Group Support Survey: Updates

Hello everyone,

I hope you are doing well. Thank you all for sharing your inputs and feedback for Group Support Chatrooms here. It is great to see how you all nurture and support each other in the chatrooms. It is remarkable group support work. I congratulate and am grateful to each of you.

We received some positive feedback as well as challenges and ideas to address them. I am thankful to you for constantly thinking about improvement opportunities in the group support chat rooms.

Here is some positive feedback for the group chat rooms where most of the feedback is for either Sharing Circle or Support Room 24/7.

• Always filled with people and it's engaging.
• Because Sharing Circle is more supportive
• Sharing Circle is more structured
• I like to hear what everyone is going through
• Everyone gets a turn to speak
• I like the structure and the support.
• It's a no-judgment zone.
• It is so nice to go there to meet friends, new and old, listen to them and support them.
• If I am going through something I can type it
• The Support Room is more free-flowing chatting. Moves quickly.
• The support room is almost always upbeat, supportive, and kind. It's a really positive place to be.
• People are more validating, more likely to be active listeners, more likely to be people who are skilled in reaching out and accepting support.

Now let’s check out the recommended ways to increase support and the current updates on it from the Group Support Team.

• Pay attention to the people who are being rude, make a list. If you notice they are consistently causing problems, just ban them. There’s only so much that muting can do. I also would love a permanent mute button.

Update: It is something we are already doing. A big credit goes to you all who report unsupportive behaviors and submit safety report forms. Please read this post for all you need to know about filling and submitting behavioral and safety reports. Click Here!

• Hold unsupportive people accountable. Push inclusivity more.

Update: We have a Zero Tolerance Policy for unsupportive and disrespectful behavior. This is why it is constantly reminded in the chatrooms to stay supportive and follow chatroom guidelines while participating in order to have an inclusive and safe environment for everyone. Please read this post on Zero Tolerance Policy and we strongly recommend everyone to model inclusive, supportive, and respectful behavior in the chatrooms. It is in the best interest of everyone.

• Have more support sessions

Update: Currently Group Support Mentor Leaders and I are working on a plan to achieve that goal. It will allow us to increase the count of sessions on various topics taking place every week and increase the support for everyone in the chatrooms. We will keep you posted on the progress of it.

• Some shares are triggering and sharers don't say so before speaking. I have experienced that the member started to be graphic about it. I would like to say "Please don't be graphic", but as a member, I'm not allowed to interrupt the sharing.

Update: Everyone is welcome to join and share everything and anything they are feeling or experiencing. But, also strongly recommended that if the share is triggering, please use “Trigger Warning” ahead of the share. But in case, if the sharer misses it and the share seems to be graphic and triggering, as a member or a listener you can gently and politely remind the sharer to use trigger warnings from their next share. It would be helpful for everyone.

• Make a room for neurodiverse people.

Update: In the past week, we posted a quick survey on Neurodiverse. We will be reviewing its feedback and sharing the progress on it in a separate post. But, please know we are all thinking of you and striving to support you better.

• More Moderator Participation. We received multiple feedback from the users to invite more moderators and it would be great to have them around to participate with members.

Update: Here I have two things to share!

1. I take this opportunity to invite all our chat room moderators to come and join us in the chat rooms as and when they are around and participate in the rooms with us. We would like to have them. Tagging them below in this post.
2. When you see a moderator around, please recognize their efforts and appreciate them for their support and compassion in the rooms. You can also submit reviews for them through this form: Click Here!

• It is pretty good with this but keeps on focusing on welcoming new people entering and making it feel safe and welcoming

Update: Here I need help from everyone. Because with your efforts, it will be 100% achievable. Please take a minute to greet, welcome, and invite a new joiner to share. Collectively, we can make a difference in inclusivity coverage.

• Have more rule reminders

Update: We are working on a plan to address this area. We will keep you updated on its progress. But please know we are aware of it and taking steps to improve it.

We received some other feedback too and I will be reaching out to discuss it in detail 1-1 with the feedback giver in order to construct a better plan to address it. Other than that, we have a few improvement plans in progress. We will keep you all updated on the progress. I appreciate your contributions and we will strive to take all steps to strengthen and improve our group support chat rooms for everyone.

Also, I will be conducting the feedback survey at the end of the month/ quarter to ensure we are moving forward in the right direction and addressing all challenges one by one.

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and reading the updates on this post. Let’s continue to keep taking care and supporting each other in the group chat rooms. I am glad and grateful to have you all with me in this support journey.