Whānau first
Privacy & your rights
How the Break the Cycle Movement collects, holds, uses, shares and protects your information — and the rights you have when you use this site. Grounded in the Privacy Act 2020, the Human Rights Act 1993, the NZ Bill of Rights Act 1990, the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
This is a working draft pending review by a lawyer with NZ privacy and health-law experience and a Māori cultural advisor — it is not legal advice.
1. What we hold and why
We only collect what we need to run the movement: your pledge (name, region, comment), stories you choose to share, partnership enquiries, and — if you create an account — your name, email and login credentials. Chat conversations with Aroha are stored so the conversation can continue, and so our team can keep the service safe. We never sell your information, and we never share identifiable stories without your consent.
2. Your rights, in plain language
You can ask what information we hold about you and get a copy, usually within 20 working days. You can ask us to correct information that's wrong. You can ask us to delete your account and data, except where we're legally required to keep something (for example, a record relevant to a current safety concern). You can browse most of this site anonymously, without an account.
3. Especially sensitive information
Stories about addiction, mental health and whānau are some of the most sensitive information a person can share. Every story is reviewed by a human before publishing. You may publish anonymously. Please never name other people in your story or share their details. If we ever have a privacy breach that could cause you serious harm, we will notify you and the Privacy Commissioner, as required by the Privacy Act 2020.
4. Our commitment under Te Tiriti o Waitangi
This movement is built for whānau Māori as much as any other whānau in Ōtautahi. We commit to partnership, active protection and equity, and we treat Māori data as a taonga consistent with Te Mana Raraunga principles. Māori design and language on this site should be developed with, and signed off by, Māori cultural advisors.
5. If something goes wrong
You can complain to us directly and it will be acknowledged. You can also complain to the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz) about how your information was handled, to the Health and Disability Commissioner (hdc.org.nz) about the standard of support you received, or to Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission (hrc.co.nz) about discrimination. In an emergency, always call 111.
6. AI tools on this site
Aroha (the support chat) and Ask the Evidence are AI tools, not people. They offer general, non-clinical information and always point to human support; they are not monitored around the clock and are never a crisis line — in a crisis, call or text 1737 or dial 111. Conversations are stored so the kōrero can continue and so our team can keep the service safe, and are reviewed under our safeguarding policies. Aroha's answers are guided by a strict safety brief: no drug-use instructions, no medical claims, always a pathway to help.
7. Analytics
We use privacy-respecting product analytics (PostHog) to understand which pages help people, so we can improve them. Session recording is switched off. We never track the content of chat conversations for analytics, and we never sell or share this data.