Lantern & Thistle Practice

Backend systems for advocates serving children and neurodivergent families

Privacy Policy

Effective: May 7, 2026

This policy explains how Lantern & Thistle Practice collects, uses, and protects information when you visit lanternthistlepractice.com or work with us as a client. We have written it in plain language because we want you to actually read it.

Who we are

Lantern & Thistle Practice is a sole proprietorship based in California. We provide backend systems support to special education advocates, attorneys, and small advocacy firms. The practice is operated by Ashley-Rosetta Gardiner.

For any privacy questions, you can reach us at hello@lanternthistlepractice.com.

What we collect

We only collect what we need to do our work and stay in touch with you.

Information you give us directly

• Your name, email, and any details you share through our contact form, Calendly booking, or discovery call intake
• Information shared during onboarding, kickoff, and ongoing communication
• Reference materials you upload to your client folder, such as existing SOPs, templates, or documents to be organized

Payment information

• We process payments through Stripe. Stripe collects and stores your payment details directly. We do not see or store your full card number.

Communications

• Emails you send us
• Messages exchanged in Slack Connect (retainer clients only)
• Notes from calls and monthly check-ins

Basic website data

• Standard server logs from our hosting provider, Netlify, including things like IP address, browser type, and pages visited
• We do not run analytics, advertising trackers, or third-party tracking pixels

How we use your information

We use what you give us to:

• Respond to inquiries and schedule discovery calls
• Deliver services under a signed agreement
• Send invoices and process payments
• Communicate during your engagement
• Maintain accurate financial records as required by law

We do not sell, rent, or share your information for marketing purposes. Ever.

Who we share information with

To run the practice, we rely on a small set of trusted service providers. Each one has access only to what it needs to do its job, and each one has its own privacy policy:

• Google Workspace for email, calendar, and Drive folders
• Calendly for booking discovery calls
• Stripe for payment processing
• SignWell for contracts and signatures
• Slack for Connect channels with retainer clients
• Netlify for website hosting
• Web3Forms for processing contact form submissions sent through our website
• Found for business banking (receives payment information only, not client work materials)

We do not share your information with anyone outside of these service providers, except where disclosure is required by law.

Confidentiality of client work

A note for current and prospective clients: the materials you share during an engagement, including case workflows, intake processes, internal documents, and end-client information, are treated as confidential under your client agreement. We do not use, share, reference, or repurpose your business operations or your end-client information outside of the work we do for you.

This is a non-negotiable for us, especially given the families and children your work serves.

How long we keep your information

• Active client files are kept for the duration of your engagement
• After an engagement ends, files are archived for 90 days, then deleted in line with our internal closeout process
• Financial records are retained for 7 years to meet IRS and California state requirements
• Discovery call inquiries that do not move forward are deleted within 90 days
• Email correspondence is kept as long as needed for the working relationship and any legal or tax obligation, then deleted

How we keep it secure

• All business accounts use two-factor authentication
• Passwords are managed in Bitwarden
• Client folders use permission-based access (Editor or Viewer, never public)
• We work from secure, password-protected devices
• We do not store sensitive client materials on personal accounts

No system is perfectly secure, but we treat your information with the same care we would want for our own.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

• Tell you what information we have about you
• Correct anything that is inaccurate
• Delete your information, subject to legal and tax retention requirements
• Stop using your information for any purpose other than completing active work

If you are a California resident, you also have the rights described under the California Consumer Privacy Act and the California Privacy Rights Act, including the right to know, delete, correct, and limit the use of your personal information. You can exercise any of these rights by emailing hello@lanternthistlepractice.com. We will respond within 45 days.

We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. There is nothing to opt out of in that regard.

Cookies and tracking

Our website does not use cookies for analytics, advertising, or tracking.

The Calendly booking embed may set its own cookies when you interact with it. You can review Calendly's practices in their own privacy policy.

We do not respond to "Do Not Track" browser signals because we do not track you in the first place.

Children

This website and our services are not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Some of our clients work in advocacy fields that involve children and families. Any information about those end-clients belongs to our client and is governed by their own confidentiality and legal obligations, not by this policy.

Changes to this policy

If we update this policy, we will change the effective date at the top. For meaningful changes, we will also notify active clients by email.

Contact

For any privacy-related question, reach us at:

hello@lanternthistlepractice.com
or
ashley@lanternthistlepractice.com

We respond within one business day during working hours (Monday through Thursday, 9am to 3pm Pacific).

Return home