Acknowledgment and acceptance of Terms of Use
These Terms of Use govern your use of the Black Dog Institute myCompass program including access to myCompass via your computer or mobile phone at the website located at http://www.mycompass.org.au (Site), which is owned and operated by Black Dog Institute, ABN 12 115 954 197. Access to and use of myCompass is subject to your acceptance of these Terms of Use.
By accessing myCompass you accept and consent to, without limitation or qualification, all of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Before using myCompass, please review these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy carefully.
Black Dog Institute reserves the right to amend these Terms of Use or myCompass without notice to you at anytime, however, we will post the amended Terms of Use onto the Site.
You will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the revised Terms of Use if you continue to use any member section of the site after notice of the revised Terms of Use has been placed on the site.
Your access to myCompass will commence upon our acceptance of your application for registration which will be confirmed to you via email and/or SMS.
About myCompass
myCompass is a self help program for people with mild to moderate stress, anxiety and/or depression. Use of myCompass is completely voluntary. It consists of a set of tools to help people improve their wellbeing and to self-manage their stress, anxiety and/or depression. The tools are interactive and include mood tracking, self-help tips, therapeutic learning activities and motivational messages. Users interact with myCompass via the Internet on their mobile phones and/or their computers.
Who is myCompass for?
myCompass is designed for people that are over the age of 18. If you are under 18 years of age, then please do not use myCompass.
myCompass is designed for people with mild to moderate stress, anxiety and/or depression. myCompass is not a substitute for clinical/medical treatment or advice.
If you have a serious mental health condition such that you are at risk of harming yourself or another person you should not use or continue to use myCompass but should seek urgent medical advice from either your treating medical practitioner, mental health care professional, an emergency department of a hospital or, if in immediate danger, call the emergency number “000”.
myCompass has been designed for an Australian audience in mind and complies with Australian laws and legislation. Please note the laws of other countries may differ from Australia.
Risks and benefits
myCompass offers a set of tools and techniques which aim to benefit users by;
a) helping them to better understand their moods,
b) helping them to better understand the things (situations) that trigger their symptoms of mild to moderate stress, anxiety and/or depression,
c) providing tips for minimising the triggers, and coping with and managing the symptoms of mild to moderate stress, anxiety and/or depression,
d) providing (interactive) self-help instruction and guidance, for managing a wide variety of symptoms of mild to moderate stress, anxiety and/or depression, using reputable therapeutic techniques.
myCompass does not “treat” you, or replace treatment provided by a health and/or mental health professional.
Black Dog Institute is not responsible for monitoring your use of myCompass or your responses and is not required to follow up with you, outside the automated interactivity of the program, regarding your care.
Therefore, there are risks associated with its use, including;
a) the possibility of your symptoms persisting while using myCompass
b) the possibility of your symptoms worsening while using myCompass
c) the possibility of developing symptoms or conditions while using myCompass
d) the possibility that myCompass is not suitable for you at a particular point in time.
Appropriateness of content
You must not submit, post or upload any material to the myCompass site which:
a) is inappropriate, offensive or contrary to any applicable laws or standards. This includes, without limitation, material which:
(i) is obscene or indecent, depicts violence, sexual activity or pornography; or contains instructions in crime or drug use; or
(ii) defames, harasses, menaces, threatens, abuses, offends or embarrasses any person;
(iii) depicts suicide or suicidal activities, or attempts to involve other in suicide or suicidal activities
b) infringes the copyright, moral rights, confidentiality rights or intellectual property rights of any person, for example, by reproducing songs, poems, articles, logos, trademarks, pictures, photos, music or other material that is not owned by you (or which you do not have a license to reproduce on the site);
c) infringes any of our rights or the rights of any third person including privacy rights;
d) breaches any laws, regulations, standards or codes as enacted modified or updated from time to time;
e) impersonates any person or suggests a connection to a group or organisation which is misleading;
f) advocates the use of force or violence towards any person;
g) encourages, endorses, approves or recommends the performance of dangerous or illegal acts; or
h) contains a virus or other code that has harmful or destructive properties.
Black Dog Institute may, at any time, without notice to you, filter, remove or refuse to post files, content or other material which it considers in its discretion to be in breach of the above. Black Dog Institute may also by written notification terminate your membership and/or suspend your access to the member sections of myCompass if you breach the Terms of Use.
Disclosure of Content
Black Dog Institute will not access, monitor your use of, or disclose content that you post to myCompass except:
a) to investigate possible breaches of these Terms of Use;
b) if a law requires or authorises the use or disclosure of content that you post;
c) if disclosure is reasonably necessary to enable an enforcement body to perform its function, including:
(i) the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offences; and
(ii) the preparation for, or conduct of, proceedings before any court or tribunal, or implementation of the orders of a court or tribunal; or
d) or use by us or our authorised nominees for internal purposes (without, however, disclosing your identity or any other personal information that you may post).
Subject to the above, Black Dog Institute may in its discretion access, monitor and review all other content or material which you submit to the site.
Your obligations
You are solely responsible for any content or material which you post or upload on myCompass, or which is posted by another person using your user name or password. Black Dog Institute excludes all liability (to the extent permitted by law) for any loss, damage or expenses suffered by you or claims made against you arising from content or material which you post or upload on myCompass, or which is posted by another person (whether using your username or password or otherwise).
