Group Support Community Updates: Oct-Nov 2021

I hope all of you are well. And, time is flying! Soon 2021 will be over and we will be welcoming 2022. But, in the middle of all holidays, happenings and events, updates, I hope you all are practicing kindness to yourself and others and having mindful moments.

A few quick updates from my end. First, we developed an introductory Sharing Circle Growth Path. I invite you to try and share your thoughts and feedback with us. We created an Alert Request Form to collect and process all the requests in one place and save leaders and the community's time. Other than that, I am working on drafting some guided discussion scripts based on a suggestion I received from @ExpressedEmotions. Also, working on creating a Master Group Support Resources Links form which will act as one stop form for all links and forms related to Group support chat rooms.

AnnaTess

It's been a super busy month with not a lot of updates, but I'm looking forward to seeing all of our continued growth for the Sharing Circle community in December!

LuLuRings

One major update in my personal role is that I’ve transitioned from overseeing STL Management as a GSML to being Lead GSML, overseeing our GSMLs and PAs. It was awesome working so closely with our STLs, but I’m excited about this new role and what it holds for me and our team! And if you’re interested in supporting Group Support in a larger capacity, please reach out with questions about our Project Agent role.

In November, our very own @theriverissinging organized our group support event: the Flourishing in Life Challenge. This was a lot of fun, and I wanted to extend mine and the rest of the team’s gratitude for everyone who participated and supported this event! Fabulous job everyone! Keep an eye out for our coming December event, another Group Support Marathon! This time, we’ll be ringing in the New Year across the globe. More information coming soon!

We have received feedback about the Community Calendar not being updated or easy to navigate. Notice to all hosts, please review THIS POST to refresh on how to submit events and sessions to the Community Calendar. Please also try to make use of the tags so we can better-sort our sessions when searching the calendar for events we may want to attend. Please also, if anyone has feedback about how we organize the calendar, feel free to PM me or any GSMLs.

We have also received feedback that there have been instances of banner misuse in the community. When hosting, our Moderators and Room Supporters place these banners up in the group support rooms to show that a session is taking place and to broadcast the session type/topic. These banners are also used by the Group Support Leadership Team to evaluate host activity, as group support leaders are expected to meet certain hosting quotas as part of their roles. Misuse includes tampering with a banner that isn’t yours (such as removing, replacing, or adding a banner when you’re not one of the current active hosts in a room) or placing inappropriate or offensive banners. If anyone witnesses banner misuse in the group rooms, please reach out to me or any GSMLs to report this with the day, time, and room of the occurrence, as we’re helping the admin team to track this. As Obs shared with us earlier this year in THIS POST, anyone caught misusing banners may face consequences according to the community behavior policy.

Also, introducing the Writers Guild! @PuzichkinCat and I have organized this new team to help us bring new quality scripts live and build up the Discussion Script Directory in areas that lack representation or coverage. Our team is made up of many amazing, diverse writers. If interested, please complete this Interest Form. Note, spots are currently limited as we launch but may open up more as we grow.

PuzichkinCat

Hi all! I hope December finds you well! The most global update for me was joining the GSML team in October and getting settled in my new role. Thank you everyone for the warm welcome to the team and all of your support. I’m excited to be able to bring more positive and meaningful change to our community in a new capacity.

I kickstarted my work by revamping the Moderator Request Form, making it more user-friendly. This form (located in Group Support Chatroom Rules, Rule #14) notifies Group Moderators of a situation in a chatroom that requires their attention. Spreading awareness and increasing accessibility of this form is vital for the safety of our Chatrooms.

• Attention Moderators and Room Supporters! We recently added an option to request a moderator to come to a room that might be helpful especially for you: “I'm a Group Moderator / Room Supporter and I would like some backup”. Please select it if you’re a Community Leader and require moderation help while dealing with tension in a Group Support setting.

As a RS/Mod Leads Coordinator, I’ve been working closely with @CheeryMango, @EvelyneRose and @PeaceLoveandPawas to help boost the quality of support and resources available to our Group Moderators and Room Supporters. With their extensive help, we are continuing to provide new helpful resources for our Community Leaders as well as updating outdated ones.

• For our moderators’ convenience, the updated Moderator Activity Log was reintroduced in accordance with the ethical principles of our community.
• We are hoping that the relaunched Group Support Buddy Program will provide our Community Leaders with additional support.

On another GS front, @LuluRings, @Olivia210 and I now organized a Discussion Scripts Directory that houses all of our Group Support scripts in one place. This Directory will be available to our Community Leaders to ease subcommunity collaboration and improve overall organization. We also developed a new Discussions and Scripts Writing Guide that will help unify our GS Scripts in terms of quality, format and style, to increase accessibility.

In terms of Engagement and Activity, together with @theriverissinging, we have been working on developing an integrated system for Subcommunity Hosts and Leaders to log and track their Group Support sessions. An easy-to-use template will be introduced and available for Subcommunity Leaders to add to their dashboards soon. Stay tuned for more updates within this domain.

CheeryMango

The month of November was a productive month for the chat room moderators. A number of efforts have been made to improve communication and support for our chat room moderators. Moderators of the chat rooms experienced a new change with the implementation of the Group Moderator Monthly Progress Form, which helps track the activity and performance of all moderators. All moderators will be alerted to this form during the last week of every month, and they will have until the last day of the month to submit their form.

In addition, the bi-weekly monthly meetings have been replaced with monthly meetings. The goal of this change is to have as many chatroom moderators as possible, and to keep them informed about any changes or information relevant to their role. Moderators will have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience moderating in the chatrooms during these monthly meetings, as well as receive any updates on their role from the mod lead.

Additionally, more training will be provided to chatroom moderators to teach them how to handle specific situations they may encounter in this role. Additional resources will be made available through the forums and moderator help center.

PeaceLoveandPaws

It’s been a great month for Room Supporters. Our weekly format has changed slightly in November to include mini discussions in each weekly session. We have covered tips for successful sessions, active listening, and crisis policy. Everyone is welcome to attend our Room Supporter team meetings, as your schedule allows.

A poll was sent out for all Room Supporters to choose the date and time of our 1st quarter meetings. If you have not yet voted, you can find the polls for adults and teens HERE I am looking forward to seeing your responses!

Additionally, the GSML team has been thoughtfully planning a relaunch of the Group Support Buddy Program to include Room Supporters. If you are interested in supporting buddy on their journey or would like a buddy to support you as you begin your journey, please sign up HERE.

@Heather225 @ASilentObserver @Asher @LuLuRings @AnnaTess @PuzichkinCat @CheeryMango @EvelyneRose @PeaceLoveandPaws