Counselling Tutor's Facebook Terms
Firstly, Hello and thank you for reading this; it means that you care about the group.
To get a little background about Counselling Tutor and better understand the Facebook rules, please read below.
Group Background
The group was set up in February 2016 by Ken Kelly of Counselling Tutor to support students of counselling and psychotherapy from any part of the world and any evidence-based modality of therapy.
Counselling Tutor is a hangout for current and prospective students of counselling and psychotherapy, as well as qualified practitioners, supervisors and tutors.
A supportive environment where you can share your study and practice experiences, questions, highs and lows.
To find out more about Counselling Tutor, have a look at www.counsellingtutor.com/about-us
Our Values: Connection, Service, Passion
These three core values run through how we behave towards each other and our members:
- We listen, trying to understand without judgement.
- We are who we say we are and are always honest even when this is hard.
- We do what is right, not what is easy, and we never compromise our values.
- We ask for help and give help, supporting each other to be our best selves.
- We do what we say we will.
These values and those essential to the counselling world help form our Counselling Tutor group rules and best practice.
SUMMARY OF OUR GROUP RULES
Community Interactions: Be Supportive, Respectful & Courteous
We are all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Let us treat everyone with Respect, Empathy, and Unconditional Positive Regard. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required.
Content: No Prejudicial or Hateful Comments/Posts
We will not tolerate Prejudicial or Hateful comments or posts. Be respectful of the diversity within the group.
Confidentiality: Be Discreet
Confidentiality is a byword for our profession; no discussions of any identifiable people (regardless of their relationship to you) or recognisable situations.
Appropriate Social Media Usage
Our group is not the place to discuss clients, issues for supervision or for personal therapy as it's a public, non-contracted space, and confidentiality needs to be considered.
Privacy
Be respectful of people’s privacy (confidentiality) and do not Private Message members unless permission has been sought.
No Advertising / Marketing
We are not a marketplace, so no Adverts for Business, Events, CPD, Courses, Degrees, Workshops, Products, Commercial Services (including Disguised promotions), Petitions or Self-Promotion.
No Spam or Irrelevant Links
No unsolicited recommendations or links to unrelated counselling services. All links need to be accessible to all members (no paywall/membership). No links to pirate/copyright-infringing sites.
Content: No Unrelated / Removed Topics
All posts should be counselling-related, and subjects should give value to the group. No repeating of removed topics or discussions regarding moderation.
No Research Requests/Surveys
Due to ethical considerations of using social media platforms for research opportunities, we will no longer be allowing these posts, apart from when we can confirm Ethical Guardianship.
Agreement & More Details
On joining, you accept & agree to adhere to our group rules.
Community Conduct
We are a vibrant, diverse community of people at various stages of their counselling journey. So please be kind, courteous, considerate and show respect for each other’s ideas, opinions, and choices.
We mirror the best practices of the counselling world within our group; as such, even though you may have personal opinions, you wouldn’t express all of them in the counselling room, which equally applies to this group.
We also feel that social media is not the appropriate space for some conversations because of the effects of the disinhibition effect, and we want to prevent unintended hurt. We do not allow debates of a topic that is a lived experience of our members, as it is their lives and experiences. We do not expect or want our members to feel that they need to educate others about their lives, choices, or experience and effects of difference and diversity.
We do understand that people disagree on occasions, but we won’t tolerate members disrespecting each other. So, no personal attacks, irony, or sarcasm.
We will remove any disrespectful, prejudicial, or hateful comments or posts.
Unconditional Positive Regard is essential in the counselling room and as necessary in our Counselling Tutor Facebook Group.
Community Interactions – Posts / Comments / Replies
We feel that to make the most of our Facebook Group and Community; you need to consider the following.
- Start by using the Search Function. Search the feed before asking a question, and you may find that someone has already asked that question before.
- Use English only. To make sure that all members of the group understand you. Also, be considerate that not all members speak English natively, and thus phrasing may reflect this.
- Please add a hashtag to your questions that reflect your level of study. This will assist in the discussion and responses being at the appropriate level of understanding and knowledge. Example of hashtags include #Level 2, #Level 3, #Level 4, #Level 5, #FdDegree, #Degree, #Counsellor
- Please read other people’s responses and posts before you write your response.
- If you’re going to comment, we would prefer you to try and add value to the conversation. Be friendly, be fair and use common sense.
- Please, No All Caps. This is considered shouting and remember to have a respectful communication style (no excessive usage of exclamation or question marks).
- Stick to the topic – Off-topic content will be removed, and you will get a warning.
- If you do not like something, ignore it.
- No bashing of any course, establishment, practice, ethical body etc. as those are all personal opinions and experiences. Please concentrate on the positive aspects. Think this, if I have nothing positive to say, why say anything.
- No Spamming – Asking the same question or posting the same comment repeatedly after being removed by the Admins or Moderation Team due to rule violation will result in a ban.
- Report Rule Breaking – If you see a post/comments that violate our rules. Please report it. Also, think before you report anything. Don’t report posts or comments that aren’t breaking any rules just because you don’t like or agree with them.
Empathy is essential.
We need to think about how the other person is feeling and why they’re asking this question. We must be considerate of their viewpoint and their reasoning for asking questions.
Confidentiality, Privacy & Discretion
In counselling, privacy and confidentiality are of the utmost importance, and we extend that concept to our group.
