Lived Experience Forum

[Atalanta]

Are there actually lifeline counsellors in these forums whose task is to keep an eye on crisis situations?

How private or secure is this forum? I asked about being traceable through mobiles but what about through this forum?

Sorry, had to ask...got weirded out at the thought that someone knows where I live and I've already said too much.

[Stroppy]

The fact is that you can be traced via your IP number if the board stores such numbers when people log in and comment.  You needn't worry, however, because your right to privacy is enshrined in law and I doubt the forum operators would release your IP number unless you had perfomed a criminal act or defamed anyone by name and they were approached by lawyers seeking to find your identity.  If you are really concerned about your privacy you can use a free Virtual Private Network (VPN) which tunnels your internet traffic to make your IP impossible to trace.  There are many good ones out there.  One of the best for free use is "CyberGhost".  Just be aware that if you use a free VPN then your net speed will slow down by at least a third.  The good thing is you can switch the VPN on and off at the press of a screen switch.  Just Google "How do Virtual Private Networks work?".

[Snowflake]

Hi @Atalanta,

Welcome to the forums. It's Snowflake, one of the moderators here. The moderators here on the forum are professional counsellors however this is a peer support environment that is safe, anonymous and your privacy is respected, unless others on the forum or moderators are concerned that you may be at risk to yourself or others.

You can read more about this at the link here which talks more in detail about the community guidelines.

At times we do encourage people to contact services such as Lifeline as a support for a service where they can talk to someone that is available 24 hours/7days a week.

I hope that you find the support you are seeking here and look forward to more of your contributions. 

[Stroppy]

Fully agree, Snowflake...but I think Atalanta is more worried about having divulged information that he thinks might be used against him.  Your post is very reassuring in this regard.  Also from what I have seen of this forum the moderators would act immediately to edit a post that contained damaging information.  So Atalanta just needs to have reaffirmed that he is safe here and that this forum is about helping and nurturing (which it clearly is), not outing people if they make angry posts.

[Atalanta]

@Snowflake, I wondered about the counselling aspect because at some point in the last day, I realised I was being deliberately engaged in conversation. I've done way too much counselling, lol.

[Atalanta]

@Stroppy...lol, the stork made me a girl not boy...bad stork. I am interested in the privacy but also if Lifeline or police could locate a person to stop them from going through with a suicide attempt. For example, if I was to say, come Monday, I intend to suicide, could my home address or other aspects be used to locate me.

[Snowflake]

Hi @Atalanta,

I am sorry in my previous reply I also forgot to mention that if you wanted to have any posts edited or removed you could also email any request to team@saneforums.org and the moderators would be happy to assist you with this.

If we were worried about someone's safety, such as if you intended to suicide we would do our best to get supports in place and follow up with you and contact emergency services if we had contact details. Please feel free to send an email if you need any further clarification about this.

Is there a reason that you are asking these questions? Are you feeling safe tonight?

[Atalanta]

@Snowflake, Thanks for asking. I'm not well physically or psychologically at the moment. I'm not entirely safe but I am holding on. Someone has borrowed my car cause theirs broke down last night. It's made me a little safer cause I can't die at home. I cannot go to hospital...my family don't know how bad I am...I'm the one who takes care of everyone. I can die or I can live but I can't be going into a psych ward. I've got a chest infection, I'm dehydrated and have a migraine, I've been having chest pains the last week but they are probably muscular due to the stress. I'm hoping it is my heart and I have a heart attack and die, cause then my family won't have to live with the stigma.

But yeah...I'm fine. 😆 see. Lol. Now Im going to try and sleep...didn't manage much last night.