Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Statement

This Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Statement addresses the collection, use, security and access of/to personal information that may be collected and maintained through use of Internet web sites owned and operated by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) or any of the hospitals and training centers operated thereby.

It is the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia and DBHDS that personal information about citizens will be collected only to the extent necessary to provide services and/or benefits thereto; that only appropriate information will be collected; and that the citizen shall understand the reason the information is collected and be able to examine the information so collected and maintained by DBHDS.

This DBHDS web site:

1. Collects no personal information, except as provided below.
2. Does not place a “cookie” on your computer.
3. Will not track your movements through the web site.
4. May allow you to send comments or requests to DBHDS mailboxes or participate in listserver discussion groups. E-mail addresses and messages so obtained shall not be used for other purposes and shall not be sold or otherwise distributed to outside organizations, except as required by law.  Be advised, however, that any e-mail message received by DBHDS that is in and of itself unlawful, seeks to aid or abet an unlawful act, or has as its intended purpose the destruction or disruption of DBHDS information technology resources, may be turned over to an appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation and/or prosecution.

DBHDS may deploy firewall and intrusion detection technologies that log connections to this web site. Log entries typically include source and destination Internet Protocol addresses, domain names, services/protocols used and other non-personal information. Such log files tend to be very large and are intended to be used primarily for performance monitoring and troubleshooting by technical support staff; as such, they have a limited disk-life and are not archived. However, if during routine monitoring and troubleshooting, evidence of unlawful acts or attempts to cause the destruction or disruption of DBHDS information technology resources is uncovered, the log files may be retained and turned over to an appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation and/or prosecution.

For your convenience, this DBHDS web site may provide links to web sites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private businesses. When you link to another web site from any DBHDS web site, the scope and effect of this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Statement ends and that of the linked-to web site begins. The provision of links to other web sites shall not be construed as an endorsement by DBHDS of any content, viewpoint, product or service expressed or marketed by the operator of the linked-to web site.

Although every effort is made to keep this web site updated, neither DBHDS nor any employee or contractor thereof warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published on this web site or any web site that links to or is linked from this web site. DBHDS shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained using this web site does so at his or her own risk.

Thank you for your interest in and use of this web site.