Each has a lot of group-specific problems, hurdles, etc. and it might provide a nice place to discuss certain things, which one might be less reluctant to post about out in the regular forums. I'm thinking about things right now I'd be posting if there were a sexual assault group for sexual assault survivors, which I feel really shameful about and don't want to share so openly and publicly. I guess that applies to the CSA stuff for me too, even the DV.
I hear what you are saying. The flip side to this is, making sure that groups don't just gradually become replacements for the trauma-specific forums. It would be more worthwhile to consider what the pros and cons would be of making those areas member-only, instead of fully public.
On a certain level - if one is not comfortable yet discussing something semi-openly, then they're just not ready to discuss it.
Confronting that internal challenge, those voices in our heads that say "don't talk about this, it's too shameful/bad/horrible/embarrassing..." - hearing those internal messages and then overcoming them in order to post - that's a
big part of what this site offers to people.
I'm certainly not saying there's not room for groups like that...Only that we already do have trauma-specific areas, and we also have opened up full member access to individual private trauma diaries.
And last but not least, there's no way to fairly evaluate for criteria when it comes to specific trauma. A lot of deciding whether or not a member belongs in a group, rests on the member. They need to self-select, and they also need to have invested enough time in this forum - and posting more than just social content - in order to be given access to a semi-private group.
In other words...were we to have a group specifically for CSA (as an example) - individuals would already needed to have posted about their trauma on the open forums to some degree, otherwise there's no way of knowing whether or not they are sincere, and will be able to operate with little to no moderation. There's a fair amount required for that - enough time spent here to know and understand not only the rules, but also the culture. Without members having/sharing that foundation, a group is meaningless, really.
I'm not sure if I'm being as clear as I could be. It boils down to:
- Semi-Private groups only work if the members have an established posting history, and in order to make that happen, they will need to have begun talking about their trauma already on the open forums.
- We have member diaries and private diaries both available, neither of which is search-engined. The member diaries are a very good middle ground for the member who wants some privacy, but also to find some connection.
I think a good group will generally cut across trauma-type divisions, and allow for an additional level of something in common, something that is just a smidge too specific to really find its connected footing across our current sub-forums.
Another thing I personally think would be cool, since I am pretty much only getting EMDR right now, would be an EMDR group.
I thought about this - but I think that it could be accomplished in the Therapy sub-forum as well. No-one's started an EMDR support thread in a long while (I don't believe), and these sorts of long-form threads often work just like a group would - there are a number of folks it applies to, they become regular users of the thread, people flow in and out of it, and those who aren't interested in it really just don't read it.
Thanks for your post,
@Sweetleaf. It's helpful to have a little back-and-forth on these things.
