Terms and Conditions
Effective Date: August 27, 2026
These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the This Is Why website, forms, content, community features, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).
By using the Service, and where presented, affirmatively agreeing to these Terms or submitting a form that references them, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service or submit information through it.
1. About This Is Why
This Is Why (“TIW,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a grief-support platform and community focused on people affected by the loss of a parent during childhood or adolescence.
The Service may include personal stories, educational resources, community content, resource information, podcasts and other media, forms, campaigns, collaborations, events, and links to outside organizations.
TIW is not a healthcare provider, therapy practice, crisis service, legal service, or emergency service. Use of the Service does not create a therapist-client, healthcare-provider-patient, attorney-client, fiduciary, or other professional relationship with TIW or any individual who contributes content to the Service, even if that individual holds a professional credential.
2. Educational and Supportive Information Only
Information provided through the Service is for general educational, informational, and community-support purposes.
It is not medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, therapy, or a substitute for care from a qualified healthcare provider.
Do not use TIW forms, email, social media, or other channels to seek emergency assistance. TIW does not continuously monitor submissions or messages.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger or experiencing an emergency, contact local emergency services or another appropriate emergency resource.
3. Age and Guardian Requirements
People of different ages may view publicly available TIW content.
Age requirements for submitting information depend on the applicable form and the age of the person whose information or story is being submitted.
Story submissions
Age 18 or older
An adult may submit their own story and make their own publication-consent decision.
Age 13–17
A person age 13–17 may submit a story where the form permits it. However, TIW will not publish or publicly share the story unless permission is independently verified with a parent or legal guardian.
Providing guardian contact information or completing a form acknowledgment does not by itself constitute verified guardian permission.
Under age 13
A child under 13 may not directly complete the story submission form or provide personal information to TIW through that form.
A parent or legal guardian must complete the form on the child’s behalf from the beginning of the submission process.
TIW may require additional verification of the parent or legal guardian before any story involving a child under 13 is published or publicly shared.
Other TIW forms may contain additional age, consent, or parent/guardian requirements. You agree to follow the instructions presented on the applicable form.
If you are a parent or legal guardian submitting information on behalf of a minor, you represent that you are authorized to do so and that the information you provide is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
4. Story and Content Submissions
“Submitted Content” means any text, story, title, name or display name, image, photograph, audio, video, feedback, or other material you provide to TIW.
You retain ownership
You retain ownership of the Submitted Content you provide, subject to the limited permissions described below.
Permission to receive and review submissions
By submitting content to TIW, you give TIW a limited, non-exclusive permission to receive, store, process, review, moderate, and internally use the Submitted Content as reasonably necessary to:
administer the submission;
respond to you;
maintain records;
protect the Service;
evaluate the submission; and
determine whether the content is eligible for publication.
Submitting content by itself does not give TIW permission to publish it publicly.
Publication consent is separate
TIW will publish or publicly share a submitted story only when the required publication consent has been captured and any applicable age or guardian-verification requirements have been satisfied.
When you, or an authorized parent or legal guardian, explicitly grant publication consent, you grant TIW a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to reproduce, format, display, publish, distribute, excerpt, and promote the approved Submitted Content through TIW-controlled or TIW-authorized channels, including:
the TIW website;
TIW social media accounts;
newsletters;
podcast-related content;
promotional materials; and
other TIW communications.
TIW may make reasonable spelling, grammar, formatting, layout, excerpting, or length edits.
TIW will not intentionally make a substantive edit that materially changes the meaning of a personal story without obtaining additional approval where reasonably appropriate.
You retain ownership of your Submitted Content. This license does not transfer ownership to TIW.
Photographs and other media
If you submit a photograph, image, audio recording, video, or other media for publication, you represent that you have the right to provide that material and authorize its use in connection with the applicable submission.
TIW may decline to use submitted media if ownership, consent, privacy, safety, or other concerns arise.
Anonymous or limited-name publication
TIW may permit storytellers to use a first name, nickname, other display name, or “Anonymous.”
TIW will make reasonable efforts to follow the attribution preference provided with the submission.
However, publishing anonymously or under a limited name cannot guarantee that a person will be impossible to identify. Details contained in a story, previously public information, photographs, outside circumstances, or third-party sharing may allow others to identify the storyteller.