Facebook is one of the largest sites on the internet. Thus, we’re always aware that anyone can view this group, so please be discreet and do not disclose anybody’s (regardless of their relationship with you) details or descriptions of events that could make them identifiable.
Due to the openness and diverseness of our group, it is also not the place to explore your issues (personal therapy). We have no desire to ‘discount’ or ‘censor’ peoples experience; that said, this is not a personal therapy group. We will take a view if someone continually posts asking for emotional support on the same issue.
If you disclose any identifiable information, we will remove your post and potentially suggest how you can reframe/reword the question/post to get the support you need, which is in line with respecting confidentiality.
We are not a contracted space, but we hope nobody coming into their group would feel like we’ve been talked about or discussion of their private details. We want this to be a safe and supportive community.
Advertising, Marketing & Sales
We are not a ‘marketplace’ and value our members, so please remember no advertising, marketing, or sales, as this distracts from the group’s primary purpose.
There is an exception to this regarding students selling used books and placements/jobs being advertised. These come with their conditions though, we will close commenting immediately and do not take any responsibility for the posts, transactions, or outcomes.
Spam, Links, Attachments & Piracy
The group was developed so students of counselling and psychotherapy could discuss and gain support with curriculum-based issues around theory, personal development, and skills.
Unfortunately, many good groups are plagued with post after post for goods and services, which fills up the timeline and dilutes the rich and exciting postings that the page was designed to host.
We are also aware that the group has been the target of professional ‘spammers’ who run multiple identities to access our page.
When you share attachments or links in our Facebook Group, please ensure that your settings are on ‘public’ so else nobody else will see your attachment. The same applies with links; please only share links accessible to all (no membership restriction/paywalls).
Do not promote or ask for resources from illegal/pirated/copyright-infringing websites, as this will result in the post being removed. We encourage you to use freely available resources, like those on www.counsellingtutor.com
Research Requests or Surveys
Due to ethical and data protection concerns, we do not allow research requests/questionnaires to be posted within our group, apart from ones that meet the following criteria;
- Whose research has clearly stated ethical approval from the training provider in the research proposal.
- Research questionnaires hosted on the University's website and clearly states the limits of confidentiality and ethical approval
- Students who are studying at Master’s level and above (PhD) who are attending a university.
If you wish to post research questionnaires in our group, please email our Academic Director at Rory@counsellingtutor.com with the following information:
- The name of your training establishment
- What level are you studying?
- Does the research have approval from the institution’s ethical guardian?
- What platform is the research questionnaire hosted on?
Moderators & Administrators
We are a mixture of professionals and counsellors in training who all work together to help, support and maintain the Counselling Tutor Group. If you have any questions or concerns or are experiencing problems within the group, please turn to us for help. That’s what we’re here for!
We are there to maintain a safe space that fosters growth for those on their counselling journey.
We do this in the following ways.
- Making sure that no member violates group policies, everyone follows the group rules.
- Adding new members to the groups and removing the members that violate group rules.
- Reviewing content and deleting inappropriate content.
- Quickly respond to the queries posted by members.
What happens if I break the Counselling Tutor Facebook Rules?
We know that sometimes we forget rules or do not realise how they’re applied. In these instances, we will try and give you a bit of education or suggestions on how you can word or manage your posts correctly.
Not following the group rules will result in sanctions that will escalate depending on the severity and/or the frequency of these actions.
As a moderating team, we always will keep you informed about which rules have been broken. Additionally, we may Direct Message you (check your Message Requests folder), giving more details and advice on how you can avoid breaking the rules again.
Sanctions
The following are the sanctions in escalation order:
- Comment Removal - A single comment and potentially the thread which spurs from it will be removed.
- Post Removal - The whole post, inclusive of all comments, will be removed.
- Muting - You will see everything within our group but cannot interact, including posting, commenting, or reacting for up to a 28-day period.
- Restricting Commenting - At times when some posts have been highly active or have veered off-topic, or there are circumstances relating to those posts (such as for book sale/jobs/placements). Commenting will be closed with an explanation in the last message.
- Post Approval - When a poster has posted items that break our rules on multiple occasions, it means we check the appropriateness of the post before it’s shared with the rest of the group.
- Removed or Blocked from Group - Depending on the severity and/or frequency of rule-breaking, we will remove you from the group and remove your posts, and you may not be allowed to re-join.
All actions are at the discretion of the Administrative & Moderation Team. We work collaboratively and utilise our diversity to address a situation appropriately.
It is considered impolite to repost or draw attention to the fact that you/your posts have been Moderated.
To assist in our most total capacity, you cannot Block any of the Administrative or Moderation Team. If we find you have done so, you will be removed from the group.
Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with the service you receive from the Counselling Tutor Facebook Group, please email, moderator@counsellingtutor.com
When you contact us, please also provide the following details:
- Information on whether it is an original complaint or a follow-up to a reply you were not satisfied with.
- A clear description of the complaint and what you would like us to do to sort things out.
- Your Facebook username.
We aim to respond to you within 28 days.
We will acknowledge where things could have been done better and tell you what will be done to avoid the same thing happening again. Equally, if we do not uphold your complaint, we will let you know why.
Our response will include details of what to do if you believe your complaint has not been dealt with properly. It would help if you started by contacting us again and asking for your complaint to be passed on to a more senior staff member.