How to Talk About Violence Here

[Heather]

Hey, everyone.

We've been having a slowly growing issue with some users in our direct services talking about violence in a very cavalier or casual way. That's not something that we can have in our space if it's to be somewhere both users and staff can feel comfortable and safe.

Many of us -- both staff and users -- are survivors of violence, or have otherwise experienced it in our lives. Just tossing references to violence into posts like it's no big deal or otherwise being casual about it can make being here difficult or painful for trauma survivors. It can activate trauma responses.

We also take violence very seriously here in every way: there's nothing casual about it to us. We ask that any talk of violence take it very seriously, and primarily be something that centers victims and survivors or has a focus on violence prevention. If it's something you do need to talk about, for existence, as someone trying to heal from violence, please limit very explicit details, and also use a content note at the top of your post so that anyone who can't handle descriptions of violence knows not to read further. That will look something like this: "Content note: this post includes talk of sexual violence."

Please be thoughtful in this regard, as we ask you to be in general, when posting on the boards Remember this is a public, community space, and one people come to looking for a safe haven, rather than your room alone. Thank you.