5. Revoking Publication Permission
You may contact TIW to request that your story no longer be used in future publications.
TIW will make reasonable efforts to stop future use and, where reasonably practicable, remove the content from channels controlled by TIW.
However, revocation cannot necessarily undo copies or distributions that occurred before the request was processed.
TIW cannot guarantee removal of content that has already been:
independently shared;
copied;
screenshotted;
cached;
archived;
indexed by search engines;
quoted; or
otherwise retained by third parties.
TIW may retain limited internal records where reasonably necessary for legal, security, consent-audit, dispute-resolution, or administrative purposes.
6. Your Responsibilities for Submitted Content
By submitting content, you represent that:
the content is yours or you have the necessary permission to submit it;
you have the authority to grant the permissions you provide to TIW;
your submission does not knowingly violate another person’s copyright, privacy, publicity, confidentiality, contractual, or other legal rights;
you will not knowingly submit materially false information about another person in a manner that is unlawful or harmful;
if you submit a photograph or other media, you have permission to provide it to TIW; and
if you act for a minor or another person, you have the authority you claim to have.
Please use care when including information about other people.
TIW may request that identifying or third-party information be removed, anonymized, clarified, or modified before publication.
7. No Guarantee of Publication
Submitting a story or other content does not guarantee that TIW will publish it.
TIW may accept, decline, defer, edit, unpublish, restrict, or remove content at its discretion, including for reasons relating to:
privacy;
safety;
consent;
legal concerns;
editorial judgment;
relevance;
accuracy concerns;
capacity; or
community standards.
A decision not to publish does not affect your ownership of your Submitted Content.
8. Sensitive Content and Community Materials
TIW content may discuss grief, death, trauma, illness, suicide, violence, family experiences, mental health, and other sensitive subjects.
You are responsible for deciding whether particular content is appropriate for you to view.
Stories and opinions expressed by community members belong to the individuals who submitted them and do not necessarily represent TIW’s views.
TIW does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of user-submitted stories or third-party content.
9. Prohibited Uses
You may not use the Service to:
violate applicable law or another person’s legal rights;
harass, threaten, exploit, impersonate, defame, or unlawfully discriminate against another person;
submit content you do not have the right to provide;
unlawfully disclose another person’s private information;
distribute spam or unauthorized advertising;
introduce malware, malicious code, or harmful automated activity;
interfere with the security, availability, or operation of the Service;
attempt to gain unauthorized access to TIW systems, data, accounts, or service providers; or
use TIW’s name, logo, content, or community in a misleading manner that suggests sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation without permission.
TIW may restrict access, reject submissions, or remove content when reasonably necessary to protect TIW, the Service, community members, or third parties.
10. TIW Intellectual Property
Except for Submitted Content and third-party materials, the Service and its original design, branding, logos, graphics, written materials, audio, video, features, and other content are owned by or licensed to TIW and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.
You may access TIW content for personal, non-commercial use.
You may not reproduce, sell, republish, commercially exploit, or create misleading derivative uses of TIW-owned content without permission, except as permitted by applicable law.
11. Copyright and Intellectual Property Concerns
TIW respects intellectual-property rights.
If you believe material available through the Service infringes your copyright or other intellectual-property rights, contact us at:
Please provide enough information for TIW to identify the material and evaluate the request.
TIW may remove or restrict access to disputed material where appropriate.
Nothing in this section represents that TIW has appointed a statutory Digital Millennium Copyright Act agent unless and until TIW separately completes any registration required by law.
12. Third-Party Links, Resources, and Organizations
The Service may link to or reference:
healthcare providers;
grief-support organizations;
nonprofits;
businesses;
social networks;
fundraising platforms;
event partners;
websites;
products;
services; and
other third parties.
TIW does not control these third parties and is not responsible for their content, availability, privacy practices, security, services, advice, representations, or actions.
A link, listing, collaboration, partnership, or reference does not necessarily mean TIW endorses every statement, product, service, or practice of the third party.
Your use of third-party services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies.
13. Campaigns, Contributions, Events, and Fundraising
TIW may promote or participate in campaigns, benefit events, fundraising efforts, or collaborations involving third-party organizations.
