WA-SAST Terms of Use

Effective Date: March 2026

1. Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using the WA-SAST websites, including wa-sast.org and gethelp.wa-sast.org (the “Site”), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Site. The Site is operated by Social Strategies (“we,” “us,” or “our”), based in Seattle, Washington.

2. Intended Users

WA-SAST is designed for professionals working in social services, advocacy, government, and related fields within Washington State. The platform is intended for, among others:

• employees and volunteers of service provider organizations
• government agency staff
• professionals seeking training, certification, or professional development

The Site is not intended for the general public or for individuals seeking direct crisis services.

3. Account Registration

To access training materials and certain Site features, you may be required to create an account. By registering, you represent and warrant that:

• you are at least 18 years old;
• you are a professional, volunteer, contractor, or other authorized user in social services, advocacy, government, or a related field, or otherwise have a legitimate professional reason to access the Site;
• the information you provide is accurate, current, and complete; and
• you have read and agree to these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account.

4. Account Suspension or Termination

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion and without prior notice, to suspend, restrict, or terminate your account or access to the Site if we believe that you have:

• violated these Terms of Use;
• used the Site in a manner that is unlawful, misleading, abusive, harmful, or disruptive;
• misrepresented your identity, affiliation, or professional status; or
• engaged in conduct that may create risk or liability for us, other users, or third parties.

We may also remove or restrict access to any content or functionality at any time for legal, operational, security, or administrative reasons.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree to use WA-SAST only for lawful purposes consistent with its intended professional use. You agree not to:

• use the Site for any commercial purpose without our prior written consent;
• misrepresent your identity, affiliation, credentials, or professional status;
• share your account credentials with others;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Site or its related systems;
• interfere with or disrupt the Site’s functionality, performance, or security;
• use bots, crawlers, scrapers, automated scripts, or similar tools to access, extract, copy, monitor, or interact with the Site without our prior written permission;
• copy, reproduce, republish, redistribute, or create derivative works from training content except as expressly permitted;
• use the Site or any content from the Site, including training materials, metadata, structure, or downloadable materials, to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or develop any machine learning, artificial intelligence, or similar models or systems, or to create or enrich datasets for such purposes, without our prior written consent;
• upload, transmit, or distribute viruses, malware, or other harmful code;
• harass, abuse, threaten, or harm any user or third party;
• use the Site in a manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Site; or
• upload, submit, publish, transmit, or make available content that is unlawful, infringing, defamatory, discriminatory, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate for the Site.

6. Training Content and Certificates

Training Materials

WA-SAST provides professional training content, including e-learning modules that may assist users in meeting certification, accreditation, compliance, or professional development requirements. WA-SAST training is one possible source among several and may not satisfy every requirement for every user, organization, role, or jurisdiction. E-learning modules are provided for online viewing only unless expressly stated otherwise. Unless otherwise specified, training modules may not be downloaded, copied, redistributed, or reused. Downloadable resources and supplementary materials may be used internally for professional purposes as permitted by the applicable content owner.

Certificates

Upon successful completion of certain training, you may receive a downloadable certificate of completion. Certificates reflect only that the applicable WA-SAST training was completed according to our records. You are solely responsible for determining whether a certificate or course satisfies any employment, licensing, accreditation, grant, contractual, or regulatory requirement, and for maintaining your own records.

7. Intellectual Property

Site Content

The Site and its design, layout, branding, software, functionality, and compilation of content are owned by or licensed to Social Strategies and are protected by intellectual property and other applicable laws. Content made available through WA-SAST may be owned by Social Strategies, users, partners, government agencies, licensors, or other third parties. Ownership varies by content type and may not be individually marked. Except as expressly permitted, you may not reproduce, distribute, modify, publicly display, republish, create derivative works from, or otherwise exploit Site content without authorization from the applicable rights holder.

Government-Sponsored Content

Some content may be partially or fully funded by government grants or contracts and may be subject to different use rights or restrictions. If you are unsure whether content may be reused, contact us for clarification.

8. User Submissions

Your Submissions

The Site may allow authorized users to submit, upload, post, publish, transmit, send, or otherwise provide materials or communications, including but not limited to resource listings, directory information, event information, newsletter submissions, feedback, suggestions, messages, support requests, documents, forms, media, and other materials (“Submissions”). You retain ownership of your Submissions, but by providing any Submission through or to the Site, you represent, warrant, and agree that:

• you have all rights, permissions, licenses, and authority necessary to provide the Submission and to grant the license described below;
• the Submission is accurate to the best of your knowledge, current as of the date submitted, and appropriate for the Site’s intended audience;
• the Submission does not infringe, misappropriate, or violate any intellectual property, privacy, publicity, contractual, or other rights of any person or entity;
• the Submission does not violate any applicable law, regulation, or policy; and
• the Submission is not knowingly false, misleading, discriminatory, defamatory, obscene, harassing, malicious, or otherwise unlawful.

Responsibility for Submitted Content

Users who submit content are primarily responsible for ensuring that the content they provide is accurate, lawful, and, where reasonably possible, accessible and usable. We encourage users to follow accessibility best practices, including providing alt text for images, captions for videos, readable document structure, and accessible file formats. We may, but are not obligated to, assist with accessibility improvements and do not independently audit or verify the accessibility of user-submitted content.

License to Us

By providing a Submission, you grant Social Strategies and WA-SAST a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, transmit, format, adapt, excerpt, publish, promote, and otherwise use the Submission in connection with operating, improving, promoting, moderating, and providing the Site and related services. This license includes the right to make technical, formatting, administrative, and editorial modifications that do not materially alter the intended meaning of the Submission, including adding metadata, formatting changes, accessibility fixes, captions, transcripts, alt text, labels, or alternative access methods.

