FSA Education Sunday Digest
Self-Identity independent of bias; creating a "safe enough" Community space; attaching comments and emojis to replies; and other articles and announcements you may have missed!
First, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new subscribers - we’re glad you’re here!
Housekeeping Matters for Paid Subscribers
(Free subscribers, you may want to skip this and scroll down to the Sunday Digest Recap):
A quick tip for replying to messages on Chat: I’ve had people ask me how to leave emojis on comments in our Chat threads; also, how to attach their reply to a particular message:
Accessing Emojis: If you’re on a browser, look for the little half-moon shaped icon at the top of the message you want to attach an emoji to and click on that - you’ll see the emojis come up.
If you’re on the Substack mobile app, you’ll want to do a long press on the message and the emojis will appear for you to select.
To attach your reply to a comment on a browser, hover over the message you want to respond to and click on the curved arrow to the right to leave your reply.
On the Substack app, press on the message and click on ‘Reply’.
Check ‘Notifications’ to see new replies and comments in Chat.
Reporting Comments: It is my intention to do as little moderation in our community discussions as possible. However, if you see a comment that concerns you, you can click on the three horizontal dots to the right of a message and click on ‘report’ to alert me to the comment. On the app, you can do a long press, then click on ‘report’.
Creating a “safe enough” Community Container: Speaking of comments, no group setting can be guaranteed to be perfectly safe, but we certainly can aspire as a community to co-create a psychologically “safe space,” which is what many abuse survivors and those with trauma are seeking. Including me.
FSA / Trauma survivors can easily get ‘triggered’ and have their ‘parts’ activated, resulting in acting out trauma responses like ‘flight’ or ‘fight’. When in a ‘fight’ response, we may lash out at others re-actively. This behavior can then in turn ‘activate’ others in the Community, breaking the safety of the group container.
Given the above, and given that FSA adult survivors are particularly sensitive to feeling ostracized and attacked, I wanted to remind subscribers that there is a zero-tolerance policy in regard to name calling and other forms of verbal abuse or hate speech on this Substack, including those forms of abuse listed in section 5.4 (b) in our Terms of Use. Those subscribers who engage in such behavior (including paid) will be immediately banned from this site.
If you’re feeling triggered and activated by someone, you can click on those same three dots I mentioned above, or do a long press on the mobile app, to ‘mute’ the person who is ‘triggering’ or ‘activating’ you. You can also use these FREE worksheets provided by Dr. Janina Fisher (Complex Trauma expert), Soothing the Traumatized Brain.
Read this article about Psychological Safety vs a “Safe Space” to learn more.
Sunday Digest Recap
Each Sunday I send out a recap of posts and announcements with links for easy access in case you’d like to check out something you missed. The theme that I focused on this week was honoring self-identity, independent of bias (which happened to coincide with Independence Day here in the U.S.).
This week’s FSA Recovery Affirmation (paid subscribers)
My introductory book, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed, is on sale on Smashwords
Article: Independence Day and Healing From FSA (all subscribers)
Article by Julia Hubbel, in which she kindly references me and my work on Family Scapegoating Abuse: You and I Are Too Old Not to Be the Garden the World Needs Right Now
Lastly, the FSA Education Substack site received a recommendation from Dr Simon Rogoff, a Psychologist who specializes in Narcissism in the United Kingdom, which I greatly appreciate. You can check out Dr. Rogoff’s fascinating take on Narcissism, Trauma and Celebrity on his Substack.