Unless expressly stated otherwise, you should not assume that a payment, contribution, ticket purchase, or donation associated with TIW is tax-deductible.
Whether a contribution is tax-deductible depends on the organization receiving the funds, the structure of the campaign or event, and applicable law.
Where a third-party organization, fiscal sponsor, venue, ticketing service, or payment platform receives or processes funds, its own terms, policies, refund rules, and donation-receipt practices may apply.
TIW may describe how funds are intended to be used or routed, but third parties may ultimately control funds that are paid directly to them.
14. Privacy
Your use of the Service is also subject to the TIW Privacy Policy.
The Privacy Policy explains how TIW collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal information and how privacy-related requests may be submitted.
Consent to receive communications, consent to provide information, and consent to publicly publish a story are separate decisions unless a form expressly states otherwise.
Specific consent language presented on a TIW form governs the publication decision for that particular submission.
15. No Emergency or Monitoring Duty
TIW is not a crisis-response service and does not continuously monitor story submissions, resource-intake forms, contact messages, email, social media messages, or other communications.
Submitting information to TIW does not create a duty for TIW to monitor the submitter, provide healthcare or crisis intervention, contact emergency services, or take action on behalf of the submitter.
If you believe you or another person may be in immediate danger, contact emergency services or another appropriate crisis or emergency resource.
16. Service Availability and Changes
TIW may change, suspend, discontinue, update, or restrict all or part of the Service at any time.
We do not guarantee that the Service, any particular feature, or any submitted or published content will always remain available.
TIW may correct errors, update resources, change features, or remove outdated, inaccurate, unsafe, or inappropriate information without notice where reasonably appropriate.
17. Disclaimer of Warranties
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.
TIW does not guarantee that the Service will be:
uninterrupted;
error-free;
completely secure;
suitable for every person’s circumstances; or
continuously accurate, complete, or current.
Nothing in these Terms excludes any warranty, consumer right, or other legal protection that cannot lawfully be excluded.
18. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, TIW and its founders, team members, volunteers, contractors, collaborators, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or relating to your use of, or inability to use, the Service.
TIW is not responsible for decisions or actions taken based on:
community stories;
general educational information;
third-party resources;
third-party advice;
links;
outside organizations; or
services referenced through the Service.
These limitations apply only to the extent permitted by law and do not limit liability that cannot legally be limited or excluded.
19. Indemnification
To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless TIW and its team members from reasonable third-party claims, damages, liabilities, losses, and expenses arising from:
Submitted Content that you did not have the legal right or authority to provide;
your knowing violation of another person’s intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, confidentiality, or other legal rights;
a material misrepresentation regarding your authority to act for another person or minor; or
your unlawful or prohibited use of the Service.
This provision does not require you to indemnify TIW for claims caused by TIW’s own unlawful conduct to the extent such liability cannot legally be shifted.
20. Governing Law and Disputes
These Terms and your use of the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, except where applicable law requires otherwise.
Before filing a formal legal claim relating to the Service, you agree to make a reasonable good-faith effort to resolve the issue informally by contacting TIW at:
To the extent legally permitted, any court proceeding arising from or relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought in an appropriate state court located in Denver, Colorado, or the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking urgent injunctive or other emergency legal relief where appropriate or limits any right that cannot legally be waived.
21. Changes to These Terms
TIW may update these Terms from time to time.
When changes are made, the Effective Date at the top of this page will be updated.
For material changes, TIW may provide additional notice where reasonably appropriate.
Continued use of the Service after updated Terms become effective means the updated Terms apply to your continued use to the extent permitted by law.
A new or materially different publication consent will not be inferred solely from a change to these general Terms. TIW will continue to track publication permission separately.
22. Severability and No Waiver
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.
If TIW does not enforce a provision immediately, that does not waive TIW’s right to enforce it later.
23. Entire Agreement
These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any additional terms or consent language presented on a specific TIW form constitute the agreement governing use of the Service with respect to the matters they address.
If specific form consent language conflicts with a general provision of these Terms regarding whether TIW has permission to publish a submitted story, the specific consent choice presented on the form controls for that submission.
24. Contact Us
Questions about these Terms may be sent to:
This Is Why
Email: inquiry@thisiswhy.life
Website: https://www.thisiswhy.life/contact