Update! Safety Guideline Amendment

Well worded @Former-Member

I would encourage you @Former-Member @Former-Member @s-jay to be even ore specific and targetted in the first part of the amendment...

• avoid posting an active/imminent plan of suicide or harm to another. The forums are not a crisis service - instead we encourage you to reach out to the services linked below. An active/imminent plan for suicide will be removed to ensure other forum members do not become distressed; and duty of care protocols followed to ensure your safety (this may include escalating to emergency services such as the Police). There are a list of crisis support services available

Hi @Zoe7 - thanks for this feedback! I think its a good point. Let me take it to the team and I'll let you know the outcome. This is super helpful insight 😊

@Former-Member I think saying "we are not the best people to help you in a crisis" actually demeans the professionalism of those moderating ...it is not that they are not capable but that it is not their job as it is a peer to peer support forum ...thus changing that wording to make it specific and very clear would alleviate any doubts.

I would also encourage something in there about members saying they 'should' commit suicide, end their life or kms - that too is confronting to read and very triggering for many.

@Former-Member and others who have been contributing, I wonder if it would be good to add that should people be expressing thoughts of suicide they should maybe confirm their saftey in the post they make? like saying "i am feeling suicidal but i am currently safe" then if people are concerned they can at least know the person is safe and that they shouldnt feel like they should be concerned.

it is tricky because it is a touchy subject and while i acknowledge that there is an issue with services avaliabe to deal with people in crisis and that sometimes the services are not very helpful, being that sane is a peer support place it is hard to balance people needing a place to vent and express their saddness and also being aware that many of the people who come on here are also srtuggling and could find such topics too much. i think sometimes we as members need to also know when we should come one the forums or not but also need to respect other people and thier right to be here and not be triggered. it is hard. I personally do think some threads that talk about how they feel they should just end it to be hard because on the one hand i want to be supportive but then i am not sure how at times i sometimes feel like people want me to tell them they shouldnt or what to do but i dont feel like it is my place to weigh in on if people want to end their lives of not. so i often dont reply.

as @Owlunar said there really are times here when there is no moderation and night times and weekends is often very difficult for people and maybe looking into if it is possible to have a moderator on during those times could be helpful.

i think people should be free to post how they are feeling but maybe there needs to be a way we can do that and also assure other concerned members that there is no danger. or maybe if people could say what they are looking for by posting that sort of thread like do they want just someone to listen or do they want to talk to someone who understands or are they not sure. i do sort of think though that maybe sane isnt the place to come to a desicion about if you want to keep going or not, like talk about feelings but sometimes it seems like it is a sounding board to be able to decided and that i dont think is fair because it can make others feel like if they say the wrong thing then they will have a part in if the worst did happen.

idk if that made sense and I really dont mean to offend anyone these are just my thoughts.

That is an excellent post @Eden1919

I agree with every word you have written - well said

Dec

Hi everyone, I’m really grateful for the feedback and insights coming through. As I mentioned to Zoe7, I’m collecting your feedback and will be bringing them to the forums team to reflect on and come back to you with more in depth outcomes around this guidleline amendment. There also seems to be an opportunity here to look at some ideas on how we can better help the community with supporting others in triggering times, helping with how to post when feeling distressed and also how to manage triggers in the forums. We would like to acknowledge and find ways to support that for sure, perhaps a facilitated discussion in the forum or a topic tuesday around that or a different style event around skill building. We will come back to you with more on this after our team meeting 😊

I did also just want to address the comments or confusion around night time and weekend moderation - to clarify the forums are always moderated, 24/7. While Community Managers ( @Former-Member @s-jay and myself) work Monday to Friday during business hours, the forums are moderated at all times by mental health professionals. This includes all through the evenings and weekends and risk is always being monitored and managed. If you ever do see a post you feel needs attention and are concerned, we really encourage you to utilise the report a post button to flag it with the moderator on duty.

Thanks again for sharing your insights and creating a respectful conversation around what is a hard topic at times.

Just to add another forum member's voice in regards to nighttime and weekend moderation @Former-Member @Eden1919 @Owlunar I have used the report post button a fair bit lately with posts that do not align with our current guidelines here. Whilst a response is not always immediate such posts have been looked at and removed if deemed breaching our guidelines. I will add that at times this takes much longer than at other times. Sometimes there is an email sent by the modertaor on duty to say the issue is being looked at but at other times no correspondence at all. Maybe this could be made uniform for all moderators to do in response to reporting a post so the member reporting a post can see it is being dealt with behind the scenes.

@Zoe7 @Former-Member I have tried reporting a few posts and not a single thing was ever done about them nor was i ever informed that they were even looking into it. so i am glad the roport button works for someone at least but for me it has never worked.

@Eden1919 your experience is exactly why I think a notification email should be sent to the reporter to show it is being looked at by a moderator and doesn't leave the reporter feeling unheard.