We have our annual survey out, asking a few questions about you, your needs and preferences, and the impact of our services. It should take around 5-8 minutes and by completing it, you will be entered for a chance to win a £200 Love2Shop voucher (in line with our privacy policy)
Click here to fill out our survey.
Bringing Back Support Circle (July 2026)
TheMix
Posts: 1,402 Wise Owl
Do you:
- find it difficult to be heard in Support Chat or on the discussion boards?
- prefer to get support in smaller groups where you get more attention?
- like supporting others?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, we might have the perfect space for you!
What is Support Circle?
Based on feedback from the Community Connectors, we are moving our Support Circle from Tuesday evening to Friday evenings as there is no other conflicting support occurring at that time. We want to try to enforce the rules of Circle quite strongly so that everything remains fair, so please do read them below even if you have been in the space before.
Support Circle is a group chat of around 4-6 people, where everyone takes it in turns to get support while the rest of the group listens. The order is randomised and communicated to you before the session begins. It works similarly to how you might picture an AA meeting.
The room is password-protected and facilitated by a moderator. Everyone arrives at the start and stays for the whole session to make sure everyone in the group is supported equally.
In Support Circle, you can sign up to get support or be a listener for others. We offer 4 Support Places and 2 Listener Places.
When is it?
Support Circle is every Friday from 7:55pm - 9:30pm
What should I expect when I join?
Support Circle is broken up into these segments:
- 7:55 - 8:10 | Arrivals and opening round question
- 8:10 - 8:15 | Creating a group agreement
- 8:15 - 8:45 | Support time Part 1 (split equally, usually person 1 and 2)
- 8:45 - 8:55 | Break
- 8:55 - 9:25 | Support time Part 2 (split equally, usually person 3 and 4)
- 9:25 - 9:30 | Closing round question
Do I have to support others?
For Support Circle to serve its purpose, it relies on members supporting each other. This also means the moderator can focus more on running the session and keeping time for everyone. If you're not in the head-space to support others, then maybe Support Circle isn't the place for you.
If you're not sure what to say, just making it clear you're listening can make a big difference. You must be contributing to peer support as there has been feedback that only getting support from the mods can be off-putting in Support Circle
What if I can't stay for the whole session?
Think of Support Circle a bit like a face-to-face support group - it can come across as disrespectful to others if you leave in the middle and also messes with the flow of chat, so try your best to stay for the whole duration. If you don't feel well or you're finding something triggering, it's okay to step away from your device for a few minutes without announcing it.
We also ask that if you do step away from Support Circle for a short while, please refrain from entering another one of our group chats as this can be quite confusing for the mods and affects the structure of the chat!
Please only sign up for Circle if you can stay for the whole session.
How do I sign up?
You can sign up for the next session any time using this link: https://forms.gle/aQZMTbA4ZVQsyLr76
After you sign up, you'll be sent an email telling you how to confirm your space. There may be a delay in this as we do this manually as a team, if you haven't heard back in a couple of days then please feel free to give us a nudge. If you don't confirm your space it will go to someone else, so make sure you do that ASAP.
What if I can't make the session or experience tech issues?
If you can't make the session, please let us know ASAP so that we can offer your place to someone else. If you experience tech issues, let us know and we can offer you a space for the following week.
I'm worried I'm taking a space away from someone else
You're just as deserving of support as anyone else who might want a space. We really want to encourage those who haven't tried Support Circle to come check it out and see if it works for you.
Can I prepare what I want to say beforehand?
Sure thing! However, please refrain from copying and pasting big paragraphs of text as it may use up some of your time for the others to read it and can mean that you only get a few, very long replies. We want you to get the most out of your time so instead maybe prepare some short bullet points.
And lastly, what's said in Support Circle is confidential, unless we felt you were unsafe, in danger or you/someone else were at risk of harm.
Comments
i don’t at all mean for this to come across badly, so i apologise if it does as that isn’t my intentions but i also think it’s important to add that when you’re in circle, you should be focussed on the chat just as you would be if it was face to face support groups. i know in my experiences of circle there has been times where people have been side tracked by other stuff eg uni work which in my personal opinion is rather disrespectful, like everyone else’s problems don’t matter enough for you to listen as you’re doing something else and not focussing on chat? i totally understand there are times where people need to take a break from chat due to triggers for example and that is totally ok to do if you need to - my point is solely about intentionally focussing on something else rather than circle.
again, this isn’t at all being said with bad intentions nor is it aimed at anybody either, i just think it’s important to note too
https://forms.gle/aQZMTbA4ZVQsyLr76
Hey all! Support Circle will be back from this Friday (17th July) so please sign up now! We will run this every 2 weeks on a Friday for now as we are not sure how popular it will be, but this can become weekly if there is enough demand. Please do re-read the rules above before signing up as we want to be quite firm on them so that it is fair to everyone old and new who may sign-up (I need to edit the form so it doesn't say Tuesdays, ha!)
https://forms.gle/aQZMTbA4ZVQsyLr76
this is good to see