Terms of Use

These terms of use (“terms”) are an agreement between you and Arik Housley (“Arik,” “we,” “us” or “our”) about your use of arikhousley.com (the “site”). By using the site, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal information. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the site.

1. Using the site

You may use the site if you’re able to form a binding agreement where you live. If you’re under 18, please use the site with the involvement of a parent or guardian. If you use the site for an organization, for example to ask about booking Arik, you confirm you’re allowed to accept these terms for it.

The site is run from the United States. If you use it from elsewhere, you’re responsible for following your local laws. We may change, pause or stop any part of the site at any time.

2. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The date at the top of the page shows the current version. Changes apply from the date they’re posted and don’t affect disputes that arose before then. If you keep using the site after a change, you accept the updated terms.

3. Content and ownership

Unless we say otherwise, the site’s content belongs to Arik or to the people and organizations who allow us to use it. That includes Arik’s writing and story, blog posts, podcast episodes, videos, photographs, the book Always November and excerpts from it, logos and the site’s design. It’s protected by copyright, trademark and other laws.

Some content belongs to others: podcast guests’ contributions, testimonials, articles about Arik by other publications, and the name and logo of Alaina’s Voice Foundation.

Family photographs, including photographs of Alaina, are personal. Please don’t copy, share, alter or reuse them without Arik’s written permission.

Using the site doesn’t give you ownership of any content, or any right to use Arik’s name, image or logos in a way that suggests he endorses you or your work.

4. What you’re welcome to do

You’re welcome to:

• read, watch and listen to the site’s content for your own personal, non-commercial use;
• share links to any page, and share posts and episodes with the sharing tools that platforms provide;
• quote short passages, with credit to Arik Housley and a link to the source;
• use the bio, headshots and descriptions we provide to event organizers and the media to promote an engagement or report on Arik’s work, as long as you don’t change them in a misleading way.

For anything else, such as reprinting a full post, using photos or video, or excerpting the book, please ask us first. We’re glad to hear from you.

5. What you may not do

Please don’t:

• copy, republish, sell or otherwise use the site’s content commercially without our permission;
• use the site’s content to train, fine-tune or test artificial intelligence or machine-learning systems, or collect it with bots, scrapers or other automated tools, other than search engines indexing the site for public search;
• use the site or the contact form to send spam, advertising or solicitations, or to harass, threaten or impersonate anyone;
• send false or misleading booking requests;
• upload or send viruses or other harmful code, or try to get into any part of the site or its systems that you’re not authorized to use;
• interfere with the site, its security features or its spam protection;
• use the site in any way that breaks the law or infringes anyone’s rights;
• suggest that Arik endorses you, your organization, product or cause without his written permission.

6. Messages and submissions

When you send us a message, an inquiry or any other material, you confirm that what you send is accurate and that you have the right to send it. Please don’t send confidential information unless we’ve agreed to receive it in confidence. By giving us your contact details, you agree that we may reply by email or phone about your inquiry.

We read everything with care, and we handle the personal information in your messages as our Privacy Policy describes. If you share your own story, we won’t publish it without your permission.

If you send us ideas, suggestions or feedback about the site, the podcast or Arik’s work, we may use them freely, without any obligation to you.

7. Speaking engagements

The site describes Arik’s keynotes, topics and audiences to help you decide whether he’s right for your event. Sending an inquiry doesn’t book Arik or hold a date. An engagement is confirmed only when you and Arik (or someone acting for him) sign a separate written agreement covering the fee, date, travel, recording, cancellation and other terms. For that engagement, the agreement takes priority over these terms where they differ.

Talk descriptions, topics and program lengths on the site are examples. The program for your event is the one we agree on together. Recording, streaming or sharing any of Arik’s talks requires his permission, which is normally set out in the engagement agreement.

