988lifeline.org
• Emergency services: Immediate danger, overdose, medical emergency
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 · free, confidential, 24/7
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 · text START to 88788

2. Encourage them to call 911 if there is immediate danger. If you know where they are and believe a life is at risk, you may call 911 yourself.
3. Keep the room safe. You may pause or redirect the share, mute the room, or end the meeting.
4. Escalate to staff right away by reporting with “Someone may be in danger”, and follow up with safety@teleheal.com.
5. Don’t counsel, diagnose, promise to keep it secret, or try to handle it alone or off-platform.

Staff will follow up, and someone will check in with you afterwards.

Your role gives you more visibility than an ordinary member, so your duty of confidentiality is stronger. You agree:

• never to record, transcribe, screenshot or stream a meeting, or let anyone else listen in;
• never to keep notes that identify members or what they shared, except the factual notes the tools ask for when you act;
• not to discuss anything you learn through your role outside HEAL, including after you stop volunteering, except with HEAL staff for the purposes of your role, or where the law requires it;
• to use what you see in reports, help-board reviews and the console only for moderation, never to look someone up out of curiosity.

Your tools are built to protect members: hosts see participants only by pseudonym and avatar while the room is live, with no attendee lists or exports, and no emails or real names. No host or staff tool can read workbook answers or check-in notes.

Even if you are a clinician, counselor, nurse, lawyer or peer specialist in your working life, on HEAL you are a peer. Don’t give medical, medication, detox, mental-health or legal advice, diagnoses or treatment recommendations, in a meeting or privately with a member. Point people to professionals and to the Health & Emergency Disclaimer. Your role on HEAL doesn’t create a professional relationship with anyone.

Your role carries trust and some power, so it needs clear boundaries. You agree:

• No recruiting. Never steer, refer or recruit members to any treatment center, detox, sober-living home, lab, program or business, whether paid or not, and never accept anything of value connected to a member’s care. Doing so may also break state patient-brokering laws and the federal Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA).
• No paid sponsorship or services. Don’t offer paid sponsorship, coaching, consulting or any service to members.
• No romantic, sexual or financial relationships that begin through your role, and no borrowing, lending or business dealings with members you meet through it.
• Off-platform contact. Don’t seek private contact with members you meet as a host or moderator. If a member contacts you, keep it within peer boundaries or redirect to HEAL.
• Your own wellbeing. Step back if hosting starts to affect your recovery. That’s a strength, not a failure.

Before you start, and whenever something changes, tell us about anything that could look like a conflict, for example if you:

• work for, own, consult for or receive money from a treatment center, detox, sober-living home, recovery residence, lab or marketing or referral business;
• are a licensed clinician practising in addiction or mental health;
• have a close personal relationship with a member you’d be hosting or moderating.

A disclosure usually doesn’t stop you volunteering. We’ll agree sensible steps, such as stepping aside from certain reports or meetings. Conflicted volunteers may not take part in provider vetting decisions about an organization they’re connected to. Not disclosing a conflict is grounds for removing the role.

• Hosts use host controls inside the member app for meetings they host or co-host, and can schedule meetings. Hosting alone doesn’t give access to the staff console.
• Moderators have access to the staff console for moderation, help-board review and meetings. Access is checked on our server for every action.

Every moderation action is recorded with who took it, when, and the note given. Significant staff actions, such as suspensions, meeting changes and role changes, are recorded in an audit log. Senior staff review these records to keep moderation fair and to investigate complaints, including complaints about volunteers. Keep your account secure, never share it, and tell us immediately at security@teleheal.com if you think it has been accessed by someone else. If your own account is suspended, your role tools stop working too.

Whether a volunteer is legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect of a child, an elder or a vulnerable adult depends on the state you live in, and sometimes on your profession. Some states require everyone to report suspected child abuse. If you already are a mandated reporter in your job, that duty may follow you.

HEAL’s guidance: if you learn something that suggests a child or vulnerable adult is being abused or is in danger, escalate to staff right away, and follow any legal duty that applies to you. Where you aren’t sure, ask us. Staff will help you and will meet HEAL’s own obligations.

• Training before you start, and refreshers as our tools and policies change.
• A way to reach staff during and after a meeting, and a clear escalation path for safety concerns.
• A debrief after a hard meeting or a crisis, if you want one.
• Backup: moderators and staff can step in to cover or support a room.
• Respect for your privacy. Your volunteer role is not shown to members beyond what the room needs, and your pseudonym works here too.
• A fair process if a complaint is made about you: we’ll tell you about it where it’s safe to do so and hear your side before deciding.

You can stop volunteering at any time by telling us. Please let us know about meetings you have scheduled so we can find cover.

HEAL may pause or end your role at any time, for example if you break this agreement or the Community Guidelines, if there is a complaint we need to look into, if a conflict can’t be managed, or if we no longer need the role. We’ll explain why where we can, and you can ask for a review by emailing safety@teleheal.com.

When your role ends, your access to host or moderator tools is removed. Your duties of confidentiality and the boundaries on recruiting continue after you stop.

The disclaimers and limits of liability in the Terms of Use apply. Whether and how HEAL protects volunteers against claims arising from their good-faith volunteer work, including under the federal Volunteer Protection Act and any insurance, is being reviewed by counsel; we won’t describe any coverage until it’s confirmed.

We may update this agreement, and we’ll tell volunteers about material changes before they take effect. Questions: safety@teleheal.com. Legal notices: legal@teleheal.com.