Lived Experience Forum

[ShiningStar]

Hi @Ella4 

I just wanted to reach out to welcome you to the forums - it’s great to have you here 💜

Oh Ella4 💜 I’m so sorry that I didn’t have the opportunity to read what you shared with us in your original message and as such, I just wanted to touch base with you to see how you’re travelling?

In my experience, reaching out to an online community can be incredibly daunting and as such, I just wanted to say that I think that you’ve taken an incredibly brave first step 💜

Sometimes, it can be really tricky to know where to start and what to say and as such, I just wanted to gently reassure you that we all go about this a little bit differently - which is absolutely ok 😊

For example, some people share a little bit about what brought them here and the sort of support that they’re looking for 😊 Other people spend some time exploring the forums and participating in some of the existing conversations before they feel safe and comfortable to share some of their own experiences and other people enjoy participating in some of our online events such as Topic Tuesday 😊

Sometimes exploring our social threads can be a really gentle way to ease yourself into community life and so with this in mind, I’ve just shared the link to our social spaces just in case you would like to take a look 😊

https://saneforums.org/t5/Social-Spaces/bd-p/le-forum-0003

Please know that there’s absolutely no pressure or expectations in relation to what you share about yourself or when you share these things and as such, I just wanted to ever so gently reassure you that this is something that’s always completely up to you 💜

Also, just while I remember, one of the things that really helped me when I was new to the forums and still finding my way around, was that if you would like to chat with another forum member, or reply to one of their posts, place @ in front of their username just like I did at the start of my post to you i.e. @Ella4 that way, they will receive a message that you have contacted them 😊

I really hope that you’ll reach out here again and please let me know if there’s anything that I can do to support you 💜

Take kind and gentle care of yourself,

ShiningStar 💜