HEAL Support Group Agreements

1. We welcome everyone to our support groups based on our equity statement. 

2. We care for ourselves by opting in or out of any meeting, activity, or sharing opportunity as it serves us.

3. We practice peaceful, non-judgmental listening to others as well as to our own thoughts and feelings.

4. We honor the gift of vulnerability by keeping group member details confidential, although we may share our personal experience of a meeting if it serves our healing.

5. We carefully choose words and actions which bring optimal healing for everyone.

6. We support ourselves and each other with kindness, compassion, understanding and open minds.

7. We appreciate the healthy diversity of every member's situation and healing path by refraining from projecting our own path onto others. In return, we choose to take from others only that which serves us.

8. We ask questions with the understanding that others may choose to respond or not.

9. We balance expressing with inquiry, being as interested in other’s experiences and perspectives as our own. We sometimes take more time, and allow the same for others.

10. We acknowledge that even if some group participants are in supportive professions (e.g., therapists, counselors) they are attending the group as a peer, not in a professional capacity.

Feedback regarding these agreements is welcome: send to me or post in our online forum.