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Montana Circle Membership Terms and Conditions 

Internal note: This agreement supplements the YCMHA Terms and Conditions and is tailored to Montana Circle’s current membership structure, professional events, peer consultation, directory, and online community. 

Last updated: September 2, 2026

1. Introduction and Relationship to YCMHA

Montana Circle is a professional membership community operated by Yellowstone County Mental Health Alliance, LLC (“YCMHA,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), a Montana limited liability company. Montana Circle is a program and assumed business name of YCMHA and is not a separate legal entity.

These Montana Circle Membership Terms and Conditions (the “Circle Terms”) govern the purchase, renewal, and use of a Montana Circle membership and participation in Montana Circle programs, events, platforms, resources, directories, and member communities.

These Circle Terms supplement the general YCMHA Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. By purchasing or maintaining a Montana Circle membership, you agree to all applicable documents.

If these Circle Terms conflict with the general YCMHA Terms regarding a matter specifically related to Montana Circle membership, these Circle Terms will control.

2. Acceptance of These Terms

By purchasing, renewing, or using a Montana Circle membership, creating or accessing a member account, attending a members-only event, participating in a Circle group or online community, or affirmatively accepting these Circle Terms, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by them.

If you do not agree to these Circle Terms, do not purchase or use a Montana Circle membership.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding agreement to become a Montana Circle member.

3. Purpose of Montana Circle

Montana Circle is a statewide professional community created to help Montana mental health clinicians connect, collaborate, build trusted referral relationships, reduce professional isolation, and grow personally and professionally.

Membership may include networking opportunities, peer consultation, professional-development events, business-development discussions, book clubs, roundtables, online community access, directory eligibility, member resources, discounts, and other benefits described on the membership page.

Montana Circle does not guarantee referrals, clients, income, employment, business growth, professional advancement, licensure, clinical competence, or any particular personal or professional result.

4. Membership Eligibility

Montana Circle membership is intended for mental health clinicians who are licensed or working toward clinical licensure and who live, work, study, provide services, or maintain a professional connection within Montana.

Eligible members may include:

  • Independently licensed mental health professionals;

  • Provisionally licensed or prelicensed mental health professionals;

  • Graduate-level clinicians working toward licensure;

  • Graduate students enrolled in an eligible mental health program when expressly permitted by the membership description; and

  • Other individuals approved by YCMHA whose education, training, role, or professional activities align with the purpose of Montana Circle.

YCMHA may request reasonable documentation to confirm a member’s identity, professional role, educational status, supervision status, licensure, or eligibility.

Membership is not automatic evidence that YCMHA has independently verified a member’s credentials, licensure, professional standing, competence, insurance coverage, or fitness to practice.

You agree to provide accurate and current information about your credentials, licensure, employment, professional role, contact information, and eligibility. You must notify YCMHA if your professional or licensure status changes in a way that may affect your eligibility.

YCMHA may approve, deny, suspend, or discontinue a membership when reasonably necessary to protect the purpose, safety, integrity, or professional standards of the community.

5. Membership Benefits

Current membership benefits will be described on the Montana Circle membership or checkout page. Depending on the membership offered, benefits may include:

  • Access to members-only virtual or in-person events;

  • Peer Consultation sessions;

  • CEO Power Hours, roundtables, networking events, or planning sessions;

  • The Shared Chapter Book Club;

  • Member pricing or complimentary access to designated programs;

  • Access to private online groups, discussion spaces, or community platforms;

  • Eligibility for a profile or listing in the Montana Circle directory;

  • Member resources, recordings, downloads, or educational materials;

  • Opportunities to connect, collaborate, and develop referral relationships; and

  • Benefits available through YCMHA or other affiliated programs, as specifically identified.

Only benefits expressly included in the applicable membership description are included in the membership fee. Some events, continuing education credits, programs, conferences, workshops, products, or services may require an additional registration or payment.

Membership benefits have no cash value and may not be transferred, exchanged, resold, or redeemed for cash.

YCMHA may reasonably modify membership benefits, schedules, platforms, event formats, or program features as Montana Circle develops. We will make reasonable efforts to notify active members before a change that materially affects their paid membership.

6. Membership Accounts and Access

Each Montana Circle membership and member account is for one individual unless the applicable membership description expressly provides otherwise.

You are responsible for protecting your username, password, virtual-event links, access codes, recordings, downloads, and members-only resources.

You may not:

  • Share your account, password, or login credentials with another person;

  • Allow a nonmember to use your membership;

  • Forward members-only event links or access codes to a nonmember;

  • Copy, reproduce, sell, distribute, or publicly share members-only materials without permission;

  • Record or distribute a members-only discussion, presentation, or event without express authorization; or

  • Use your access to help another person avoid paying an applicable membership or registration fee.

You must notify YCMHA promptly if you believe your account or members-only access information has been compromised.

7. Membership Fees, Automatic Renewal, and Payment

The membership price, billing frequency, renewal terms, and included benefits will be disclosed on the applicable checkout page before purchase.

If your membership is configured to renew automatically, you authorize YCMHA and its payment processor to charge the payment method on file at each renewal until you cancel the membership or it is otherwise terminated.

Membership prices may change. A price change will not ordinarily affect your current paid membership term. We will provide reasonable advance notice before applying a new price to an automatic renewal when required by law or reasonably practicable.

You are responsible for keeping your payment and contact information current.

If a payment fails, we may retry the payment, request updated payment information, suspend membership benefits, or terminate membership access.

8. Cancellation and Refunds

You may cancel future automatic renewal through your online member account when that option is available or by contacting YCMHA at info@ycmentalhealthalliance.com.

Canceling your membership prevents future renewal charges but does not ordinarily terminate your access before the end of the already-paid membership term.

You may request cancellation and a refund of an initial annual membership purchase within 14 calendar days of purchase by emailing info@ycmentalhealthalliance.com. A refund may be reduced or denied to the extent permitted by law if substantial membership benefits have already been accessed, attended, downloaded, transferred, redeemed, or provided.

After the initial 14-day period, membership fees and renewal payments are nonrefundable except when required by law or expressly approved by YCMHA.

Memberships may not be paused, transferred to another person, or extended because a member did not attend events or use available benefits unless YCMHA expressly agrees otherwise in writing.

Cancellation or termination of a Montana Circle membership does not automatically cancel a separate YCMHA membership, conference registration, event registration, sponsorship, or other purchase.

9. Events and Participation

Montana Circle may offer virtual and in-person networking events, peer consultation, professional-development programs, book clubs, planning sessions, roundtables, social gatherings, and other activities.

Event dates, times, speakers, facilitators, topics, locations, platforms, access instructions, capacity limits, and included benefits may change.

YCMHA may cancel, postpone, reschedule, relocate, or modify an event when reasonably necessary because of facilitator availability, low enrollment, severe weather, technology problems, safety concerns, emergencies, or other operational circumstances.

Members are responsible for registering when registration is required and for confirming the event time, time zone, location, technology requirements, and access instructions.

Failure to attend an event does not entitle a member to a refund, membership credit, extension, replacement event, or access to a recording.

Unless expressly stated, Circle events are not recorded. A recording, replay, or substitute program is not guaranteed.

10. Peer Consultation

Montana Circle may provide opportunities for members to participate in peer consultation and professional case discussions.

Peer Consultation is a collaborative discussion among professional peers. It is not clinical supervision, licensure supervision, psychotherapy, medical care, legal advice, emergency consultation, formal case management, or an official determination of the applicable standard of care.

Participation in Peer Consultation does not create a supervisor-supervisee, consultant-client, therapist-client, fiduciary, employment, agency, or other professional relationship between YCMHA, the facilitator, and participating members.

Members remain solely responsible for:

  • Exercising their own independent professional judgment;

  • Practicing within their education, training, competence, licensure, and scope of practice;

  • Obtaining required clinical or licensure supervision from an appropriately qualified supervisor;

  • Following applicable laws, regulations, ethical codes, licensing-board requirements, employer policies, and professional standards;

  • Determining whether and how to apply information discussed during a session;

  • Maintaining appropriate documentation; and

  • Seeking legal, ethical, clinical, or emergency consultation from an appropriately qualified professional when necessary.

No statement made during Peer Consultation should be treated as a directive, guarantee, legal conclusion, or substitute for required supervision.

Prelicensed members must not represent participation in Montana Circle Peer Consultation as clinical supervision or count it toward supervised licensure hours unless their licensing authority expressly permits it and all applicable supervision requirements are independently satisfied.

11. Client Confidentiality and Case Discussions

Members must protect client privacy and confidentiality during Peer Consultation and all other Montana Circle communications.

Members may not disclose protected health information, personally identifying client information, confidential employer information, or other information that they are not legally and professionally authorized to share.

When discussing a professional situation or case, members must remove or alter identifying details and disclose only the minimum information reasonably necessary for the discussion.

Information that should not be disclosed includes, without limitation:

  • Client names, initials, contact information, or exact addresses;

  • Exact dates of birth or other uniquely identifying dates;

  • Photographs, recordings, account numbers, or medical-record numbers;

  • Unnecessary details about a client’s employer, school, family, community, or location;

  • Information that could reasonably allow another participant to identify the client; and

  • Information whose disclosure would violate applicable law, professional ethics, informed-consent requirements, employment obligations, or agency policies.

Members are responsible for determining whether client authorization or another lawful basis is required before discussing a case.

Montana Circle does not request, require, or authorize members to disclose protected health information. YCMHA is not acting as a business associate, healthcare provider, clinical supervisor, custodian of clinical records, or member of a client’s treatment team through these discussions.

Members should participate from a private location and use reasonable safeguards to prevent conversations from being overheard or accessed by unauthorized individuals.

12. Respect for the Privacy of Other Members

Members are expected to respect the privacy of other participants and the professional nature of Circle discussions.

Personal experiences, case discussions, professional concerns, business information, and other nonpublic information shared by a member should not be repeated, recorded, copied, posted, published, or disclosed outside the group without that member’s permission, except when disclosure is required by law or reasonably necessary to address an immediate safety concern.

Members may share general educational concepts or insights gained through participation, but they may not identify another member, client, employer, practice, or organization or attribute a statement to another participant without permission.

Although YCMHA establishes confidentiality expectations, it cannot guarantee that every participant will comply with them. Members should use professional judgment when deciding what to disclose.

13. Community Conduct

Montana Circle is intended to be a respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and professionally supportive community.

Members agree to:

  • Communicate respectfully, even when opinions differ;

  • Avoid harassment, discrimination, intimidation, threats, bullying, and personal attacks;

  • Respect professional, personal, and conversational boundaries;

  • Avoid knowingly false, misleading, defamatory, or deceptive statements;

  • Represent their credentials, licensure, experience, services, and affiliations accurately;

  • Refrain from practicing outside their lawful scope or encouraging another member to do so;

  • Protect confidential and proprietary information;

  • Follow the rules of event venues, platforms, groups, and community spaces;

  • Refrain from disruptive or unsafe conduct; and

  • Comply with applicable law and professional ethical obligations.

Disagreement, constructive feedback, and respectful professional discussion are permitted. Conduct becomes inappropriate when it materially disrupts the community, targets or harms another participant, creates a safety concern, or undermines the purpose of Montana Circle.

14. Solicitation, Promotion, and Use of Member Information

Montana Circle encourages appropriate relationship-building and professional collaboration. Members may share relevant services, events, resources, employment opportunities, or professional announcements in spaces where such sharing is permitted.

Members may not:

  • Use the member directory, attendance list, online community, or member contact information for unsolicited mass marketing;

  • Add members to an email, text-message, or marketing list without their consent;

  • Scrape, harvest, compile, sell, or redistribute member information;

  • Repeatedly pressure members to purchase products or services;

  • Use Circle access primarily to recruit clients, employees, contractors, downline participants, investors, or customers;

  • Promote unlawful, misleading, exploitative, or professionally inappropriate offerings; or

  • Imply that YCMHA or Montana Circle endorses a product, service, event, business, or professional unless written authorization has been provided.

Reasonable one-to-one follow-up after a mutual introduction or conversation is permitted. Members are expected to honor requests to stop further promotional communication.

YCMHA may remove promotional content or restrict promotional activity that is excessive, irrelevant, misleading, disruptive, or inconsistent with the purpose of the community.

15. Directory and Member Profiles

Eligible members may be offered a profile or listing in a Montana Circle directory. Directory participation may require completion of a separate form and submission of specified professional information.

You are responsible for ensuring that your profile information is accurate, current, lawful, and consistent with applicable professional advertising rules.

You must notify YCMHA or update your profile if your licensure, employment, contact information, availability, services, or other material profile information changes.

YCMHA may edit a profile for formatting, length, clarity, consistency, or technical requirements. We may decline, suspend, or remove a listing that is inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, misleading, unlawful, inconsistent with membership eligibility, or in violation of these Circle Terms.

Directory inclusion does not constitute an endorsement, referral, credential verification, employment relationship, partnership, or guarantee of professional competence.

YCMHA does not guarantee directory visibility, search-engine placement, website traffic, referrals, inquiries, clients, or business results.

Directory access and listing eligibility ordinarily end when the applicable membership expires or is terminated. Search engines, archives, cached pages, and third-party systems may continue to display previously published information for a period outside YCMHA’s control.

16. Member Content and Intellectual Property

Members may be permitted to submit directory information, professional announcements, event information, articles, resources, photographs, videos, logos, biographies, comments, or other materials (“Member Content”).

You retain ownership of Member Content you own.

By submitting Member Content for publication or distribution, you grant YCMHA a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, reproduce, format, edit for length or clarity, display, distribute, archive, and promote that content in connection with Montana Circle and YCMHA programs, websites, directories, newsletters, events, social media, and related communications.

You represent that you own the Member Content or have obtained all permissions required for YCMHA to use it. Member Content may not violate confidentiality obligations, intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, professional requirements, or applicable law.

Materials created or provided by YCMHA, Montana Circle, facilitators, or speakers remain the property of their respective owners. Membership does not grant permission to reproduce, distribute, sell, teach from, modify, publish, or commercially use those materials unless express permission is provided.

17. Continuing Education

Participation in a Montana Circle event does not automatically qualify for continuing education credit.

When continuing education credit is available, the event description will identify the applicable credit, eligibility, attendance requirements, evaluation or assessment requirements, fees, and certificate process.

Continuing education fees may be separate from the Montana Circle membership fee unless the applicable membership or event description expressly states otherwise.

Members are responsible for determining whether a program satisfies the requirements of their licensing board, certification body, employer, supervisor, or other authority.

18. No Endorsement or Professional Relationship

Membership in Montana Circle does not constitute YCMHA’s endorsement, certification, approval, credentialing, supervision, or verification of a member or the member’s professional services, competence, ethics, licensure, business practices, products, or organization.

Connections, introductions, referrals, recommendations, and collaborations that develop through Montana Circle are voluntary relationships between independent participants.

YCMHA is not a party to agreements, referrals, treatment relationships, employment arrangements, supervision agreements, business relationships, financial transactions, or disputes between members or between a member and a third party.

Members are responsible for conducting their own due diligence before making a referral, hiring another professional, entering into a business relationship, sharing information, or relying on another participant’s statements.

19. Suspension or Termination of Membership

YCMHA may investigate conduct that may violate these Circle Terms and may take reasonable action to protect members, participants, YCMHA, or the integrity of the community.

Actions may include:

  • Providing a reminder or warning;

  • Removing content;

  • Limiting participation in a particular group, event, or feature;

  • Suspending membership access;

  • Removing a directory listing;

  • Canceling an event registration;

  • Requiring additional eligibility verification; or

  • Terminating membership.

