Terms of Use

Universal Awareness Fellowship (“UAF,” “we,” “us”) is a spiritual fellowship and 501(c)(3) nonprofit religious organization. These terms govern your use of our services and your participation in our programs.

They cover:

• Our public website at universalawarenessfellowship.org, where anyone can learn about our programs, contact us, subscribe to our newsletter, reserve a spot in a public event, or make a donation.
• The UAF Member Portal — a website and mobile app that helps our members prepare for and stay connected to our retreats, groups, and programs.
• Our retreats, Growth Groups, Growth Practices, events, and community spaces.

Some of what follows applies only to members using the portal, or only to retreat participants. Where that’s the case, we say so.

Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and how we handle it. It forms part of these terms.

Accepting these terms

By using our website, the Member Portal, or taking part in our programs, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

Who may use our services

Our programs and the Member Portal are intended for adults. You must be 18 or older to apply to a retreat, create a portal account, reserve a place at a public event, join a Growth Group or Growth Practice, or take part in any of our programs. There is no exception, and we do not admit minors accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Our public website is general-audience informational content, and anyone may read it, contact us, or make a donation.

Our website and the Member Portal

You may use our services for their intended purpose: learning about UAF, applying to our programs, preparing for a retreat you are enrolled in, and taking part in our community.

You agree not to:

• Share your sign-in link or access with anyone else. Portal sign-in links are personal, time-limited, and tied to your email address.
• Attempt to access another person’s information, or any part of the portal you have not been given access to.
• Copy, scrape, or redistribute the content of the portal, including other members’ details, retreat materials, or the member directory.
• Interfere with, disrupt, or attempt to breach the security of our services.
• Use our services to harass, threaten, or harm anyone.

We may suspend or end access to our services if these terms are broken.

Applying to a retreat

Participation is by conversation and screening, not open enrollment.

Submitting an application does not reserve a place or create any obligation on either side. After you apply, you book a free consultation with one of our Co-Directors. If we move forward together, a medical and psychological intake follows.

We decide who joins each retreat, and we may decline any application at our discretion. We may also decline or end participation at any stage — including after payment — if we believe the program is not a safe or appropriate fit for you or for the group. Where we do that and the retreat has not yet taken place, we will refund or transfer what you have paid.

Contributions, deposits and payment

The contribution is discussed during your consultation. Rates vary by retreat, room type, and how early you commit. Reduced rates are available for those who need them — ask us.

A deposit reserves your place. The balance is due by the date given to you when you enroll. If your balance is not received by that date, your pricing tier and reserved place are no longer guaranteed.

Payments may be made by card, Zelle, check, or wire. Card payments are handled by our payment processor; we never store card details.

Changes, transfers and refunds

• Your deposit is fully refundable through your balance-due date. After that it becomes non-refundable, but may be transferred.
• Balance and full payments are non-refundable, but transferable.
• Transfers. A non-refundable payment may be transferred to another approved participant, or applied toward a future UAF retreat within 12 months of the retreat you originally enrolled in. After 12 months the credit lapses.
• Donations are non-refundable. If something comes up, you are welcome to reschedule or gift your place to another qualifying participant.
• If we cancel a retreat, the choice is yours: a full refund, or transfer to a future retreat. This applies however you paid and whatever stage you had reached.

Donations and tax receipts

UAF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit religious organization, EIN 99-4107112. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Where a payment is partly in exchange for goods or services — a retreat place, for example — only the portion above the fair market value of what you receive is deductible. Your receipt states that value and the deductible amount. We issue a receipt for every gift.

Some of our offerings are fees rather than gifts, and nothing about them is deductible. Your receipt will say so.

What our programs are — and are not

Our retreats and programs are spiritual and religious in nature. They are offered as a rite of passage and a practice of community.

They are not medical care, psychiatric care, psychological treatment, or therapy, and they are not a substitute for any of those. Our facilitators support you within a spiritual setting; some hold clinical credentials, but they are not acting as your clinician and no therapeutic relationship is created. Nothing we provide is a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or medical advice.

If you are under the care of a physician or mental-health professional, we ask that you discuss participation with them before you apply. Do not stop or change any prescribed treatment because of anything you encounter in our programs.

If you are experiencing a medical or psychiatric emergency, contact emergency services.

Your responsibilities as a participant

Our programs ask real things of the people in them. By taking part you agree to:

• Disclose honestly. Complete the medical-history intake and emergency contact information fully and truthfully, and tell us promptly if anything changes before the retreat. We rely on what you tell us to keep you safe.
• Follow the guidance of facilitators during the retreat, including any instruction given for your safety or the group’s.
• Take responsibility for your own wellbeing, and tell a facilitator if you are struggling.
• Treat others with respect. No harassment, intimidation, or violence.
• Respect the confidentiality of others — see below.

Insurance. We strongly recommend you carry travel and medical insurance covering the dates of your retreat, including emergency medical care and evacuation. Our retreats are held in rural settings where the nearest hospital is not close. We do not require proof of cover and we do not provide it.

Confidentiality

What people share in our circles stays in our circles.

You agree not to repeat, publish, record, or otherwise disclose anything another participant shares in a retreat, Growth Group, or community space — including their identity as a participant — without their explicit permission.

Recording of any kind during retreats or sessions is not permitted without prior written consent.

Where you have signed a separate confidentiality agreement or informed consent form, that document governs alongside these terms.

The member community

Membership continues after your retreat. Our community spaces — the community chat, Growth Groups, Growth Practices, the member directory, and member gatherings — are for members, and the conduct expectations above apply in all of them.

The member directory is optional. You control whether you appear in it and which of your details are visible.

We may remove a member from any community space, or from membership, where these terms or the safety of the community require it.

Assumption of risk and limitation of liability

Our retreats are residential, take place in natural settings, and involve physical activity, emotional intensity, and ceremony. Participation carries inherent risks, including risks that cannot be eliminated.

Intellectual property

The content of our website and portal — text, images, program materials, and the UAF name and marks — belongs to Universal Awareness Fellowship or is used with permission. You may not reproduce or redistribute it without our permission.

Materials shared with you as a participant are for your own use.

Where you give us permission to publish a testimonial or story, we publish it without your name, identified only by a general age range and the program you attended. You may withdraw that permission at any time by contacting us.

Third-party services

Our services rely on third parties, including our payment processor, scheduling tools, video conferencing, email delivery, and community messaging. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy practices. We are not responsible for their content or availability.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will post the updated version here with a new “Last updated” date. Material changes affecting an enrolled participant will be communicated directly.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.

If something goes wrong between us, we would rather talk first. Before either of us begins legal proceedings, we each agree to attempt in good faith to resolve the matter through mediation, sharing the mediator’s costs equally. If mediation does not resolve it, the courts of San Francisco County, California have exclusive jurisdiction.

Nothing here prevents either of us from seeking urgent relief from a court where it is genuinely needed.

Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@universalawarenessfellowship.org