ROLE
Name the real role
Friend, family member, volunteer, leader, and professional have different duties.
Ember & Word
Reflection stops where urgent action begins.
Use the app for voluntary adult reflection. Move emergencies and professional needs to real-world help.
Care boundary
Know the lane before taking the next step.
Faith reflection and neighborly support are not professional credentials, case management, emergency monitoring, or permission to collect another person's story.
CONSENT
Ask before beginning
Faith conversation, prayer, disclosure, and service remain voluntary.
PRIVACY
Collect less
Keep health, youth, abuse, legal, and confidential records out of the app.
SOURCE
Check before sharing
Identify the original source, date, context, incentives, and inference.
POWER
Protect an easy no
Never condition food, care, transport, work, affection, or access on participation.
DANGER
Move to real-world help
In immediate danger or a safeguarding emergency, stop and seek local help.
Urgent situations
The app cannot detect, receive, or respond to danger.
Ember & Word cannot monitor a person, contact responders, receive an abuse report, determine risk, preserve evidence, provide treatment, or substitute for emergency services. If someone may be in immediate danger, stop the activity, move toward safety when possible, and contact appropriate local emergency or safeguarding resources.
Do not use the postal address as an emergency channel.
A four-part boundary
Prepare, notice, stop, and follow through.
Make the role and setting clear
Name whether you are present as a friend, family member, volunteer, leader, or professional. Ask permission before beginning, choose an appropriate setting, and keep participation easy to decline.
Keep dignity and an exit visible
Listen without pressing for details. Do not promise secrecy you cannot keep, diagnose, investigate, or place sensitive health, youth, abuse, legal, or confidential information into a local note.
Recognize when reflection is no longer enough
Pause the activity if there is possible immediate danger, abuse or safeguarding concern, medical crisis, or a need for licensed advice. Move to suitable local emergency, safeguarding, or professional help.
Use an accountable real-world channel
Confirm only the next action the person agreed to, use approved organizational procedures where they apply, and avoid turning the app into an informal case record or a substitute for qualified follow-up.