Grounds for suspension or termination may include:

  • Nonpayment;

  • Loss of membership eligibility;

  • Misrepresentation of identity, credentials, licensure, or professional status;

  • Account, password, resource, or event-link sharing;

  • Harassment, discrimination, threats, retaliation, or unsafe conduct;

  • Material breaches of confidentiality or privacy;

  • Improper solicitation or misuse of member information;

  • Fraudulent, unlawful, or professionally unethical conduct;

  • A pending licensure-board investigation, complaint, restriction, disciplinary action, suspension, revocation, or other regulatory matter that YCMHA reasonably determines may affect the member’s eligibility, professional standing, community safety, or the integrity of Montana Circle;

  • Disruption of events or community spaces;

  • Infringement of intellectual property or other rights;

  • Conduct that creates a substantial risk to another person or the community; or

  • A material or repeated violation of these Circle Terms or the general YCMHA Terms.

When reasonably appropriate, YCMHA may provide notice of a concern and an opportunity to respond before terminating membership. Immediate suspension or termination may occur when YCMHA reasonably believes there is a safety risk, legal risk, confidentiality concern, fraudulent activity, serious misconduct, or threat to another participant.

A member whose access is suspended or terminated for nonpayment, misconduct, misrepresentation, safety concerns, or a material breach may not be entitled to a refund.

Termination does not eliminate payment obligations or other responsibilities that arose before termination.

20. Changes to Montana Circle

Montana Circle is an evolving professional community. YCMHA may reasonably change its programs, facilitators, schedules, platforms, community spaces, event formats, eligibility criteria, and membership benefits.

We will make reasonable efforts to notify active members before a material change affecting a paid membership.

Temporary changes, individual event cancellations, facilitator substitutions, scheduling changes, and the addition or removal of nonmaterial benefits do not ordinarily entitle a member to a refund.

If YCMHA permanently discontinues Montana Circle before the end of a member’s paid term, YCMHA may provide a substitute benefit, account credit, continued access to designated resources, or a prorated refund, as reasonably appropriate under the circumstances.

21. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Montana Circle membership, programs, events, directories, discussions, resources, and community platforms are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, YCMHA does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, usefulness, availability, confidentiality, or outcome of information shared by members, speakers, facilitators, or other third parties.

YCMHA is not responsible for a member’s professional decisions, clinical decisions, business decisions, referrals, communications, services, conduct, omissions, or reliance on information obtained through Montana Circle.

The disclaimers and limitations of liability contained in the general YCMHA Terms and Conditions apply to Montana Circle membership and participation.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, YCMHA’s aggregate liability arising from or relating to a Montana Circle membership will not exceed the amount the member actually paid to YCMHA for that membership during the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these Circle Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

22. Governing Law and Venue

These Circle Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Montana, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

To the extent permitted by law, any legal action arising from or relating to these Circle Terms or a Montana Circle membership must be brought in an appropriate state or federal court serving Yellowstone County, Montana, and the parties consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

Nothing in this section deprives a consumer of a protection or right that cannot lawfully be waived.

23. Changes to These Circle Terms

YCMHA may update these Circle Terms to reflect changes in Montana Circle membership, programs, business practices, technology, or legal requirements.

The “Last updated” date will identify the most recent revision.

When reasonably practicable, material changes affecting active paid members will be communicated by email, through a member account, or within a members-only community platform.

Changes will apply prospectively from their effective date unless applicable law permits or requires otherwise. Continued use of a Montana Circle membership after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Circle Terms. When required, YCMHA may request affirmative acceptance of the revised terms.

24. Entire Agreement

These Circle Terms, the general YCMHA Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, applicable membership descriptions, checkout disclosures, event registration policies, and any other written agreement applicable to a specific Montana Circle offering constitute the agreement between you and YCMHA regarding your Montana Circle membership.

If any provision of these Circle Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, it will be modified or limited to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable or severed if modification is not possible. The remaining provisions will continue in effect.

YCMHA’s failure to enforce a provision does not waive that provision or the right to enforce it later.

25. Contact Information

Montana Circle is operated by:

Yellowstone County Mental Health Alliance, LLC
DBA Montana Circle
926 Main Street, Suite 14
Billings, Montana 59105
Email: info@ycmentalhealthalliance.com
YCMHA Website: https://www.ycmentalhealthalliance.com
Montana Circle Website: https://www.montanacircle.com

Questions about these Circle Terms, membership eligibility, billing, cancellation, or membership access may be sent to info@ycmentalhealthalliance.com.