Monitoring and Removal

We reserve the right, but not the obligation, to monitor, review, edit, annotate, reject, unpublish, disable access to, replace, or remove any Submission or third-party content at any time and for any reason, including if we believe the content:

• is outdated, inaccurate, incomplete, or no longer useful;
• violates these Terms of Use;
• may expose us or others to legal, reputational, or security risk; or
• is otherwise inappropriate for the Site.

We may, but are not required to, notify the submitting party before or after taking such action.

9. Accessibility

The Site may include content, documents, media, tools, integrations, and materials provided by users, partners, government entities, vendors, and other third parties. We do not represent or warrant that every page, file, or item of third-party content will conform to any specific accessibility standard at all times. Users who submit content are primarily responsible for the accessibility of the content they provide (see Section 8). If you experience difficulty accessing any content, service, feature, document, video, form, or functionality on the Site, please contact us at Mail@WA-SAST.org and provide sufficient detail to help us investigate, including the page or item involved and the nature of the issue. We will review reported barriers and may, where appropriate, provide information through an alternative method, request an accessible replacement from the content owner, modify the content, or remove the content. Nothing in these Terms is intended to limit any rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be limited or waived under applicable law.

10. Copyright Complaints; DMCA Notice

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect users of the Site to do the same. If you believe that material available on or through the Site infringes your copyright, you may send a notification of claimed infringement to our designated copyright agent.

Designated Agent

A copyright notice should include, to the extent required by applicable law:

• identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
• identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate it;
• your contact information;
• a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner’s behalf; and
• your physical or electronic signature.

We may remove or disable access to material claimed to be infringing and may terminate or restrict access for repeat infringers where appropriate. If you believe your content was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notification to the designated agent with the information required by applicable law.

11. Service Availability

The Site may be unavailable, delayed, or limited from time to time due to scheduled maintenance, unscheduled maintenance, upgrades, repairs, system failures, vendor outages, internet or hosting issues, security events, capacity issues, or failures of third-party tools or services, including authentication, hosting, video, email, or single sign-on services. We do not guarantee that the Site, any training module, account feature, login function, certificate feature, or downloadable material will always be available, uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for loss of access, delayed access, failed logins, interrupted sessions, incomplete course progress, unavailable certificates, or other losses resulting from maintenance, outages, technical failures, or third-party service interruptions.

12. Privacy and Security

Our collection, use, and disclosure of personal information are described in our Privacy Policy. We use measures designed to help protect information under our control, but no method of transmission over the internet, no electronic storage system, and no security control is completely secure. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee absolute security, availability, or confidentiality of any information. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials, using secure devices and networks, and notifying us promptly of any suspected unauthorized use of your account.

13. Disclaimers

“As Is” and “As Available”

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SITE AND ALL CONTENT, FUNCTIONALITY, DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS, AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AVAILABILITY, SECURITY, ACCURACY, AND UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION. We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free of viruses or other harmful components, or that defects will be corrected.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SOCIAL STRATEGIES AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, LICENSORS, AND AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, GOODWILL, DATA, OR USE, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SITE, ANY CONTENT, ANY THIRD-PARTY MATERIALS, OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY OF SOCIAL STRATEGIES AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, LICENSORS, AND AFFILIATES FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SITE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (A) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US $100), OR (B) THE AMOUNT, IF ANY, PAID BY YOU TO US FOR USE OF THE SITE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. Nothing in these Terms limits liability to the extent such liability cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Social Strategies and its officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, affiliates, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, demands, actions, proceedings, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to:

• your use of the Site;
• your violation of these Terms of Use;
• your violation of any law or the rights of any person or entity; or
• your Submissions, content, or communications made through the Site.

This indemnity expressly includes claims arising out of or related to Submissions you provide, including claims that such content is inaccurate, inaccessible, infringing, unlawful, discriminatory, defamatory, misleading, or otherwise violates these Terms or applicable law. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, and you agree to cooperate with our defense of such claim.

16. Reporting Concerns

If you encounter content that appears inaccurate, outdated, inappropriate, unlawful, infringing, inaccessible, or otherwise problematic, please notify us at Mail@WA-SAST.org. We take reports seriously and will review them, but we are not obligated to take any specific action in response to every report.

17. Changes to the Site or Terms

We may modify, suspend, discontinue, or restrict access to any part of the Site at any time, with or without notice. We may also update these Terms of Use at any time by posting revised terms to this page and updating the effective date. Your continued use of the Site after revised Terms are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. For material changes, we may provide additional notice through the Site or by email, but are not obligated to do so.

18. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms of Use and any dispute arising out of or relating to the Site or these Terms will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Any dispute that is not resolved informally will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in King County, Washington, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of those courts. Before filing any legal action, you agree to first send us written notice at Mail@WA-SAST.org describing the nature of the dispute and the requested relief, and to attempt in good faith to resolve the matter informally for at least 30 days after such notice. This informal dispute-resolution requirement does not apply to the extent prohibited by law and does not require either party to waive non-waivable legal rights.

19. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer these Terms, in whole or in part, without restriction and without notice to you, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. These Terms will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns.

20. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

21. Survival

The provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination or expiration of your access to the Site will survive, including without limitation Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22.

22. Entire Agreement

These Terms of Use, together with our Privacy Policy and any additional terms expressly incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Social Strategies regarding your use of WA-SAST and supersede all prior or contemporaneous understandings relating to the Site.

23. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms of Use, contact us at: