Terms of Service

By accessing or using The Fires Within™ website at www.the-fires-within.com (the "Site"), the GUIDO behavioral companion platform, mobile application, web portal, or any related services (collectively, the "Service") operated by The Fires Within™ ("we," "us," or "our"), a sole proprietorship based in New Jersey, USA, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service. These Terms apply in addition to our Privacy Policy.

1. About the Service

The Fires Within™ provides post-addiction recovery and wellness resources, including The Recovery Book Series, Therapy Workshop Handouts and Workbooks, The Emotions Games, Posters, Songs, and related wellness materials, all available through the Site.

We also operate GUIDO, an AI-powered behavioral companion designed to provide 24/7 emotional support, behavioral pattern recognition, on-the-spot intervention, and structured accountability for individuals navigating recovery, reentry, addiction, trauma processing, and personal transformation.

GUIDO is a behavioral companion, not a digital therapeutic. GUIDO is not a medical device, a substitute for professional medical care, a replacement for a licensed therapist or psychiatrist, or an emergency service. GUIDO does not diagnose conditions, prescribe medications, or provide treatment in the clinical sense. Our materials are for educational and supportive purposes and are not a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or legal advice.

2. Age Requirement and Eligibility

The Site and the Service are intended exclusively for adults aged 18 years and older. By accessing this Site or creating an account, you confirm that you are at least 18 years of age. If you are under 18, you are not permitted to use or access this Site or Service for any purpose. If you are enrolled through an institutional program (probation, parole, drug court, court-ordered treatment), additional terms set by your supervising agency may apply.

3. Your Account

You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access. We are not liable for any loss arising from your failure to safeguard your credentials. You agree to provide accurate information during registration and to keep that information up to date.

4. SMS Text Messaging Terms

By providing your phone number and consenting to SMS during account creation, you authorize The Fires Within™ to send text messages to that number for account-related purposes (verification, password reset, billing receipts).

By adding phone numbers to your Guardian Ring and confirming the consent statement during onboarding, you authorize The Fires Within™ to send SMS alerts to those numbers when your behavioral pattern triggers escalation thresholds you have configured. Each guardian must separately accept the Guardian Agreement before any alerts are sent to their number.

Frequency: Account-related SMS are infrequent and triggered by your actions. Guardian Ring alerts are triggered only by behavioral escalation events meeting Critical or Red severity thresholds. We expect 0 to 5 messages per month for most users.

Carrier Charges: Message and data rates may apply. You are responsible for any charges from your wireless carrier.

STOP / HELP: Reply STOP to any of our SMS to opt out of further messages to that number. Reply HELP for information on how to contact us.

Withdrawal: You can disable SMS at any time via Settings. Disabling SMS may limit the Guardian Ring's ability to alert your designated contacts during a behavioral escalation event.

No Marketing SMS: We do not send promotional, marketing, or advertising SMS. All SMS is transactional or safety-related.

SMS is delivered via Twilio. By using SMS features, you acknowledge that message content will be processed by Twilio under their terms.

5. Subscription Plans and Billing

The Fires Within™ offers free-tier services and paid subscription tiers. Subscription pricing, included features, and limits are described in the app and on the Site. By selecting a paid tier, you authorize us to charge your designated payment method on a recurring basis until you cancel. Auto-renewal applies; you may cancel at any time via Settings. Subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by law. Payment processing is handled by Stripe.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service for any unlawful purpose, attempt to access another user's account, reverse engineer or decompile the Service, harass or threaten others (including misuse of the Guardian Ring to spam or threaten guardian contacts), add phone numbers to your Guardian Ring that you do not have authorization to contact, submit false or misleading information about behavioral states with the intent to deceive guardians, supervising officers, or clinicians, use the Site or Service in a way that violates any applicable law or regulation, attempt to interfere with the proper functioning of the Site, or use automated tools to scrape, collect, or extract content. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these provisions.

7. Your Content and Personal Pattern Profile

The Personal Pattern Profile, check-in transcripts, journal entries, and other behavioral data you generate ("Your Content") belong to you. By using the Service, you grant us a limited license to process Your Content solely for the purposes of operating the Service for your benefit. If you opt in to the Large Behavioral Model contribution, you grant us a license to use anonymized, de-identified, demographically generalized derivatives of Your Content to improve the Service. You can revoke this opt-in at any time.

8. Guardian Ring and Third-Party Notifications

The Guardian Ring is a notification system that contacts people you designate when behavioral escalation is detected. By using the Guardian Ring, you represent that you have the right to add the contact information of each guardian and that they consent to be contacted. Guardians receive summaries, alerts, and (where you configure it) detailed mood context — but never raw conversation transcripts. The Guardian Ring is not a substitute for emergency services. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

9. AI Conversation Disclaimers

GUIDO's AI companion is built on Anthropic's Claude AI. AI-generated responses may occasionally be incorrect, irrelevant, or inappropriate; use your judgment. GUIDO is not a licensed mental health professional. AI responses are not clinical advice.

10. Intellectual Property

All content on this Site — including text, graphics, logos, images, audio, video, data compilations, and software — is the property of The Fires Within™ or its licensors and is protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, or otherwise use any content from this Site without prior written consent from us.

11. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE AI WILL ACCURATELY DETECT OR PREVENT BEHAVIORAL CRISES. GUIDO IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL OR MENTAL HEALTH CARE, EMERGENCY SERVICES, OR CRISIS INTERVENTION BY QUALIFIED HUMAN PROFESSIONALS. We do not guarantee that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

12. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE FIRES WITHIN™ SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL FEES YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

13. Termination

You may terminate your account at any time via Settings. We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these Terms or if required by law. Upon termination, your data is handled according to the Privacy Policy, except where institutional enrollment requires extended retention.

14. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising from these Terms shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, conducted in New Jersey. You waive any right to participate in a class action.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified to you via in-app notice or email at least 30 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

16. Contact

The Fires Within™
Attn: Legal
Email: info@the-fires-within.com
Website: www.the-fires-within.com