Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how LifeHetu Technology Private Limited ("LifeHetu", "we", "us") handles personal data when you use the mental health area of www.lifehetu.com to find practitioners, book sessions, pay for services or contact us. LifeHetu is the data fiduciary for this data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

LifeHetu is a platform, not a healthcare provider. The practitioners listed on LifeHetu are independent professionals. When you see a practitioner, the practitioner is responsible for what you share in sessions and for any clinical records they keep, under their own privacy practices.

Practices that use LifeHetu's software are covered by our separate Privacy Policy for practices.

2. What we collect

• Booking details: your name, email address, phone or WhatsApp number, the practitioner and service you book, and the date and time.
• Payment records: the amount, status and reference of each payment and any refund. Card, UPI and bank details are entered with Razorpay, our payment partner, and LifeHetu does not see or store them in full.
• Messages: what you send us by email, through contact forms or on WhatsApp.
• Newsletter: your email address, only if you subscribe.
• Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, and pages visited. Analytics data is collected only if you accept analytics cookies.

3. What we do not collect

LifeHetu does not collect clinical data from you. We do not attend, record or monitor sessions, and we do not ask you for therapy notes, assessments, diagnoses or treatment records.

Some practitioners use LifeHetu's practice-management software to keep their own records. Where they do, those records belong to the practitioner: LifeHetu stores them only on the practitioner's behalf and on their instructions, and does not access or use them for its own purposes. The practitioner is responsible for them.

The fact that you booked with a mental health practitioner is still sensitive, so we limit who at LifeHetu can see booking records and never use them for advertising.

4. How we use your data

• To make, confirm, reschedule and cancel bookings, and to send you confirmations and reminders.
• To take payments on the practitioner’s behalf, pass them to the practitioner, and process refunds.
• To answer your questions and complaints.
• To prevent fraud and misuse, and to keep the site secure (for example with Google reCAPTCHA on forms).
• To understand how the site is used and improve it, if you accept analytics cookies.
• To send our newsletter, only if you subscribe. You can unsubscribe from any newsletter email. We do not send marketing to people just because they made a booking.
• To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations.

5. Consent

We process your data on the basis of your consent, which you give when you book, pay, subscribe or accept cookies, and where the law otherwise permits, for example to meet legal obligations. You can withdraw consent at any time by writing to contact@lifehetu.com. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out, and we may not be able to provide a booking without the data it needs.

6. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only as needed with:

• The practitioner you book, who receives your booking and contact details so they can deliver the session.
• Razorpay, to process payments, transfers to practitioners and refunds.
• Amazon Web Services and Vercel, who host our systems and website.
• Google, for reCAPTCHA spam protection and, if you accept, Google Analytics.
• MailerLite, only if you subscribe to the newsletter.
• WhatsApp (Meta), only if you choose to message us there.
• Authorities, where the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety or our legal rights.
• A buyer or successor, if LifeHetu is merged or sold, under the same protections.

7. Where your data is stored

Your data is stored and processed in India and in other countries where our service providers run their systems. Where data leaves India, we use reputable providers bound by contractual obligations to protect it, and we transfer data only as permitted by Indian law.

8. How long we keep it

We keep booking and contact data while it is needed for the purposes above, and payment, invoice and refund records for the period tax and company law requires. When data is no longer needed, we delete or anonymise it.

9. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards, including encrypted connections, access controls and limited staff access, to protect personal data. No system is completely secure. If a breach affects your personal data, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires.

10. Your rights

Under Indian data protection law you can:

• ask for a summary of the personal data we hold about you and who we have shared it with;
• ask us to correct, complete or update it;
• ask us to erase it, unless we must keep it by law;
• withdraw your consent;
• nominate another person to exercise these rights if you die or become unable to; and
• complain to our Grievance Officer and, if you are not satisfied, to the Data Protection Board of India.

To use any of these rights, write to contact@lifehetu.com. We may need to verify your identity first. Requests about records a practitioner holds should go to the practitioner, and we will help you reach them.

11. Cookies

• Necessary: needed to run the site, remember your cookie choice, protect forms (Google reCAPTCHA) and take payments (Razorpay). These are always on.
• Analytics: Google Analytics, used only if you accept, to understand how the site is used.

You can change your choice at any time:

12. Children

The service is only for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect data about children. If we learn that we have, we will delete it.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above shows when it last changed. If a change materially affects how we use data you have already given us, we will tell you before it takes effect.

14. Contact and grievances

For privacy questions, write to contact@lifehetu.com. For complaints, contact our Grievance Officer, Puneet Pandey (Director), at puneet@lifehetu.com.