Member Rules and Regulations

Please read all the Board Rules & Posting Rules BEFORE posting. Thank you.

Circle of Healing is a private support forum for people recovering from trauma as well as their supporters. Membership to this forum is through referrals, special requests, and invitation only. It is designed to promote support and healing for people struggling with the after effects of abuse and violence whether perpetrated by a family member, acquaintance, stranger, or group. At Circle of Healing we appreciate and encourage a free exchange of information and ideas. However, in order to protect the safety and integrity of each member as well as the board itself, we also ask that you follow a few basic rules. By accessing and/or participating in the Circle of Healing Support Forum you agree to the following Board Rules and Posting Rules.

Board Rules:

1. Circle of Healing welcomes all survivors of trauma ages 18 and over to join by referral, special request, or by invitation by the administration or another member. Unregistered guests only have access to the General Information section of the forum. The rest of the forum is locked and protected to be viewed and used by members only. This is for the safety and security of all.

2. Secondary survivors are also welcome in this board. However, the majority of forums are only accessible to survivors. Secondary Survivors are required to select their status at the time of registration, and are automatically assigned to the appropriate User Group. If you are a secondary survivor supporting a member of this community, you MUST obtain permission from her or him before joining. Because we are first and foremost a community designed for survivors, survivors may at any time choose to have their supporters removed from the board.

3. Posts made on this forum are private and confidential. You may share portions of this site with your personal therapist. It is understood that it is sometimes helpful to do this. Also I have had therapists ask, at times, to visit the site to make sure it is appropriate for their client. I admire this quality in a therapist because it shows me they are aware of the possible dangers in getting involved with an online support group and they value their client's safety. Therapists are also bound by confidentiality, so sharing information with your personal therapist is deemed not a problem. This site is meant to compliment your own individual therapy. You may copy and print portions of the forum for your own personal use (journal, etc.) However, you may not, under any circumstances, copy and paste any portion of this forum to anyone else or any other site. Outside of the above permissions where your individual therapist is concerned, you should not copy and paste portions of the site. Nor should you print and distribute copies of the pages/posts in the site. This is absolutely essential in order to maintain confidentiality for all.

4. Members may have only one username per person. If for any reason you no longer feel comfortable with your username, please contact the administration and ask for assistance. Creating a second account without notifying a the administration first, and particularly if for the purpose of impersonating another user, is strictly prohibited and will result in a permanent loss of posting privileges. Registering a username for someone without notifying administration first will result in loss of posting privileges and will automatically ban your account. If another person in your household wishes to access this board from the same computer, alert the administration first and ask for assistance.

5. In reference to those with DID, it is the position of Circle of Healing that all members of one's internal system are of equal importance and equal validity. Therefore alters are allowed to post here. Alters are part of the entire system, and it is our belief that the entire system (including each individual part) has a right to be heard, be supported, and experience validation and healing.

6. Members have access to all areas of the forum automatically with the exception of the Ritual Abuse section. If you would like to have access to this section, you must request access by contacting the administrator of the forum. This is for your safety as this area of the forum often contains highly triggering information, and can be difficult to read. The request for access is not meant to keep anyone out. It is mostly there so that the administration can better prepare its readers and give advanced trigger warnings as necessary.

7. All decisions regarding banning of members are made by the administration and are final. In addition, administrators and moderators may at their discretion move, close, edit, or delete questionable content. Please keep in mind that the administrators and moderators are volunteers who generously give their time to help board users, and are here to ensure that all members are safe and able to benefit from this forum.

8. You should not provide any personal information about yourself or your children in this board. This includes your last name, social security number, address, telephone number, or any other form of identification. In addition, please do NOT use your school email address or an email address that gives away your real full name when registering in this board. This is all for your own personal safety.

9. If you are having a personal issue with another member of this board, try to resolve it with them FIRST, either by Private Messenger (PM) or by E-Mail. If you need further assistance, please contact one of the administrators or moderators. Public opinions are welcome, but attacks (or hidden attacks) to members are not. Posting personal attacks back and forth between you and another member of this forum may result in a loss of posting privileges.

