Be supportive and understanding
- Understand that every member is learning and growing.
- Avoid shaming those who we believe have made a mistake, and those who may have reacted with an emotional response.
- Explain how you have experienced any post or comment that has impacted you as a starting point to deal with a rupture, if you feel able to.
- Report posts or comments if it does not feel safe or appropriate to respond calmly or scroll on by.
Keep yourself and others safe when sharing information
- Treat anything shared on our platform confidentially.
- Navigate this space mindfully. This is a supportive, private Facebook community, but this is still social media. We cannot guarantee everyone is who they say they are. If you are looking for a more private space please see www.counsellors-staffroom.co.uk where all members are verified, qualified counsellors or psychotherapists, or in the final stage of their training.
- Be mindful about posting emotive content that could trigger members and please put a warning at the top of your post. We know this is a tricky ask, because we can never tell what might trigger other people, but please consider the potential impact on others before sharing any content.
- Don’t mention specific clients - we do not allow any posts or comments about clients or potential clients, including minimal information, to be posted in our communities. If posting about a referral, please focus on the requirements of the therapist, not a description of the client.
- Don’t share sensitive and private information about non-members on this platform.
Consider how your posts, comments, resources or other content shared on our platform might make other members feel about being in this community
Our primary aim as a group is to provide a safe environment for our members and to model anti-discriminatory spaces. This aim takes priority over the right to have certain conversations, express some opinions, debate emotive subjects or ask questions that may adversely impact other members. In practice this means:
- Avoid academically or insensitively debating a topic that is a lived experience of members of our community.
- Avoid using ‘othering’ language.
- Avoid asking members from marginalised groups to explain why something may be insensitive or problematic. It is our own responsibility to educate ourselves about discrimination and oppression.
- We know we will not always get things right - our aim is to learn and grow together as a community and the Staffroom will facilitate this growth with training and support.
Be community minded
- Part of what makes the Counsellors’ Staffroom a success is your willingness to help others, answer questions, provide content and be engaged with each other, so please be active if you feel able to.
- Be honest and transparent.
- If you want to directly contact a member, ask if they are happy to accept your message before contacting them.
- There are dedicated posts for self-promotion on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Please do not share or promote your businesses or a business you are affiliated with outside of these posts without prior permission, unless invited to do so or in response to a member’s request for recommendations.
- Be aware that referral schemes and codes are not permitted unless permission has been sought from the Staffroom Team before posting. These would need to offer benefits that are not available through direct access (i.e. specific Staffroom benefits) to be approved.
- Ensure any content or resources created by a third-party and shared by you is only shared with the permission in writing of the original creator of that content. Where external resources are shared, please ensure you include a link to the information source.
- Zena and other members of The Staffroom Team will aim to be as active as possible on the Facebook group. However, we are a small team building the Staffroom community alongside our therapy work and family life, so there may be delays in approving posts if we do not have the capacity to moderate them or communicate why they do not meet our community rules. If your post is not approved and you are unsure why, please read this guidance and our group rules to see if they answer your question. If you are still unsure, please contact the team via email at fb@counsellors-staffroom.co.uk.
The Staffroom Team strives to approach all of our members with support and understanding. However, if necessary, we may delete posts or comments we perceive are not in line with our ethos of support and safety.
We reserve the right to suspend or remove members’ access to our online spaces at our discretion if repeated complaints are received about a member’s behaviour in our community spaces, or we believe their behaviour is not in line with these Community Guidelines and/or we believe it is adversely impacting other members.