Sufferer New here, feeling unsure if I can feel safe here

New here. Don't know if this a safe place to be but will give it a try.

I'm a survivor of multiple traumas and need a place to vent on, seek support from fellow survivors etc. Not going into details of what I've been through. All I can say is it's been a lot, to say the least. I've made the mistake before that I've opened up at online support forums such as Reddit and Facebook groups and been faced with comments such as "you're not your past or your diagnoses, just move on", "maybe you should stop seeking validations from others", or been given unsolicited advice. That's just so hurtful and makes me feel so unseen, unheard and insignificant.

As social animals, I strongly believe we people need each other and quite often I'm not strong enough to give that validation to myself, especially because I never got the validation and empathy from my parents growing up. I do visit a therapist but only twice a month, that's all I can afford to and have hardly any friends or family to rely on to. So I'm in a vulnerable position and since I live in a small town where there are no that sort of support groups I would need, I guess my best shot is to rely on online support groups such as this one.

Feeling unsure if I'm in the right place. It's exhausting and almost retraumatizing to try to seek support from strangers online and it's hard to trust others after being betrayed and invalidated so many times before. Here I am anyway, hoping I haven't made yet another mistake. Would glad to hear from you other members, how do you find this forum? If this a safe space?

Welcome to the forum

To be honest, ‘safe spaces’ on the internet aren’t really a thing. But that’s not to say that a place can’t be safe enough, depending on what you get out of it.

This place is a big, broad, international community, with the full spectrum of human experience represented. So you’re not going to vibe with everyone, and it definitely helps to participate on the basis of “Take what’s helpful, leave the rest”. Not all support that’s offered will resonate. That’s okay.

You can get a good idea of the place by taking a look around, and checking out the Community Constitution.

What you will get here is a forum full of people who get it when it comes to living with PTSD. It’s totally okay to not go all out on disclosing your trauma straight up. There’s plenty of value to be had from connecting with peers even without the detail. We have a whole Social Forum just because the connecting part is so valuable, and so damn hard in so many spaces these days.