1. Acceptance of these terms

By using this site (the “Site”), signing up for the newsletter, downloading any toolkit or resource, purchasing any course or service, or otherwise communicating with me through the Site, you agree to these Terms of Use (the “Terms”) and the Privacy Policy. Where the Site asks you to confirm acceptance by checking a box or clicking a button (for example, at checkout or at form submission), your check or click constitutes your electronic signature and is legally binding. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.

2. About me and what this Site is

The Site is owned and operated by Stephanie A. Smith, LCSW, ASW-G, C-ASWCM, doing business as The Social Work Progressive (“I,” “me,” or “The Social Work Progressive”). I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of Colorado. The Site provides educational content, toolkits, continuing education materials, written commentary, and information about my professional services.

3. No clinical relationship through this Site

The Site is not a clinical practice. Stephanie does provide clinical services through The Social Work Progressive PLLC, but those services are governed by a separate intake process and signed engagement letter, not by your use of this Site. Nothing on or through the Site, including without limitation blog posts, courses, toolkits, free resources, the contact form, the newsletter, or email correspondence, creates a clinician-client, therapist-patient, supervisor-supervisee, evaluator-evaluee, or any other professional relationship between you and me. A clinical relationship is established only by a separately signed engagement letter or service agreement and (where applicable) the completion of clinical informed-consent paperwork.

Information you read on this Site, in a course, or in a toolkit is general and educational. It is not advice for your specific clinical situation, your client’s specific clinical situation, or any individual case. Do not rely on Site content to diagnose, assess, treat, or make clinical or legal decisions for yourself or anyone else.

4. Educational use of toolkits, courses, and resources

Free and paid resources distributed through the Site are intended as professional reference and training material for licensed clinicians, supervisors, educators, and clinical staff who exercise their own professional judgment.

• You are solely responsible for your own clinical decisions, documentation, and use of any template, screener, or framework you adopt from these resources.
• You are responsible for ensuring that any materials you adopt comply with your state licensing board, your employer, your insurance contracts, your funding sources, and any applicable law.
• Continuing education courses, when offered, will list the issuing accreditation and the jurisdictions in which credit applies. CEU credit is governed by your state board, not by me. I make no guarantee that any course will be approved for CEU credit by your specific state board, and approval status as of the date of publication is not guaranteed to remain unchanged.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to: (a) use the Site in any way that violates any applicable law or regulation; (b) attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Site, my accounts, or any system or network connected to the Site; (c) scrape, crawl, harvest, or otherwise systematically extract data from the Site through automated means without my prior written permission; (d) use the Site to transmit malware, harmful code, or unsolicited commercial messages; (e) impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation; (f) interfere with the operation of the Site; or (g) use the Site or its content to train any artificial intelligence, machine-learning, or large-language model.

6. Intellectual property

All content on the Site, including text, graphics, logos, toolkits, course materials, slide decks, and PDFs, is the original work of Stephanie A. Smith, LCSW, ASW-G, C-ASWCM, or licensed to me, and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws.

Permitted use. If you have downloaded or purchased a toolkit, course, or resource, you may use it within your own clinical practice, your own supervisory practice, or your own teaching, including making reasonable copies for your own clients, supervisees, or students. You may share a free toolkit with a colleague.

Not permitted. You may not resell, rebrand, sublicense, redistribute for commercial purposes, post in full to a third-party website, or train any artificial-intelligence, machine-learning, or large-language model on any of my materials without my prior written permission.

7. DMCA and copyright complaints

I respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect users to do the same. If you believe content on the Site infringes a copyright you own or control, send a notice that includes (a) a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized agent; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed; (c) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information sufficient to locate it; (d) your contact information; (e) a statement that you have a good faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. Send notices to Stephanie@TheSocialWorkProgressive.com with the subject line “DMCA Notice.”

8. Purchases, refunds, and digital products

Paid services and digital products purchased through this Site are governed by the description, scope, and pricing shown at the time of purchase. Payments are processed by third-party payment processors with their own terms.

• Services (assessments, consultations, custom training): refunds and cancellations are governed by the engagement letter or service agreement signed at the time of booking.
• Digital products (toolkits, downloadable courses): because of the digital and immediately-accessible nature of these products, all sales are final unless the product is materially defective, undeliverable, or fails to deliver substantially what was described at purchase.
• Live trainings and workshops: refund and cancellation terms will be stated at the time of registration.

To request a refund or report a defect: email Stephanie@TheSocialWorkProgressive.com within 14 days of purchase with your order number and a description of the issue. I will respond within 5 business days. Approved refunds are returned by the original method of payment within 10 business days of approval.

