Effective Date: July 29, 2026

This Privacy, Non-Clinical Services, and Group Participation Notice applies to The Courageous Seeker Personal Study Group and The Courageous Seeker Professional Study Group, facilitated by David Fiala. It is intended to explain the nature of these groups, the limits of privacy and confidentiality in a group setting, and what information participants should and should not submit or share.

Quick Summary

In short: The Courageous Seeker Personal Study Group and Professional Study Group are educational, self-help, reflective, and experiential book-based study groups. They are not psychotherapy, group therapy, counseling, coaching, spiritual direction, clinical treatment, diagnosis, treatment planning, crisis intervention, medical care, mental health care, clinical supervision, consultation, continuing education, certification training, or crisis services. Please do not submit protected health information, confidential client information, medical or mental health records, diagnosis details, insurance information, or crisis information through the website, email, forms, payments, scheduling tools, or group discussions. Privacy is expected and respected, but confidentiality in a group setting cannot be guaranteed. If you need emergency, medical, mental health, or crisis support, please seek appropriate professional or emergency help immediately.

Key privacy points: Participation is for educational and reflective study purposes only. Administrative information may be collected only for ordinary registration, communication, payment, scheduling, and recordkeeping purposes. Privacy is expected in the groups, but confidentiality cannot be guaranteed because other participants are present. The groups are not monitored for emergencies, and crisis or urgent needs should be directed to emergency services or an appropriate licensed professional.

1. Nature of the Groups

The Courageous Seeker groups are educational, self-help, reflective, and experiential book-based study groups. They are offered for personal reflection, spiritual growth, professional enrichment, and shared learning related to the themes and practices of The Courageous Seeker.

These groups are not psychotherapy, group therapy, counseling, coaching, spiritual direction, clinical treatment, diagnosis, treatment planning, crisis intervention, medical care, mental health care, clinical supervision, consultation, certification training, continuing education, or any other healthcare or professional service. Participation does not create a therapist-client, counselor-client, doctor-patient, clergy-counseling, coaching, clinical supervision, professional consultation, or other clinical, treatment, supervisory, or professional service relationship with David Fiala.

2. Facilitator Role and Boundaries

David Fiala facilitates these groups only in an educational, reflective, and book-study capacity. His role is to support shared learning, discussion, reflection, experiential practice, and group structure related to The Courageous Seeker. In these groups, David is not acting as a therapist, counselor, clinical social worker providing treatment, medical or mental health provider, spiritual director, coach, supervisor, consultant, evaluator, legal or ethics advisor, or emergency responder.

Participants should not interpret David’s presence, comments, questions, reflections, exercises, silence, encouragement, or responses as clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment, counseling, supervision, consultation, professional advice, spiritual direction, or individualized guidance. Participants remain responsible for their own choices, boundaries, self-care, participation level, and decisions about whether to seek outside professional, medical, mental health, legal, spiritual, ethical, supervisory, or crisis support.

3. Personal Study Group

The Courageous Seeker Personal Study Group is for individuals who wish to engage the book’s teachings for personal reflection, self-understanding, spiritual growth, and lived practice through discussion, reflection, experiential exercises, journaling prompts, and shared conversation.

The Personal Study Group is not a substitute for psychotherapy, counseling, medical care, psychiatric care, crisis care, spiritual direction, or any other professional service a participant may need. Participants are responsible for deciding whether the group is appropriate for them and for seeking outside professional support when needed.

4. Professional Study Group

The Courageous Seeker Professional Study Group is for professionals, helpers, practitioners, clergy, coaches, educators, group leaders, and others who wish to reflect on the book’s themes in relation to professional development, personal integrity, presence, compassion, and service.

The Professional Study Group is not clinical supervision, case consultation, ethics consultation, legal consultation, continuing education, certification training, licensure supervision, professional supervision, or professional competency evaluation. Participation does not create a supervisory, consultative, clinical, legal, or credentialing relationship.

Participants in the Professional Study Group must not share client-identifying information, protected health information, confidential case material, privileged communications, or information that could identify any client, patient, student, parishioner, congregant, coaching client, supervisee, family member, colleague, or other person. Any professional examples should be discussed only in a general, non-identifying, educational manner.

5. Concerns About Group Participation, Website Use, or Blog Content

If concerns, discomfort, misunderstandings, emotional reactions, or questions arise related to participation in either The Courageous Seeker Personal Study Group or Professional Study Group, or related to use of the website, blog, forms, written materials, or related communications, participants and website users are encouraged, when they feel able, to raise those concerns in a respectful, compassionate, and responsible way. In a group setting, participants are encouraged, when appropriate, to bring concerns into the group process so the group may support honest reflection, shared responsibility, mutual learning, and clearer understanding. The entire group may benefit from respectful communication.

If a participant or website user does not feel able to discuss a concern directly in the group, or if the concern relates to the website, blog, forms, email, registration, scheduling, payment, or other administrative or educational materials, the person may contact David to discuss the matter in a respectful effort to understand the concern, clarify expectations, accept appropriate personal responsibility where applicable, and seek a respectful resolution related to continued participation or use of the website or materials when appropriate.

Any such discussion with David will not constitute therapy, counseling, clinical treatment, crisis intervention, legal advice, ethical advice, professional supervision, consultation, spiritual direction, or any other professional service. It will be a mutual, non-clinical, non-emergency attempt to acknowledge the concern, clarify expectations, maintain appropriate boundaries, and seek a respectful resolution related to participation in a study group or use of The Courageous Seeker website, blog, forms, written materials, or related communications.

6. Information You Should Not Submit or Share

Because these groups are not clinical services, participants should not submit, upload, email, or share protected health information, medical records, mental health records, diagnosis information, trauma histories, insurance information, medication information, crisis information, confidential client information, confidential case material, privileged communications, or any other sensitive information intended for healthcare treatment, clinical recordkeeping, professional consultation, supervision, or emergency response.

Website forms, application forms, email, payment systems, scheduling tools, and group communications are for ordinary administrative, educational, and participation-related purposes only. They are not intended for the submission, storage, or exchange of protected health information, confidential clinical material, confidential client information, or emergency information.

7. Personal Information Collected for Administrative Purposes

David Fiala may collect limited personal information that you voluntarily provide, such as your name, email address, phone number, billing or payment information, registration information, scheduling preferences, professional role if relevant to the Professional Study Group, and communications related to your participation.

This information may be used to respond to inquiries, process registrations and payments, communicate about group participation, schedule sessions, provide administrative updates, maintain basic business records, improve offerings, and comply with applicable legal, tax, accounting, or administrative obligations.

8. Website, Cookies, and Third-Party Services

The website may collect ordinary technical information such as browser type, device information, pages visited, referring pages, date and time of access, and similar usage information. Cookies or similar technologies may be used for website functionality, security, analytics, registration, payment processing, scheduling, communication, or user experience.

Ordinary third-party services may be used for website hosting, email communication, registration, payment processing, scheduling, analytics, and group coordination. These providers may process information according to their own terms and privacy practices. These systems are used for ordinary administrative and participation-related purposes only, and participants should not use them to submit protected health information, confidential clinical material, confidential client information, or emergency information.

9. Privacy and Confidentiality in Group Settings

Participants are asked to honor the privacy, dignity, and trust of others. Participants should not share names, identifying details, personal stories, professional disclosures, private reflections, or group comments outside the group without permission.

Privacy and confidentiality are expected and encouraged; however, because these are group educational settings involving multiple participants, confidentiality cannot be absolutely guaranteed. David Fiala cannot control what other participants say, remember, disclose, record, or share outside the group. By participating, you acknowledge this limitation.

10. No-Reliance and Participant Responsibility

Participants should not rely on group participation, group discussions, educational materials, experiential exercises, written materials, website content, emails, or statements by David Fiala or other participants as a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, treatment, supervision, consultation, legal advice, ethical advice, medical care, mental health care, spiritual direction, crisis support, or any other individualized professional service.

