Trauma & Co. Group & Program

Guidelines & Agreement

If you sign up to one of Trauma & Co.’s online programs, groups or training courses you are agreeing to the following:

A: Group Engagement Guidelines are the guidelines for engagement for within the group, that you, Trauma & Co. facilitators and the other group members agree to upon entering the space.

B: Group Client Agreement is the agreement between you and Trauma & Co. upon you engaging with Trauma & Co. services. There may be some overlap.

A: Group engagement Guidelines (Guidelines for all members)

  • Everything said and shared in the group stays in the group (unless you choose to share your own posts - you are welcome to do that and to reference the group). Please see
    B: Group Client Agreement Section 3 for more information on confidentiality and exceptions.

  • No advice giving (unless specifically and clearly asked for).

  • We are not all having the same experience, and as such we do not compare experiences, or assume our experience is the only experience. Please do not compare yours or anyone else’s experience as worse or better.

  • We do not ask for trigger warnings in these spaces, because I do not believe we can know or judge what may or may not be triggering for another person. You are welcome to use content warnings if that feels good to you when you post, and this is a personal choice that I leave to your discretion as they are similar to trigger warnings in that we don’t know what content another might want to know about.

  • We each take personal responsibility for our own needs and care when it comes to how much we read/view and engage in other people's posts. Your safety and wellbeing are important and you are welcome to step away and engage with your resources if you need to at any time.

  • This is not a crisis support group. If you are in a crisis or emergency situation, please engage with your local crisis or emergency services, or with those who can support you in this way.

  • If you want to contact one of the admins/moderators for non-crisis support inside or outside of the group, please allow 72 hours for us to respond.

  • I am a huge advocate of a clear ask. If there is something you need in response to a post (i.e. just witnessing, reflection, types of support etc) or if there is something you DO NOT want in response to a post, you are welcome to clearly ask at the start of your post. (Please refer to the previous point on advice giving - this does not need to be mentioned on each post.)

  • Please respect each other's gender pronouns. If you do not know a person’s gender pronouns, either don't use them, or default to they/them.

  • We do not question or assume another person's identity or experience.

  • We agree to entering this space from a place of believing each other first.

  • If feedback is asked for in posts, we are aware that other people may have different views and opinions to us and I encourage each of us to take what we need and leave the rest.

  • Discrimination of marginalized groups is not considered an 'opinion' and where this is pointed out, please be mindful of your responses, including asking others to do emotional labour on your behalf.

  • While I cannot control people's internal responses to such incidents, I encourage us all to listen to the different experiences of others and where they may experience harm, and, if we have caused any harm through our language or behaviour, I encourage listening, learning and a clear apology.

  • There are no experts here (apart from in our own self and our own lived experience). Whatever background we each come from, we each do not assume we know what another person needs better than they know themself, or that we know another person's life, body or experience better than they do.

  • While I acknowledge that there is always an inherent power imbalance between the person(s) running a group and the participants, we are committed to trying to making any power dynamics as equal as possible. With this in mind, if there are ways we can make your time in the group more comfortable, you are welcome to ask us about it and we will do whatever we can within our capacity.

  • You are welcome to take up as much space as you want and need. And you are welcome to take a step back as often and for as long as you need during our time together.

  • I encourage each of us to go at whatever pace feels best to us in terms of engagement and I always encourage you to listen to yourself, your own needs and you own knowing of yourself.

  • I encourage you to communicate within the group in whatever way you are able/prefer (e.g. written, audio, video). If you have a preference for how a person responds to you, you are welcome to ask for what you need (keeping in mind others might not be able to respond in this way or even read/view the post if they have different information processing needs themselves).

  • We each agree to show up with compassion and respect for each other and our individual experiences and processes.

  • Again, take exquisitely good care of yourself and each other, while trying to honour the consent and boundaries of each other throughout our time together.

B. Group Client Agreement (Agreement between you and Trauma & Co. upon signing up to one of our community groups)

1. Results

1.1 This group is not designed to be therapy or coaching, and there are no specific 'results' promised or to be expected. You are entering this space to be met in your reality and are offered online companionship and community in this reality.

