Privacy Policy

The Short Version

• You do not create an account, sign in, or provide your name to take the FLAME survey.
• Your survey answers are submitted to and stored on a FLAME research server in de-identified form so the program can be evaluated and improved. They are not anonymous in the strict sense: standard technical metadata (such as your IP address and a timestamp) may be logged by the web server, as it is for almost any website.
• We do not sell your information, show advertising, or share your responses with third parties except as required by law.
• FLAME is an educational and research tool, not a medical service. The information you submit is not a medical record and is not protected by HIPAA.
• The optional "trusted person" name field on your results page is for your own reference only and is never saved or transmitted.

What We Collect

1. Survey responses (FLAME Safety Check)

When you complete the survey and reach your results, your answers are sent to our server and stored as a single de-identified record. No name, email address, account, or contact information is requested or attached to this record. The stored record can include:

• Your firearm storage configuration, ammunition practices, vehicle/outbuilding storage, and access details;
• Household composition (for example, whether children, teenagers, older adults, veterans, or adults with a disability live in the home);
• The household risk factors you select, which may include sensitive items such as thoughts of suicide or self-harm, household conflict, substance use, mental-health struggles, and recent loss;
• Your self-reported stress level, crisis-window answers, readiness to act, and self-rated safety;
• The FLAME score, accessibility multiplier, domain sub-scores, and risk tier the tool calculates from your answers;
• A randomly generated session identifier and a timestamp.

Although no direct identifier (name, email, login) is collected, some of these items are personally sensitive. We treat the dataset accordingly and store and use it only as described below.

2. Contact and feedback messages

If you use the Contact form or submit feedback after the survey, we receive whatever you choose to provide. Name and email are optional; if you include them — for example so we can reply — they are stored with your message and emailed to the program. If you submit feedback anonymously, we do not receive identifying information.

3. Technical and server information

Like nearly all websites, the web server that hosts FLAME may automatically record standard technical information when a page is requested or a form is submitted — for example your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, and your browser type (user agent). This is generated by the hosting environment and is used for security, troubleshooting, and abuse prevention.

What we do not collect or use

• No account, password, or login is required to use the survey.
• We do not use advertising or third-party marketing trackers, and we do not sell data.
• The "trusted person" name field shown with your results stays in your browser only — it is never saved to our server or transmitted anywhere.

How We Use Information

Information collected through FLAME is used only to:

• Generate your personalized results and recommendations during your session;
• Improve the survey, the scoring approach, the wording of items, and the resources offered;
• Produce aggregate, non-identifiable statistics about how the tool is used and how households respond;
• Support program evaluation and the planned research needed to validate the FLAME score (see Research & Validation Status);
• Respond to you if you contacted us and provided a way to reply.

We do not use the information to identify, contact, or follow up with individual survey respondents, and we do not attempt to re-identify de-identified records.

Research use and IRB review. If FLAME data is used for formal research — for example, the validation studies the program is seeking funding to conduct — that research will be conducted under the oversight of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent ethics review, and only de-identified or aggregate data will be analyzed. This privacy policy will be updated to reflect any approved research protocol before such use begins.

Data Retention Schedule

We keep information only as long as it is needed for the purposes above. Unless a longer period is required by an approved research protocol or by law, our retention policy is:

These periods are program policy and may be adjusted to comply with the requirements of an approved IRB protocol or applicable law. Where a research protocol governs the data, the protocol's retention requirements apply.

How Information Is Shared

We do not sell, rent, or trade your information. We do not share individual responses with advertisers, data brokers, employers, insurers, or law enforcement for marketing or profiling purposes.

Limited sharing may occur only:

• With service providers who host the website or transmit email on our behalf, and only to the extent needed to operate the site;
• As required by law, such as a valid legal process;
• As de-identified or aggregate data for research, evaluation, or publication, in a form that does not identify any individual.

How Information Is Protected

The site is served over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Stored survey data is accessible only to authorized program staff through an authenticated, server-side sign-in; the data files are not publicly reachable. We apply standard security headers and access controls and review them periodically. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect the information consistent with its sensitivity.

Your Choices

• You can decline to participate. The survey is voluntary, and you can stop at any time. Your responses are submitted only when you complete the survey and reach the results page.
• You can browse without identifying yourself. No account or name is required.
• Deletion requests. Because survey records are stored without your name or contact information, we generally cannot locate a single individual's response to delete it. If you submitted a contact or feedback message that includes identifying information, you may ask us to delete it by writing to support@flameprogram.org.

Not a Medical Record (No HIPAA Protection)

FLAME is an educational and research tool offered through this website. It is not a clinical service, and using it does not create a clinician–patient relationship. The information you enter is not part of a medical record and is not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or by the confidentiality protections that apply to care you receive from a healthcare provider. Please keep this in mind when deciding what to enter.

Important Note About Crisis Information

If you indicate that someone in your home is having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, FLAME records that selection so it can tailor your feedback and show crisis resources and a safety-planning tool. FLAME does not contact you, alert anyone, or initiate any emergency or clinical response. No person is monitoring submissions in real time.

If you or someone you know is in danger or in crisis, please reach out right now:

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988 (Veterans press 1), free and confidential, 24/7
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741
• Emergencies — call 911

Research & Validation Status

The FLAME score is built on established suicide-prevention and lethal-means research, but the score itself has not yet been independently validated. Its weights and tier boundaries reflect expert clinical judgment and have not yet been confirmed by published reliability or predictive-validity studies. The program is actively developing grant proposals to fund that validation research. Data collected through this site supports that effort. See the Development & Theory page for details.

Program Independence

FLAME was developed by Bertrand Berger, Ph.D., who is affiliated with the Milwaukee VA Medical Center and the Medical College of Wisconsin. FLAME is an independent program. It does not represent the official position, policy, or endorsement of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, or the Medical College of Wisconsin, and references to those affiliations describe the developer's background only.

Children's Privacy

FLAME is intended for adults — firearm owners and members of their households. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the program evolves or as research begins. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, note the change on the site.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your information can be sent to support@flameprogram.org or through the Contact page.