10. Circle of Healing attempts to uphold the highest level of integrity as a board and thus will not tolerate competition, comparisons, or grievances aired publicly concerning another forum or its administrators. It is recommended that if you participate in, or have participated in, another forum and have a problem with how that forum is run that you handle it within that particular community and do not bring it here.
( Added 7/4/08 )

11. Spamming in any form is not tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, commercial listings, promotion of commercial and/or personal websites, etc. Active members of the board are of course encouraged to share their personal websites and suggest helpful resources. However, registering for the sole purpose of promoting your website or other people's website, book, or event is considered extremely inappropriate.

12. Requests for money, housing, sheltering, transportation, or similar activities are not allowed. If needed, administration and/or moderators may be able to help members with referrals to appropriate agencies and organizations.

13. This Board is not meant to be a substitute for professional counseling or therapy. If you are looking for a crisis center in your area please visit RAINN at www.rainn.org/counseling.html, or check the Links/Resources section of the Board for information on locating a therapist. The administrators and moderators of this board are not professionals. This is a message board created by survivors for survivors.


Rules about posting, images and signatures.

1. Survivors heal in different ways. Please have an open mind, and show everyone here respect and support.

2. If your post is going to contain graphic details or triggering material, please add the *T* (Trigger) sign to the title. The *T* symbol applies to anything triggering you may decide to post.

3. Please try to keep all posts in the right forum. If you are not familiar with the different forums, please read the description of the forums before posting. Any post located in the wrong forum may be moved by one of the administration or one of the moderators.

4. Posts made on this forum are private and confidential. You may share portions of this site with your personal therapist. It is understood that it is sometimes helpful to do this. Also I have had therapists ask, at times, to visit the site to make sure it is appropriate for their client. I admire this quality in a therapist because it shows me they are aware of the possible dangers in getting involved with an online support group and they value their client's safety. Therapists are also bound by confidentiality, so sharing information with your personal therapist is deemed not a problem. This site is meant to compliment your own individual therapy. You may copy and print portions of the forum for your own personal use (journal, etc.) However, you may not, under any circumstances, copy and paste any portion of this forum to anyone else or any other site. Outside of the above permissions where your individual therapist is concerned, you should not copy and paste portions of the site. Nor should you print and distribute copies of the pages/posts in the site. This is absolutely essential in order to maintain confidentiality for all.

5. Hate posts, discrimination, and personal attacks will be deleted immediately and may result in having the privilege of posting on this board revoked. Again, please have an open mind and show everyone respect and support.

6. Please do not debate on religion. You are free to discuss religious beliefs and their healing effects on you as long as you don't try to force your own beliefs on others.

7. Please do not post suicide notes or threats. While we are here for one another and wish to help one another through difficult times, we cannot help someone who is thinking of killing herself or himself. The situation needs to be handled by professionals. If you are thinking of suicide, please contact your personal therapist, go to the nearest hospital, dial 911, call a local hotline, or contact a national support service such as RAINN (1-800-656-HOPE). Posts containing suicide notes or good-bye letters will be edited or deleted.

8. Under any circumstances, do not post the name of your abuser or perpetrator unless he or she has been convicted of the crime. This protects Circle of Hope from legal issues.

9. All information submitted by you in a post that does not come directly from you such as quotes from a book, song lyrics, etc. should be accompanied by a reference to the original source.

10. Every effort is made to moderate this board and the posts that come in. However, we are few and cannot promise constant moderation. Therefore we ask that we all as members consider it our duty to alert the administration of posts that may be inappropriate. You may do this by sending an email to krmosaic@yahoo,com. The administration will address all concerns about posts on the forum as quickly as possible.

11. In an effort to keep the board membership reflective of those who actually participate in the forum by visiting and posting, we enact the following policy on visiting/posting. If a member registers is accepted and then fails to visit/post for 6 months, that member will receive an email letting them know that it has been 6 months since their last visit/post. We will request that if they would like to keep their membership active that they visit/post within the next 2 weeks. Failure to respond or visit or post will be considered the member's consent to being removed from our membership list. At this time the member will receive another email stating that their membership has been closed at this time, however if they decide at some point that they do want to participate, they are welcome to reregister and reinstate their membership.