On the Sue Ryder Online Bereavement Community, we encourage you to share your experiences in order to connect with others. While it is absolutely okay to have more private conversations and to make real-life connections, it’s important to say safe. The community is intended to be anonymous, and an online-space only.
To protect your privacy, we ask that you do not share:
- Your full, real name
- Your email address
- Your phone number
- Any of your social media profiles - e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram etc
- Your address or location
- Your place of work
- Any other personal information, such as bank details
In our Terms and Conditions, we say:
We encourage users to keep communications within the community because we have staff and moderators who work to keep the community safe and supportive. We’re unable to moderate anything outside of this platform. This means that when communication is taken offline, or outside of the community, we can no longer keep you and our members safe.
Why is the Sue Ryder Online Bereavement Community anonymous?
The community is public and it’s not necessary to become a member in order to read posts.
By remaining anonymous, you can freely share without worry of anything being linked back to you.
Many members also value that by remaining anonymous, they can share how they are feeling without fear of being judged. They are able to be more open and honest and say what is on their mind.
I’ve made a deep connection here, is that ok?
We can develop deep connections with others online. However, please remember, the community is anonymous, so you won’t know exactly who you are talking to. People can use different names and details to share their grief experiences. Sue Ryder moderators can never vouch that anyone is who they claim to be.
I want to make friends, how can I do that if I can’t share my contact details?
While it is lovely to see our members make connections, the purpose of the community is for grief support. If you’re looking to make friends to socialise with offline, or across other services, this is not the purpose of the online community.
If you’d like to make new friends, here are some services to look into:
Meet up- for meeting people with similar interests
Hub of Hope - finding local community initiatives
If you’d like to find in-person grief support, Sue Ryder has just launched our Grief Kind Spaces.
Our Grief Kind Spaces are weekly, in-person drop-in sessions held in the local community and run by trained volunteers. The sessions provide a safe, informal and supportive place for people to come together and share their experiences of grief, helping attendees to feel heard and less alone.
If you’re not in an area with a Grief Kind space, or are looking for a different kind of support, you might want to check out the AtALoss website. It is a directory of bereavement support, including support groups. If you click this link then select your region, you can see what bereavement support is available in your area.
I’m an adult, why can’t I just decide who I connect with?
The community is an over 18s service; we know that members are adults and want to be in control of their own decisions.
We can moderate conversations that happen on the Online Community. We can give support and guidance on any unwanted experiences. We are able to review private message, if they are flagged to us or if we have a safeguarding concern.
However, we cannot check or protect interactions that happen on other sites. For example, sites like WhatsApp or SnapChat or other online forums.
What if I want to meet someone in person?
Some members may make a deep connection, and want to meet this person in real life. We would ask that you think about what our guidance says on taking conversations offline. If you do arrange a meet-up, here are some tips on staying safe:
- Never, ever give out your home address.
- Take a trusted friend or family member with you.
- Plan your route there and home. Think about how you can get home, and get your route prepared and planned.
- Let others know where you’re going and what time you’re planning to leave.
- If you don’t feel comfortable, it’s ok to leave the situation.
I’ve received a private message I’m uncomfortable with, what do I do?
If anything ever feels off to you, please flag the message to us by hitting the flag button, or contact us at online.community@sueryder.org This might be if someone is asking for your contact details, or sharing things that make you feel unsafe or uncomfortable.
We will only share the information you provide to us with other people or organisations in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Confidentiality and privacy are fundamental to the community. However, there are some circumstances where it is our policy to pass on information. These include:
- If we suspect a child may be at risk from harm.
- If a user is at serious risk of harm, either from themselves or others.
- If a user threatens or abuses our moderators, staff, other community users or named users of the public (e.g. medical professionals).
For legal reasons, we keep confidential records of any safeguarding incidences.
If you ever have any questions, need some support to use the community, or just want to chat, please do private message me or email me at online.community@sueryder.org
Take care,
Seaneen
More information on online safety
You can find out much more on Minds website: