Privacy Policy

Peace by Piece — The Honest Side of Healing

Last updated: 26 July 2026

Peace by Piece — The Honest Side of Healing (“this site,” “we,” “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This blog exists to support people in vulnerable seasons of their lives, and we take the privacy and safety of every reader seriously — perhaps more seriously than most websites, because we understand that some of you may be reading these pages in circumstances where your privacy genuinely matters to your safety.

This policy explains what information is collected when you visit this site, how it is used, and the rights you have over it.

Who We Are

Peace by Piece is a personal blog written under a pen name, hosted at www.peacebypieceblog.com. The site is hosted on WordPress.com, operated by Automattic Inc.

Under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Peace by Piece is the “Responsible Party” for the personal information described in this policy.

You can contact us at any time at: welcome@peacebypieceblog.com

What Information We Collect

Information you choose to give us:

Newsletter subscription: If you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address. That is all. We use it solely to send you the newsletter and workbook content you signed up for, through our email provider, Kit. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email.
Comments: If you leave a comment, we collect the name and email address you provide, along with the comment content. You are welcome to use a pseudonym or first name only — you are not required to use your real name on this site, and given the nature of this blog, we encourage you to comment in whatever way feels safest for you.
Contact form: If you reach out through our contact page, we receive the name, email address and message you choose to send.
Purchases: If you buy a workbook or printable, we collect the billing information needed to complete the order (such as your name and email). Your full payment card details are collected and processed directly by our payment processor — see “Purchases and Downloads” below.

Information collected automatically:

Comments metadata: When you leave a comment, your IP address and browser user agent string may be collected to help with spam detection.
Gravatar: If you leave a comment, an anonymised string created from your email address (a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to check if you have a profile picture associated with your email. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available at automattic.com/privacy. After approval of your comment, your profile picture (if you have one) is visible to the public alongside your comment.
Site analytics: This site uses Jetpack (by Automattic) to collect basic, anonymised statistics about site visits — such as which pages are viewed and approximate visitor location at country level. This helps us understand what content is helpful to readers. These statistics do not identify you personally.
Cookies: This site uses cookies. See the Cookies section below.

What We Do NOT Do

Because this matters, we want to say it plainly:

We do not sell your personal information. Ever. To anyone.
We do not share your email address with third parties for marketing purposes.
We do not require you to use your real name anywhere on this site.
We do not track you across other websites.
We will never contact you for any purpose other than the one you signed up for.

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit a website. This site uses cookies for:

Comments: If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name and email in cookies. These are for your convenience so you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies last for one year.
Logged-in functionality: If you have a WordPress.com account and log in, temporary cookies manage your session.
Checkout: When you purchase a workbook, a temporary cookie may be used to manage your cart and complete the transaction. These are cleared once your order is finished.
Analytics: Jetpack analytics uses cookies to distinguish unique visitors. These do not identify you personally.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some cookies. If you do, some parts of the site may not function fully, but you will still be able to read all content.

Embedded Content

Articles on this site may include embedded content (for example videos, music players, or links to other websites). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you visited that website directly. Those websites may collect data about you, use cookies, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external sites you visit through links on this blog.

Purchases and Downloads

Workbooks and printables are sold directly through this site using Easy Digital Downloads. When you make a purchase, your payment is processed securely by PayPal, Paystack, or Payfast, depending on the option you choose at checkout — we never see or store your full payment card details ourselves. Please review the privacy policy of whichever processor you use to pay. We receive only the information necessary to fulfil your order, such as your email address for delivery of your digital product, and your purchase is delivered instantly.

How Long We Keep Your Information

Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely so that follow-up comments can be recognised and approved automatically rather than held in moderation.
Newsletter email addresses are retained until you unsubscribe, at which point they are removed from our active mailing list.
Contact form messages are retained only as long as needed to respond to you.
Purchase and billing records are retained for as long as required under South African tax and financial record-keeping law — generally at least five years — even if you later unsubscribe from our newsletter.

Your Rights Over Your Data

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

Request a copy of any personal data we hold about you (we will respond within one month, as required by POPIA)
Request correction of any inaccurate data
Request deletion of your personal data — including comments you have left and your email address from our newsletter list
Object to certain uses of your data, on reasonable grounds
Withdraw consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter or contacting us
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za) if you believe your data has been mishandled

If you’re visiting from outside South Africa, you may also hold additional rights under your own country’s privacy laws (such as the GDPR in the EU/UK, or the CCPA in California) — these apply alongside, not instead of, this policy.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at welcome@peacebypieceblog.com. We will respond as promptly as we can, and may need to verify your identity first to protect your data from being accessed by someone else. You do not need to give a reason.

This does not include data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

We process your information based on your consent (for example, subscribing to our newsletter), the necessity of fulfilling a purchase you’ve made (contractual necessity), and our legitimate interest in understanding how our content is used — always balanced against your rights.

Where Your Data Goes

This site is hosted by WordPress.com (Automattic Inc.), whose servers may be located in various countries. We also use Easy Digital Downloads to deliver purchased files, Kit for email newsletters, Jetpack for site analytics, and PayPal, Paystack, and Payfast for payment processing — each under their own respective privacy policies. Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. Automattic’s own privacy practices are described at automattic.com/privacy.

Because this site is intended to be read anywhere in the world, your information may be processed in countries outside your own, including South Africa, where we and our service providers operate.

Children’s Privacy

This site deals with adult subject matter including addiction, relationships and recovery, and is intended for readers aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

A Note on Your Safety

We recognise that some readers of this blog may be in situations where their browsing privacy matters to their personal safety. Please be aware that no website can protect you from monitoring that happens on your own device or network. If you are concerned that someone may be monitoring your device, consider using a private or incognito browser window, accessing this site from a device the person does not have access to, and clearing your browser history after visiting. Your local domestic violence support service can provide guidance on safe browsing practices.

Keeping Your Information Secure

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information, including relying on reputable, secure providers for hosting and payments. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security — but if a security issue ever compromises your data, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected readers as required under POPIA, as soon as reasonably possible.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. Continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact

For any questions about this privacy policy or how your data is handled:

Email: welcome@peacebypieceblog.com