Each participant is responsible for evaluating whether the group is appropriate for them, maintaining appropriate personal and professional boundaries, choosing what to share or not share, protecting the privacy of others, and seeking qualified outside support when needed. Professionals who participate remain responsible for their own professional judgment, ethical obligations, legal obligations, scope of practice, supervision requirements, licensing requirements, and client or patient confidentiality obligations.

By registering for or participating in a group, each participant agrees to participate in a respectful, non-disruptive, privacy-conscious, and self-responsible manner; to avoid sharing protected health information, confidential client information, crisis information, or other sensitive information; to refrain from giving or seeking individualized clinical, legal, ethical, medical, supervisory, spiritual, or crisis advice within the group; to protect the privacy of other participants; and to seek appropriate outside support when personal, professional, medical, mental health, legal, ethical, supervisory, spiritual, or crisis needs arise.

11. Emergencies, Crisis Needs, and Professional Care

The Courageous Seeker groups are not crisis services and are not monitored or staffed for emergencies. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, mental health crisis, suicidal thoughts, urges to harm yourself or others, severe emotional distress, abuse, danger, or any urgent need, call 911, go to the nearest emergency room, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or seek immediate assistance from an appropriate licensed professional or emergency service.

Do not use the website, application forms, email, payment notes, scheduling tools, or group discussion to communicate crisis information or request emergency help.

12. Recording, Transcription, and Artificial Intelligence Tools

To protect participant privacy, participants may not audio record, video record, photograph, screenshot, livestream, transcribe, copy, distribute, publish, post, or otherwise capture or share any part of a group session, group communication, participant comment, participant image, participant name, chat message, or shared material without express written permission from David Fiala and any affected participant.

If David Fiala ever records, transcribes, or uses automated meeting summaries, artificial intelligence tools, or similar technologies in connection with a group session, participants will be informed in advance when reasonably possible, and any such use will be limited to administrative, educational, accessibility, or group-support purposes. Recordings, transcripts, automated summaries, or similar materials, if created, are not clinical records, treatment records, supervision records, consultation records, or emergency-response records.

13. No HIPAA-Covered Clinical Service Through These Groups

The Courageous Seeker Personal Study Group and Professional Study Group are not offered as HIPAA-covered clinical treatment services and are not intended for the creation, submission, storage, exchange, review, or maintenance of protected health information. If David Fiala separately offers or resumes any covered healthcare service in another context, that service may be subject to separate privacy practices, informed consent, recordkeeping, and legal requirements.

14. Children and Minors

The Courageous Seeker groups and website are intended for adults. Minors should not register for or participate in the groups unless expressly approved in writing and with appropriate parent or guardian involvement, if applicable. Children should not submit personal information through the website.

15. Data Retention and Security

Administrative records may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for registration, communication, accounting, tax, legal, business, and recordkeeping purposes. Reasonable safeguards are used to protect personal information, but no website, email system, payment processor, scheduling tool, video conferencing platform, online platform, artificial intelligence tool, transcription tool, automated summary tool, or electronic communication method can be guaranteed to be completely private, confidential, secure, uninterrupted, or error-free.

Personal information is stored and handled using reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information collected and the ordinary administrative purposes described in this Notice. These safeguards may include limiting access to information to those with a legitimate administrative need, using reputable third-party service providers, maintaining reasonable password and account-security practices, and retaining information only as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here.

16. Your Choices

You may choose not to provide certain personal information, although doing so may limit your ability to register for or participate in a group. You may request that administrative contact information be corrected or updated. You may also unsubscribe from non-essential email communications when an unsubscribe option is provided.

17. Changes to This Notice

This Notice may be changed from time to time to reflect changes in the groups, website, administrative systems, privacy practices, or applicable legal requirements. The effective date above should be changed when material changes are made.

18. Contact

If you have questions about this Notice or about participation in The Courageous Seeker Personal Study Group or Professional Study Group, please contact: David Fiala, MSSA, LISW-S | The Courageous Seeker / Mind Your Ego | Phone: 440.999.3036 | Email: david@mindyourego.com | Website: mindyourego.com