Data for research purposes
myCompass collects information on your birth year, postcode, gender, as well as your answers to mental health questions and your entries while tracking or completing any of the activities. This data is referred to as “your input”. This input is stored securely on Black Dog Institute servers and is only accessed by those with appropriate authorisation. Your input is used for the following purposes:
a) To give you personalised feedback
b) To evaluate the usefulness of the program
c) To contribute to e-mental health research outcomes
At no point in time will your data be identifiable when used for research purposes. All of your personal information will remain strictly confidential and all use of data will strictly comply with
a) the institute’s privacy policy, and
b) the myCompass specific privacy policy.
To read the policies in full, please visit:
http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/privacy
https://www.mycompass.org.au/Footer/PrivacyPolicy
Our obligations to you
Black Dog Institute will take reasonable steps to ensure the security and confidentiality of material which you post or upload onto myCompass. However, we cannot guarantee against any loss, damage, alteration or misuse of the content or material, and will not be responsible for any harm that you or any other person may suffer in connection with any loss, damage, alteration or misuse of material posted or uploaded onto myCompass.
Black Dog Institute will use its best efforts to provide high availability of myCompass, but this cannot be guaranteed outside normal business hours. We are not responsible for any deletion, alteration, or loss of data due to network or system outages, file corruption, accidental deletion, incompatibilities or any other reasons. We makes no guarantees as to server reliability, speed, or consistency, and cannot be held liable for such.
Fees and charges and cancellation
There is no fee or charge for you to register with myCompass. However, if you access myCompass through the use of a mobile phone or the Internet, your normal phone/Internet charges will apply.
There is no minimum contract associated with the use of myCompass. You may choose to stop using myCompass at any time.
Continuation of the Program
We reserve the right to discontinue myCompass at any time and for any reason.
Disclaimer and limitation of liability
This site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. Black Dog Institute makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the site's operation or the information, content or materials included on myCompass. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, the administrators of myCompass and Black Dog Institute hereby disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. Neither myCompass nor Black Dog Institute will be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of or inability to use this site. You expressly agree that you use myCompass solely at your own risk.
The materials displayed on myCompass (“Content”), including without limitation all information, text, materials, graphics, names, logos and trade marks are for information purposes only. It should not be relied on as a substitute for professional advice on your or any other person’s health or the assessment, treatment or prevention of any disease. Persons accessing myCompass do so at their own risk. You should always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition. You should never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of your result provided by anything you read on myCompass.
Black Dog Institute has no responsibility or liability in relation to any direct or indirect loss or damage that you incur, including but not limited to damage to your software or hardware or mobile phone or injury to you or anyone else arising from your use of or access to myCompass. Black Dog Institute makes no warranty regarding the quality, accuracy, merchantability or fitness for purpose of the Content or myCompass.
Black Dog Institute does not warrant that myCompass or functions contained in myCompass, such as hyperlinks, will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected or that our server or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or bugs.
To the extent permitted by law, all representations, conditions or warranties, whether based in statute, common law or otherwise, are excluded. In the case of breach of condition or warranty implied by law or otherwise that cannot be excluded, the liability of Black Dog Institute is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.
Access to and Ownership of Program Content
The Content in myCompass is protected by copyright, trade mark and other intellectual property laws and the rights of Black Dog Institute and/or its third party licensors. You obtain no interest in the myCompass Content.
The Content, material, logos and illustrations provided in myCompass are the property of Black Dog Institute and may not be reproduced or redistributed or otherwise used for any other purpose without permission. You must not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, frame, upload to a third party, post, transmit, distribute or communicate to the public the Content (or a substantial part of it) in any way except as expressly provided for in these Terms of Use or under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) or other applicable laws.
You are granted the right to view myCompass Content using your web browser and mobile phone for your own personal use.
By submitting content or materials to myCompass, you consent to Black Dog Institute exercising all rights in respect of such content or materials as are set out in these Terms of Use even if the exercise of such rights would, but for this consent, infringe any moral rights that you may have in such content or materials.
Quality of Information
Any errors in the Content that are brought to our attention will be corrected as soon as possible. Black Dog Institute reserves the right to change any Content on myCompass at any time without notice.
Content rights
Black Dog Institute may impose limits on the size of files uploaded by members into their diary. Black Dog Institute may also filter, remove or refuse to post files which interfere with the technical operations of myCompass, including files which threaten to overload or crash a system.
External links
Links to external websites on myCompass are provided on an information source basis only. Black Dog Institute makes no warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability in relation to any information, products, services or advice provided by these external links and any views or recommendations provided in linked sites do not necessarily represent those of Black Dog Institute. You acknowledge that you enter any third party websites at your own risk.
Complaints, technical help and technical fault reporting
If you have a complaint about myCompass, you may contact:
If you have any technical problems with myCompass, you may contact:
Please note that personal medical advice is not available from Black Dog Institute.
Governing law
These Terms of Use are governed by and are to be interpreted in accordance with the laws of New South Wales, Australia.