Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible?

MenoGrit is operated by Stevie Wainwright as a sole trader. Stevie Wainwright trading as MenoGrit is the data controller. Postal correspondence: Warren Farm, Thame Lane, Oxfordshire, OX14 3DT, United Kingdom.

For privacy questions, access or deletion requests, complaints or withdrawals, contact privacy@menogrit.com. For general service enquiries email hello@menogrit.com. You can also message the host on the MenoGrit WhatsApp Business number.

2. The information we collect

We do not need your diagnoses, medication, medical history, health test results or other clinical information to register. A three-question optional welcome prompt about social preferences is created on your device; it is not submitted to our website database, and reaches us only if you choose to send it to the host on WhatsApp.

Paid membership checkout is hosted by Stripe. Stripe receives and processes the email and payment/billing details needed for the subscription; MenoGrit does not receive or store full card numbers. The host arranges Circle access after payment; onboarding is not automatic. We do not ask for professional health assessments.

Selected Expert Hour teaching segments may be recorded to create an edited replay. We obtain the expert's specific written permission first, tell members before each recorded session and stop the recording before live Q&A. Member questions, names, voices, images and chat are not recorded or included.

• Website free-Circle sign-up: first name, email, optionally a WhatsApp phone number, requested start cohort and chat-or-private participation preference.
• Records of your sign-up, your agreement to the privacy notice and your separate optional email-marketing choice.
• Membership interest list: first name, email and permission to send the specific membership-opening notification.
• Paid membership checkout: checkout email and payment/subscription records needed to administer the membership. Stripe collects and processes card details through its hosted checkout; MenoGrit does not receive or store full card numbers.
• If you contact the host on WhatsApp Business: your account/phone number, display name, conversation and any optional social preferences or general topic suggestions you choose to send.
• Limited operational records, such as invitations, moderation or complaint follow-up where necessary.
• If a selected Expert Hour is recorded: the expert's name, image, voice and teaching content from that segment.
• Technical hosting, security and account sign-in information generated by relevant website infrastructure.

3. Why we process it and our lawful bases

Registering for the free Circle does not itself subscribe you to marketing or paid membership. A host may send necessary individual messages about the free place you requested; promotions are separate.

• To process your request and arrange the free Circle and chosen participation route: your consent (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)); you can withdraw it.
• To answer your messages and administer a requested service: our legitimate interests in providing and managing the community (Article 6(1)(f)), where appropriate; a contract may apply to a paid service once one exists.
• To make selected Expert Hour replays: the expert's separate, specific consent to record and share their teaching segment with paid members (Article 6(1)(a)); they may withdraw permission and ask us to remove the replay.
• To send optional marketing or the specific membership-opening announcement you request: your separately recorded consent (Article 6(1)(a)) and applicable electronic-marketing rules.
• To protect participants, moderate conduct and respond to complaints: legitimate interests in a safe, fair service (Article 6(1)(f)), assessed proportionately.
• To comply with laws or respond to properly authorised legal requests: legal obligation where applicable (Article 6(1)(c)).

4. Menopause discussions and sensitive health information

Menopause participation, symptoms and discussions can reveal special-category health information. We do not ask for detailed health information on our forms or use submitted health information for profiling, clinical decisions or targeted advertising.

We ask you not to send diagnoses, prescriptions, treatment histories or intimate medical details to the host or group. If you voluntarily discuss sensitive experiences, other participants may read them. MenoGrit does not routinely copy health discussions into a separate member profile. We will not intentionally collect, analyse, republish, share with experts or personalise the service using identifiable health disclosures without first identifying an appropriate Article 6 basis, Article 9 condition and required safeguards.

Joining a chat group is not blanket consent to future use of your health information. We are a peer community, not a clinical service or crisis-monitoring service.

5. WhatsApp privacy and who sees your number

For the interactive MenoGrit Circle, we use ordinary WhatsApp groups. Every participant can see the phone numbers of other group members, even those who never post. People may save contacts, copy messages or take screenshots. We ask members to keep messages private, but cannot technically guarantee confidentiality or prevent other participants retaining a copy.

Before inviting you, the host explains this and asks you to confirm you are comfortable. If you do not want other participants to see your number, ask about one-to-one private updates instead. One-to-one messages reveal your number to the host and WhatsApp, but not to a group of other members. Private updates are not equivalent to full peer conversation.

Our planned public WhatsApp Updates Channel is separate from a Circle and from WhatsApp Community announcement groups. No Channel has been opened or linked on the website yet. WhatsApp/Meta applies its own privacy policy and data-handling arrangements. You may leave a group at any time; leaving cannot erase messages already received by other participants.

