Older young people

Lostsense

So I know this place is for 13-25year olds so the older ones cant really talk about the more 'heavy stuff'. I was just thinking there should be a private space on the boards for the older young people. Or a support chat for the older ones like once a week or once a fortnight like there is for the younger ones. Like I cant really use this site atm which is ashame because all my stuff is disturbing and heavy. Just an idea

The Mix

Hey Lostsense,

Thanks for posting this - an interesting point to raise.

I wonder if there's a slight misinterpretation of our guidelines here? The restrictions we have in place for discussion around heavy topics aren't just there for the sake of younger community members - they're there for everyone.

If the community had an age range of 18-25, for example, our guidelines wouldn't change (in fact, they didn't change when we moved from 16 to 13). The types of discussion we don't allow (e.g. physical descriptions of self-harm, eating behaviours or suicidal plans) are likely to have an impact on someone depending on their personal experience and sensitivity to those topics rather than their age. So I guess for us, it's to do with the boards being a group space rather than our age range. Even if we did have that private space for older members, plenty of those people would still be affected by that kind of discussion.

There is certainly a place for those heavy conversations, but that tends to be in 1-2-1 environments or personal settings (e.g. between you and a counsellor or trusted friend) where you can speak freely without having to consider the impact on others.

Does that answer your question/clear that up? If I've misunderstood your angle then feel free to correct me.

Cheers,

Mike