8. The book, newsletter and podcast

The site doesn’t sell anything itself:

• Always November is sold by Amazon and other retailers, and signed copies are sold through Alaina’s Voice Foundation’s checkout on Square. The seller handles your order, payment, shipping and any returns under its own terms, and sets prices and availability.
• The newsletter and podcast are published on Substack and available in podcast apps such as Spotify. Your subscription, and any payment for it, is governed by Substack’s terms of use and the terms of the app you use.
• Alaina’s Voice Foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations to it, and anything else you do with it, are governed by its own terms and policies.

Links to books and products on the site aren’t paid placements or affiliate links unless we say so where the link appears.

9. Testimonials and mentions

Testimonials on the site come from event organizers, attendees and readers. They’re shared with permission, reflect the views of the people who gave them, and may be shortened. They aren’t a promise that every event or reader will have the same experience. When the site mentions other people, organizations, books or resources, it’s for your information. It doesn’t mean they endorse Arik, or that he endorses everything they do.

10. Not professional advice

Arik shares his own experience of grief, loss and resilience after losing his daughter, Alaina, in a mass shooting. Some content on the site may be difficult to read or hear.

Everything on the site, including blog posts, podcast episodes and guest interviews, is for general information and encouragement. It isn’t medical, mental health, legal, financial or other professional advice, and it isn’t a substitute for care from a qualified professional. Guests’ views are their own.

If you’re struggling, please reach out to someone you trust or to a professional. In the United States, you can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at any time. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911.

11. Links and other services

The site links to and embeds content from other websites and services, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Substack, Spotify, Amazon, social networks, and organizations and resources Arik mentions. We don’t control them and aren’t responsible for their content, products, availability or privacy practices. Your use of them is governed by their own terms, and a link doesn’t mean we endorse everything on the linked site.

12. Copyright complaints

We respect the work of other creators. If you believe something on the site infringes your copyright, email info@housleyspeaks.com with:

• your name and contact details;
• a description of the work you believe has been infringed;
• the address (URL) of the material on the site;
• a statement that you believe in good faith that the use isn’t authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
• a statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you’re the copyright owner or authorized to act for the owner; and
• your physical or electronic signature.

We’ll review your notice and remove or disable the material where appropriate.

13. Disclaimers

We work to keep the site accurate and available, but we provide it “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement. We don’t promise that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of viruses or other harmful components, and some content may be out of date. Some places don’t allow these disclaimers, so some of them may not apply to you.

14. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Arik and the people who work with him won’t be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits or goodwill, arising from or related to your use of the site or these terms, even if we’ve been told such damages are possible. Our total liability for any claim related to the site is limited to US$100. These limits don’t apply where the law doesn’t allow them, and they don’t affect a separate engagement agreement, which has its own terms.

15. Indemnity

If you break these terms or misuse the site, and that leads to a claim against Arik or the people who work with him, you agree to cover the resulting losses, liabilities and reasonable costs, including attorneys’ fees, to the extent the law allows.

16. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. If you have a concern, please contact us first. Most problems can be sorted out quickly, and we’ll try in good faith to resolve yours within 30 days. If we can’t, any legal claim related to the site or these terms must be brought in the state courts in Napa County, California, or the federal courts for the Northern District of California, and you and we agree to those courts’ jurisdiction. Either of us may still bring a qualifying claim in small claims court.

17. Ending access

We may suspend or block anyone’s access to the site or the contact form if we believe they’ve broken these terms or are misusing the site. The sections that by their nature should continue, including content and ownership, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity and governing law, continue after your use of the site ends.

18. General terms

These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any separate agreement you have with Arik, are the whole agreement between you and us about the site. If any part of these terms can’t be enforced, the rest stays in effect. If we don’t enforce a term right away, we haven’t given up the right to enforce it later. You may not transfer your rights under these terms; we may transfer ours, for example to whoever takes over Arik’s speaking business. Headings are for convenience only.

19. How to contact us

Questions about these terms? Get in touch:

Arik Housley
Napa Valley, California, United States
Email: info@housleyspeaks.com
Contact form: arikhousley.com/contact