Terms & Rules

Terms of Use and Community Rules

Effective November 1, 2026

In plain words: The Guild is free peer support from adult volunteers. It is not therapy, medical advice or a crisis service. You must be 18 or older. Be kind, protect everyone's privacy, and never ask anyone for money. You use the Guild at your own risk, and we can remove anyone who breaks these rules. The full terms below are what apply.

In danger right now? Call 911. Thinking about suicide or in emotional crisis? Call or text 988 (US) or chat at 988lifeline.org. Outside the US, call your local emergency number.

1. Agreement to these terms

These terms apply to thelistenersguild.com, listenersguild.com, The Listeners Guild Discord server, and any email or conversation with Guild volunteers (together, the "Guild"). "We," "us" and "our" mean the Guild's organizers and volunteers. By using the Guild, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Notice. If you do not agree, do not use the Guild.

2. The Guild is not professional help

The Guild offers peer support: conversation and listening from volunteers. Listeners are not licensed therapists, counselors, social workers, doctors, nurses, lawyers or financial advisers, and they are not acting as any of these, even if they hold such a license elsewhere.

Nothing in the Guild is therapy, counseling, diagnosis, treatment, or medical, legal or financial advice.
Using the Guild does not create a professional, clinical, fiduciary or confidential relationship between you and anyone.
Any suggestion a listener gives is a personal opinion. You are responsible for your own decisions. Talk to a qualified professional before acting on anything that affects your health, safety, legal rights or money.
The Guild is not a substitute for professional care. If you are receiving care, do not stop or change it because of anything said here.

3. The Guild is not a crisis or emergency service

Listeners may be offline, slow to reply, or unable to help. We cannot send help to you, track your location, or monitor conversations around the clock. Do not use the Guild to report an emergency or to get help in a crisis. Use the emergency and crisis contacts at the top of this page instead.

4. You must be 18 or older

The Guild is for adults only. By using it, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old. We will remove anyone we believe is under 18 and delete what we hold about them. Listeners must also be 18 or older.

5. Community Rules

These rules apply everywhere in the Guild. Breaking them can get your posts removed or you removed from the Guild, at our discretion and without notice.

Adults only. You must be 18 or older.
Respect the ear. Tag your post Just listen, Talk it through or Advice welcome, and follow other people's tags. No advice unless it is asked for.
Be kind. No harassment, bullying, hate speech, threats, slurs, sexual content, or pressure of any kind.
No graphic detail. You can talk about hard things, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts, but do not describe methods, plans or injuries in detail. Moderators may hide such content and check in with you.
Protect privacy. Use a nickname. Do not share your own or anyone else's full name, address, phone number, workplace, photos or account details. Do not screenshot, record, copy or share anything said in the Guild outside of it.
Keep it in the Guild. Do not send direct messages to people who have not agreed to them. Listeners will never move a conversation to direct messages, another app, the phone or in person.
No money or selling. No asking for or offering money, gifts, loans or personal favors. No advertising, recruiting, fundraising or links to products or services.
No impersonation. Do not pretend to be a listener, moderator or professional.
Report problems. If something feels wrong, tell a moderator. Do not try to handle it yourself.
Follow Discord's rules. Discord's own Terms of Service and Community Guidelines also apply on our server.

6. Confidentiality and its limits

Listeners agree to keep what you share to themselves and not to keep notes or recordings of conversations. However, we cannot promise complete confidentiality:

Forum posts and voice rooms can be read or heard by other members, and other members are not bound by the Listener's Pledge.
Discord, Google and Cloudflare process data under their own terms and privacy policies, which we do not control.
Moderators can see posts, moderation logs and automatic safety alerts.
We may share information with emergency services, Discord's Trust & Safety team, or law enforcement when we believe in good faith that someone is at serious or imminent risk of harm, or when the law requires it.

Share only what you are comfortable with others possibly seeing.

7. Moderation and availability

The Guild is run by volunteers. We may remove content or members, close channels, or change, pause or end any part of the Guild at any time, for any reason, without notice. We do not promise that a listener will be available, that you will get a reply, or how quickly. We do not review every message and are not responsible for what other members post.

8. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent the law allows, the Guild and everything said or shared in it are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or availability. We do not check members' or listeners' identities beyond our listener application, and we do not verify anything members say.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, the Guild, its organizers and its volunteers are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any injury, loss or harm, arising from or related to your use of the Guild, any conversation, any suggestion or opinion given, the conduct of any member, or any delay or failure to respond. The Guild is free, and where liability cannot be excluded, our total liability to you for all claims is limited to one hundred US dollars (US$100). Some places do not allow certain limits, so some of these may not apply to you.

10. Your responsibility

You use the Guild voluntarily and at your own risk. You are responsible for what you post and for your own decisions and actions. You agree to cover any claims, losses or costs (including reasonable legal fees) that others bring against the Guild, its organizers or its volunteers because you broke these terms or the law.

11. Other services

The Guild runs on services we do not own, including Discord, Cloudflare and Google. Links to outside resources, such as crisis lines or warmlines, are provided for convenience; we do not run or endorse them and are not responsible for them.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be handled in the state or federal courts located in Virginia, and you agree to their jurisdiction.

13. Changes and other terms

We may update these terms. The effective date at the top will change, and continuing to use the Guild means you accept the update. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. Our not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it. Questions: hello@thelistenersguild.com.