I am new here

[rabo]

Hi everybody,
I'm new here and, as suggested, I'm introducing myself.

I've lived with cPTSD all my life. The worst seems to be behind me for now, since I've found therapies that really help. Before that I spent about 25 years in different therapies that were "interesting" but never reached the core of the problem.

Very short version of my story: I come from a dysfunctional family, and the problems go back to the Great Depression of the 1930s and were reinforced by WW2. My own story (born in the sixties) was complicated on top of that, but I won't go into details here. Is there a guideline on how detailed I can be, and do you expect trigger warnings? I'd like to speak more openly at some point, but I want to be careful with other readers.

The trauma never destroyed me, and it gave me insights I wouldn't want to be without. Still, if I had been asked before being born, I don't think I would have chosen this path. (Who would?)

I'm in some Facebook groups as well, but this forum is special to me because it's scientifically supervised. I also like the classic forum format for deeper discussions. As a web designer and developer I think a lot about who owns our data and how algorithms decide what we see, and a forum like this avoids much of that.

[Kizzie]

Hi Rabo and a warm welcome to Out of the Storm 

Just to clarify, the forum is not scientifically supervised, members just report posts to me and when something is problematic (you can read about what is considered problematic in the Member Guidelines) I step in as needed. We do draw in academic literature though if that's what you mean (i.e., OOTS is scientifically supported or evidence based to a certain extent). 

Is there a guideline on how detailed I can be, and do you expect trigger warnings? I'd like to speak more openly at some point, but I want to be careful with other readers.

The guidelines will also help you with the answer to this question. Basically though, we ask that members not be overly graphic about their abuse and to just write in more general terms so we get the idea. This is because we're all survivors here and it's difficult to read details so we walk a thin line of sharing our stories and trying to not trigger our fellow survivors. If you aren't sure about something you've written  that's when you add a trigger warning.

Hope this is helpful 

Kizzie
Forum Administrator 

[rabo]

Hi Kizzie,
thanks for the warm welcome. As far as I understood (please correct me) the forum is done in colaboration with a university. I refere now to those lines:...The OOTS forum was designed according to adult learning theory by the founder Kizzie who holds a doctorate in Education. She and her colleague, Dr. Rita Kop of the Adult Education program at Yorkville University conducted a research study to determine if the forum promotes self-directed learning, the construction of knowledge about the lived experience of Complex PTSD, and an increased sense of belonging and agency and the data confirm that the design does as was intended...

OK, maybe I got it wrong, what I wanted to say is: It is not run by some random persons, you and others that are running it have an academic background and are colaborating with the academic community. Maybe that is better.

[Blueberry]

Hello rabo, welcome to the forum 

We're certainly not a random Facebook group with most popular posts always at the top of the page or anything like that. We're a pretty supportive bunch, and I'd certainly recommend staying and trying it out. What each person posts for instance about their own journey and the conclusions they've drawn is not scientific, it's personal! Many of us have a lot of therapy and self-work behind us though, also read up on trauma therapy, so there is certainly some objective truth in our posts!

Trigger warnings help me if e.g. I'm in a bad way and come on the forum, I'll skip the part of the post with TW if you set it off in the text or if you put it for a whole post, I leave out the whole post. I do this in order to not further destabilise myself.

I saw your other thread and will try to answer today. I used to work freelance.

[NarcKiddo]

Hello, and welcome.

[Kizzie]

The OOTS forum was designed according to adult learning theory by the founder Kizzie who holds a doctorate in Education. She and her colleague, Dr. Rita Kop of the Adult Education program at Yorkville University conducted a research study to determine if the forum promotes self-directed learning, the construction of knowledge about the lived experience of Complex PTSD, and an increased sense of belonging and agency and the data confirm that the design does as was intended...

This is correct Rabo, I did design OOTS according to adult education principles of independent or self-directed learning which means it is not supervised learning per se. Members go where they want to basically, start topics they want to, and take what they want from the forum. I administer the forum as a survivor rather than an academic but I will say that because of my background I do include more research about CRT and CPTSD than other sites.

The site is not affiliated with a university though, Dr. Kop and I just did a study after I built it to see if it does promote self-directed, constructivist learning by members (and it does).     

I do hope you find OOTS helpful in your recovery.