6. Planned WhatsApp Updates Channel

MenoGrit plans to launch a separate, optional public WhatsApp Channel for one-way updates about upcoming Circles, new articles and community news. It is not live at present. Following it will not enrol anyone in a Circle or a paid plan, and website registration does not automatically make anyone a follower.

Channel updates are public and may be viewed or shared by people who are not followers; we will not publish identifiable Circle discussions, private messages, member contact details or personal health stories there without a separate appropriate permission and lawful basis.

On WhatsApp Channels, other followers cannot see that you follow or view your number. Channel administrators may see limited profile and engagement information, and an admin who already has you saved as a contact may see your phone number. Following a Channel is not the same as consenting to direct marketing emails or private WhatsApp messages. You can choose to unfollow it.

The Channel is a one-way broadcast feed, not a moderated peer discussion or a medical advice service. WhatsApp processes related Channel data under its own rules. For further information, see WhatsApp's official Channels Privacy Policy.

7. Private questions and permissions

You may contact the host privately to suggest a general topic. A one-to-one WhatsApp message is not anonymous to the host. We do not automatically forward, summarise or identify your question to a group or guest expert. The host will ask for your permission first and explain how your suggestion might be used.

Please do not submit symptoms, diagnoses, medicines, or detailed personal health histories. Group members and guests do not gain access to private host messages as part of the normal process.

8. Service providers and international processing

Lovable Cloud/Supabase infrastructure stores website requests. WhatsApp/Meta provides messaging. Stripe hosts subscription checkout and processes payment and billing details. Hosting, authentication, security and any configured email provider may process limited information needed to deliver their services. Authorised MenoGrit administrators can access operational records; group members can access information posted in their own group.

A video-conferencing or replay-hosting service used for a selected Expert Hour may process the expert's recording and limited viewing data. We tell members before a session is recorded and share edited replays with paid members, not publicly.

Some providers may process personal information outside the UK. Where restricted international transfers occur, the relevant provider/controller must use an appropriate lawful route and safeguards where required. You can ask the host for further details about the providers used. We do not sell member information, pass identifiable member stories to advertisers or provide guest specialists with individual marketing lists.

We may use AI to draft general educational materials. We do not intentionally paste identifiable member messages, contact details or health histories into general-purpose AI tools, and no chatbot impersonates the human host.

9. Optional email marketing

A free-Circle service message is different from marketing. Email marketing is only requested via a separate, unticked opt-in, and you may withdraw permission at any time by emailing privacy@menogrit.com or contacting the host. The membership interest list is for the one opening message you specifically request. No automatic marketing email system is currently active.

Withdrawal affects future consent-based processing, not processing lawfully carried out before withdrawal. We record and respect opt-outs manually while automation is not configured.

10. Cookies and technical storage

We have not intentionally added advertising pixels or behavioural-analytics tracking. Hosting and authentication may use security or essential browser storage, cookies and server logs. Any non-essential tracking requiring consent must not be switched on before appropriate notice and consent controls are in place. The third-party infrastructure inventory remains subject to review.

11. Retention and deletion

During the pilot, registration and waiting-list records are stored until removed manually; there is currently no automatic expiry or deletion job. We review whether identifiable records are still needed for the requested Circle, waiting-list message, a continuing relationship, a complaint or a legal duty, and remove records when the purpose no longer applies.

For operating the service, our target is to review free-Circle registrations within 90 days of a Circle ending and waiting-list records within six months or after the one requested opening notice. These are manual review targets, not a claim that the system already deletes data automatically or that every record is deleted on a fixed date. Limited records may need to be retained for a genuine dispute, safety issue or legal obligation.

For an Expert Hour replay, we delete the source recording after editing and remove the member replay from access 30 days after it is shared.

You can ask for your data to be deleted or corrected at any time, subject to applicable exemptions. WhatsApp messages already copied or received by other participants may remain outside MenoGrit's control.

12. Your rights and complaints

Depending on the circumstances, you may ask for access, correction, erasure, restriction, portability or object to processing. You can withdraw consent at any time. We normally respond within one month, subject to lawful extensions. Requests are handled personally rather than through an automatic form.

If unhappy with our response, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.

13. Children, changes and decisions

MenoGrit's Circles are for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly register children. We do not currently make significant decisions about members solely through automated profiling.

We will update this notice when the service, providers or information we collect changes. A new purpose requiring consent will be explained before processing begins.