Live chat rules

These rules are in place to keep you safe and to ensure that you are not triggered or upset by the content posted by other service users. Although this service is moderated, the youth team are much more able to support people in the chat room if everyone keeps to the rules. We hope you will read these rules before using this service and that you continue to give and gain support in chat.

• Livechat is NOT a crisis service.  If you are experiencing physical pain or symptoms or you are feeling actively suicidal, we would always encourage you to seek appropriate support. CONTACT your G.P/your crisis team or the healthcare professionals supporting you.   If you are unable to do this then contact NHS Direct for medical advice on 0845 46 47 or Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts.

   

• Please choose a username which will be unique to beat sevices and not used for other forums.
• We will not allow posts to be submitted to the livechat room if they contain or specifically mention types of food, height, weight or bmi calculations as this can trigger other service users.
• All postings are anonymous. We do not post any identifying information such as full names, location or any contact details. beat has a duty of care and responsibility to safeguard our service users, many of whom are vulnerable. We try to prevent any personal contact amongst service users being made outside of beat as we are aware that this could be triggering and unsafe for these people.
• Posts must not mention any treatment centres or clinics by name or by their location, and must not identify any staff or other patients. You can talk about your own treatment but you must not reveal who provided that treatment.
• Posts will only be posted in the English language.
• We do not allow flaming (That is when a service user criticise or attack another user)
• We reserve the right to remove references to films, television programmes, books, newspapers, magazines etc which we do not believe are appropriate within the chatroom.
• Contributions should be respectful to other users, tasteful and relevant.
• Posts which encourage people to gain or lose weight are not acceptable
• Posts that encourage resistance to treatment are not acceptable.
• Posts that include graphic images of self-harm or give descriptions of behaviour that others might find distressing or disturbing will not be posted.
• Posts must not mention any specific drugs or medication by name, however it is ok to talk in terms of ‘being on antidepressants’.
• The moderator has the right to edit, modify, omit and delete posts.  This action is not taken for any personal reason, but because we feel that the content of the post may trigger or upset other service users.
• The moderator decision to change or delete posts is final.  We ask that service users respect the decision made by the moderating team, as this has been made in the interests of all beat service users.  If a service user contests or protests a moderators decision, any commentary on this matter will be deleted.
• The livechat service is intended to give people support with their eating difficulties. We are aware that many people suffering from an eating disorder are affected by other issues such as depression, self-harm and feeling suicidal.  The youth team are trained and continue to receive training on how to support young people with their eating disorder. We are not an organisation that can offer support for other issues as we do not have the specific expertise or training to help with this.  We do recognise that people often need support for other issues aside from their eating disorder and this is why we signpost service users to other organisations who can offer this type of support.  
• Use of ‘private conversation’ with a moderator is to be used only if a moderator is concerned for a service user, or if a service user is feeling triggered or distressed by livechat.  The private conversation facility is not intended as a one to one support which is offered through the youthline and 1-2-1 online service