9. Crisis and emergencies

The Site is not monitored in real time. Messages and form submissions are typically reviewed within two business days. If you or someone else is in a mental health crisis or in danger, do not use this Site for help. Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call 911, or go to your nearest emergency room.

10. Mandated reporter

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Colorado, I am a mandated reporter under C.R.S. § 19-3-304 and C.R.S. § 26-3.1-102. If, in the course of any communication, I learn information that gives me reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or neglect, abuse or exploitation of an at-risk adult, or imminent threat of harm to self or others, I am required by law to make the appropriate report. By using this Site, you acknowledge my mandated reporter status and accept that I may be required to disclose information you share. Communications through this Site are not legally privileged.

11. Disclaimers

The Site and all content, products, services, and resources made available through it are provided “as is” and “as available,” without any warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, non-infringement, or that the Site will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

Outcomes, including clinical, educational, professional, financial, and legal outcomes, depend on many factors outside my control. I make no guarantees about specific results from using the Site or any of its content. Blog posts and educational content reflect my opinion and professional perspective at the time of writing. They are not legal, medical, or clinical advice for any individual case. Content may be revised over time, and historical posts may not reflect current law or best practice.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will Stephanie A. Smith, LCSW, ASW-G, C-ASWCM, or The Social Work Progressive be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Site, any product or service obtained through the Site, or any content, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, my total cumulative liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Site, its content, or any product or service obtained through it will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid me in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Carveouts. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law, including liability for: (a) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (b) gross negligence; (c) willful misconduct; (d) bodily injury or death caused by negligence; (e) any liability that consumer protection law in your jurisdiction prohibits from being limited; or (f) any liability arising under any clinical engagement entered into separately by signed agreement (which is governed entirely by that engagement’s terms and is not limited or affected by these Terms). For clarity, the limitation of liability in this section applies to use of this Site only and does not limit my professional liability under any clinical engagement, which is addressed by my professional liability insurance and the engagement’s separate terms.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Stephanie A. Smith, LCSW, ASW-G, C-ASWCM, and The Social Work Progressive, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of (a) your use of the Site, its content, or any product or resource obtained through it; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any law or third-party right in connection with such use; (d) any clinical, educational, or professional decision you make based on Site content, including reliance on any toolkit, course, or template; or (e) your breach of the Acceptable Use section.

14. Force majeure

I will not be liable for any failure or delay in performance to the extent caused by circumstances beyond my reasonable control, including without limitation acts of God, natural disasters, fire, flood, severe weather, pandemic, public-health emergency, war, terrorism, civil unrest, internet or telecommunications outages, hosting-provider failures, or government action. If a force-majeure event continues for more than 30 days and materially impairs my ability to deliver a paid product or service, either you or I may terminate the affected order on written notice and I will refund any prepaid amounts for the unfulfilled portion.

15. Electronic communications and notices

You consent to receive communications from me electronically. Agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications I provide electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. Notices to me must be sent to Stephanie@TheSocialWorkProgressive.com and are deemed given when received and acknowledged. Notices to you may be sent by email to the address on file or posted on the Site.

16. Third-party links

The Site may include links to third-party websites or resources. I do not control or endorse those sites and I am not responsible for their content, privacy practices, or terms.

17. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms, your use of the Site, and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The exclusive venue for any dispute that is not subject to mandatory arbitration is the state and federal courts located in Colorado, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

18. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any of your rights or obligations under them without my prior written consent. I may assign these Terms in connection with a sale, merger, reorganization, or transfer of all or substantially all of my business or assets. Any attempted assignment in violation of this section is void.

19. Independent operator

I operate the Site as an independent professional. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, employment, or franchise relationship between you and me.

20. Changes to these Terms

I may update these Terms from time to time. The “Effective” date at the top reflects the most recent version. Your continued use of the Site after a change indicates your acceptance of the updated Terms. Material changes will be flagged on the Site or by email to subscribers.

21. Survival, severability, and entire agreement

Survival. The following sections survive any termination or expiration of these Terms or your use of the Site: 6 (Intellectual property), 8 (Refunds, to the extent obligations remain), 11 (Disclaimers), 12 (Limitation of liability), 13 (Indemnification), 17 (Governing law and venue), and any other section that by its nature should survive.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, that provision will be modified or severed only to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any engagement letter or service agreement signed in connection with paid services, are the entire agreement between you and me regarding your use of the Site. Any conflict between these Terms and a signed engagement letter is resolved in favor of the engagement letter for the matters it covers.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms: Stephanie@TheSocialWorkProgressive.com.