1.2 Any resources given are received by you with full responsibility for taking care of your needs.

1.3 For any training courses, details of certification or other learning outcomes will be specified on the information page for the specific training program.

2. FEES

2.1 You agree to pay at the rate shown on the sales page (or, where sliding scales are offered, at the rate you choose). Where a payment is split into monthly payments for a finite period, you agree to paying the full sum.

2.2 For monthly subscriptions of an ongoing nature, if payment is not made each month we will remove you from the group. (You are welcome to sign up again at a later date if you so wish for groups with ongoing registration.)

2.3 If you are planning on leaving an ongoing group, you agree to give us as much notice as possible about unsubscribing.

2.4 By registering and making the initial payment for any time-limited program that has payment plan option, you agree to pay the full amount for the entire program, and to continue payments until you have made the full payment even if you choose to stop participation in the group, program, or circle.  Should you cancel payments prior to the full amount being paid, your account will be sent into collections for the remaining amount due.

2.5 All payments are non-refundable, except for in very exceptional circumstances at our discretion.

2.6 For ongoing payments or payment plans, you are responsible for your account. We will provide you links to set up your automatic payments, but should any payment be “skipped” more than once due to insufficient funds we will require payment in full for the remaining payments.

2.7 If your account is more than 30 days in arrears and suitable arrangements for payment have not been made, I have the right to use legal means to secure payment, including turning your account over to a collections agency or hiring an attorney (which would require disclosing some limited confidential information). You will also be charged 12% annual fee until payment is made in full.

2.8 Should financial difficulties arise during the time we are working together/you are paying off a payment plan, these would best be dealt with by discussing them with us as soon as possible, so that we may discuss your options.

2.9 Where group calls are offered, we will do everything we can to arrange them at a convenient time for both us and the group. If you cannot attend any of the calls there will be no refund given or time owed. Where possible and if consent is given by other group members on the call we will make recordings available to the group as soon as possible after the call has taken place.

3. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

3.1 We agree not to (except in the proper course of our duties) use or disclose to any third party any confidential information. Confidentiality does not apply where it would mean that we might break the law or if we consider there is a risk you may harm yourself or others. In such exceptional circumstances, where there is concern for your wellbeing or that of others, it may be necessary to seek help outside of our relationship. In such an event where we are considering breaching confidentiality, you will normally be consulted first. In the case of a disclosure concerning acts such as terrorism, vulnerable adult or child protection issues or human trafficking, confidentiality may be breached and such disclosures may be passed onto the relevant authority.

3.2 You agree that we may disclose any issues or feelings which arise out of our leading the group and engagement within the group with our supervisors and therapists, but we agree only to disclose such issues on a general basis and without disclosing your name or specifics.

3.3 Similarly, if you or other group members are in therapy, you each agree that other group members can disclose any issues or feelings which arise out of the group within therapy, but agree only to disclose such issues on a general basis and without disclosing group member's names or specifics.

3.4 You may disclose to any third parties information about your experience in the group, anything you share in the group and anything about your personal engagement in the group as you so wish, as long as it does not pertain to other group members. Where we or other group members are made aware that you have disclosed our knowing each other, we may confirm that we know you but we would not divulge any details of the group or how we know each other.

3.5 As per our group guidelines above, every member of the group agrees to asking for consent before sharing any information about the other, including their membership in the group and we each agree to asking for consent from other group members about contact outside of the group and how we each engage in that.

3.6 As we may be connected elsewhere online and may have mutual contacts in our personal or working lives, the boundaries of our relationship (such as contact outside of our group and communication about our working or personal relationship) can be agreed upon between us as appropriate. As good practice, we agree to asking for what we need and try to honour the boundaries and consent of the other at all times.

4. TERMINATION OF agreement

4.1 If we are made aware of any breaches in confidentiality or any abuse taking place between group members, we would do all we could within our capacity to resolve the issue first, and we reserve the right to remove you from the group without refund should you be the party enacting the breach in confidentiality or abuse and should we not be able to resolve the issue.

5. Agreement

Your application and/or initial payment for any of our online group programs (including training) indicates that you have read, understand, and agree to these policies, and that you accept responsibility for payment of fees in accordance with the terms and conditions described above.

Please also be mindful of Trauma & Co.’s values when joining our groups.