Welcome Document

Introducing the community and covering how we maintain safety
Welcome to our community-led, IFS-based peer support organization for trauma and addiction recovery. We're thrilled to have you here!

Who We Are and Why We're Here
We're passionate about the compassionate approach offered by Internal Family Systems (IFS) for recovery from trauma and addiction. 

Our community is made up of IFS enthusiasts who are not necessarily trained by the Internal Family Systems Institute. We're all on the same level, maintaining horizontal rather than hierarchical relationships. 

Our central focus is offering regular, confidential online support meetings for anyone healing from trauma/addiction. Each meeting follows a gently structured format and all meetings are supported by a set of safety guidelines designed to keep meetings as safe-enough, brave spaces for all present.

Meetings generally have timed shares and a no-crosstalk rule (similar to 12-Step meetings) but use the concepts of IFS and strive always to avoid shaming language. Readings vary from meeting to meeting, but generally there is no religious wording in any of our meeting scripts.

You are welcome, whether you have prior experience with IFS or not. We are all learning together.

IFS and Trauma & Addiction
There is a clear document by IFS Institute Trainer Cece Sykes, and a video of her talking recently, which explain how the IFS model sees trauma and addiction. The links to these are in the video description for those of you watching this as a video. 

We encourage members to explore official IFS resources on the IFS Institute's website, which we have also included a link to in the video description. 

Plus, members of the community often share useful IFS links in our WhatsApp groups, which we'll talk about later.

Meetings in Progress
After forming in August 2023, we still see ourselves as being in the early stages of our organization. 

At the current time, our meetings are as follows:

  • Monday “All Parts are Welcome”

  • Thursday “All Parts are Welcome”

  • Sunday “All Parts, All Addictions” meeting.

You can find our weekly meeting schedule on our linktr.ee, linked in the video description, and linked to in the Peer Support WhatsApp Community description.

What to Expect in Meetings
Our meetings usually include a non-religious reading or meditation, followed by timed shares, and we carefully observe a no-crosstalk rule, similar to 12-Step meetings. Our focus is on creating an inclusive, shame-free culture, and everyone is welcome to join, regardless of their IFS experience.

Communication Between Meetings
We mainly use WhatsApp to stay connected, using a WhatsApp Community with various subgroup WhatsApp communities, including individual groups for:

  • peer support, resource sharing, and meeting reminders 

  • organizational updates

  • a gratitude practice

  • individual meeting-specific groups

You’ll find a link to join our WhatsApp groups on our Linktr.ee.

We also have a Facebook group which you’ll find here.

Safety Guidelines
Ensuring a safe and supportive environment is essential for us, given our histories. We've established a set of safety guidelines that we all commit to upholding. These guidelines include respecting diversity, speaking for not from our parts, avoiding cross-talk, practicing confidentiality, self-care and being mindful of triggering content. 

There is a link to these guidelines in the Description for this video/You can read the full form of those guidelines here.

What If Safety Breaks Down? 
In the event that safety guidelines are not being honored, we are proposing a series of steps to address the issue.

  1. Safety Restoration in Meetings: We encourage any member to call for a "Safety Pause" during a meeting by either raising their hand or privately messaging a meeting host if they feel the guidelines are not being followed. During this pause, participants will be invited to acknowledge their activated parts and offer compassion to them before resuming the meeting.

  2. Safety Restoration in WhatsApp/Written Space: In our WhatsApp space, members are urged to use the "Safety Guidelines check please" phrase if they believe the guidelines are being violated. Trusted members can also be messaged privately to request this. This approach helps us maintain accountability and to support one another.

  3. Extreme Breaches of Safety: In rare cases of extreme breaches, any member can request the scheduling of a supportive non-shaming Community Gathering meeting where the group can explore together what’s happened. A Community Gathering can be requested at any time. We also support concerned members to request a 24-hour pause in messaging in the WhatsApp space if there has been an extreme breach of safety. Our intention is to encourage and support individuals to address ruptures privately or in small safe-enough-feeling groups, using the fundamental IFS principle of speaking for rather than from our parts, and the non-violent principles of refraining from all acts of aggression and from cross-talk. 

We hope these suggestions will help ensure collective responsibility and compassionate connection and re-connection.

We are working on a simple IFS and Non Violent Communication informed conflict resolution guidance document that members can use to address ruptures together privately or in small groups in the rare event that that’s needed. We’ll share this when the first draft is available.

Staying and Leaving the Group 
We encourage members to stay committed to the community, even when faced with challenges. However, we respect each member's choice to leave if it's in their best interest. Remember that you're always welcome back, and your place within the community is never erased.

In summary, we're a passionate and supportive community dedicated to helping each other on the path to recovery from addiction and trauma through the principles of IFS. Your well-being and safety are our top priorities. 

Welcome to our community!