Acceptable use

Shep holds what people tell their leaders in trust. When you write about someone:

• Record only what helps you care for them. If it would not help the next leader walk with this person, leave it out.
• Write as if the person might one day read it. They have a legal right to ask for a copy.
• Keep to what happened and what was said. Avoid labels, diagnoses and speculation.
• Ask before recording sensitive details, such as health, family or financial circumstances, and record them only with consent.
• Don’t record details about other people who are not part of the conversation unless it is needed for someone’s care or safety.

• Shep is not a crisis service. If someone is in danger, contact emergency services (000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand) first.
• Follow your church’s child safety and safeguarding policies. Shep does not replace them or any legal duty to report.
• Information about children should be recorded only with a parent or guardian’s consent and kept to what is needed.
• Don’t use Shep as the place to keep formal safeguarding investigation records. Use the system your church or denomination requires.

• harass, shame, threaten, discriminate against or expose anyone;
• add people or send them messages without a genuine church relationship or their consent;
• share someone’s information with people who don’t need it for their care;
• upload anything unlawful, or content you don’t have the right to share;
• send spam or bulk messages unrelated to your church’s care for its people;
• access another person’s account, or information your role does not allow;
• probe, scan, overload or try to get around Shep’s security, except through our responsible disclosure process; or
• copy, resell or reverse engineer Shep.

If you see Shep being misused, tell your church admin or email legal@shephub.com.

We may remove content or suspend access that breaks this policy, as our terms of service describe. We will tell your church why, unless the law or someone’s safety prevents it.