APP peer support forum (PPTalk) - community guidelines

Who is this forum for?

This forum is for you if you:

  • have personal experience of postpartum psychosis,
  • experienced manic or psychotic symptoms after having a baby, or
  • are a partner, family members or friends of someone with postpartum psychosis.
  • Are at high risk of postpartum psychosis because you have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder

If you haven’t been affected by postpartum psychosis, we are not the best place to help you. We will try and suggest other sources of support. You may find it helpful to have a look at Mind’s mental health information.

We may not be able to respond in an emergency. If you need urgent help, please contact:

- Your GP or mental health team
- NHS111
- The Samaritans: 116 123
- If you feel you can’t keep yourself or others safe right now, please call 999 or go to your nearest Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.

The forum is for peer support only. Health professionals, researchers, companies and journalists should contact APP directly (via Facebook or email: app@app-network.org).

Personal information

  • Your username will be shown next to your forum posts. This is a public forum so it’s usually best not to use your real name.
  • We also suggest that you don’t include the real name of partners, children, family members or friends in your posts.
  • Please don’t give the personal names of any professionals. It’s fine to speak about your support in a more general way (for example, ‘my CPN’ or ‘my doctor’).
  • Please don’t share your contact details in public forum posts. Any personal or identifying information may be edited or removed by moderators.
  • The forum is a space for group support. We recommend that you don’t have personal contact with people via private message unless this has been set up for you by APP. If you would like to be in touch individually with someone for peer support and you live in the UK or Ireland, we recommend that you request one to one peer support through APP, who can match you with a trained peer support volunteer with similar experience to yourself. You can request this support here: www.app-network.org/peer-support

Using the forum

  • We want to make sure our forum is a safe and welcoming place. Please be kind and supportive.
  • Try to write updates and replies on your original post rather than writing lots of posts about the same topic. This helps us make sure that everyone’s posts get seen.
  • Everyone’s experience is different. It’s ok to share what helped you but please make sure you write from your own experience and don’t presume that a treatment or resource is the right thing for another user.
  • Look after yourself. Writing about your experiences or reading other people’s thoughts can sometimes bring up unexpected emotions. If you need to take a break or step away from the community please do.
  • Rude, judgemental, critical or unhelpful posts may be edited or removed by moderators. It’s ok to swear but not if it is directed at another user.
  • Please don’t post anything racist, homophobic, sexist or transphobic.
    Please respect each other’s privacy and keep conversations within the community.
  • Occasionally we may have to remove a post that is very distressing or upsetting to other forum users. We will always offer you support via private message instead.
  • Please don’t promote your own personal businesses or products (it’s ok to share what helped you but not if you are making a profit).
  • Please tell us if anything makes you feel uncomfortable or worried. It’s best to do this privately rather than posting publically. Email us at app@app-network.org.

If you are unsure whether something is ok to post please email us at app@app-network.org.

About our moderators and supporters

  • The forum is managed and moderated by a team of peer support coordinators. They have ‘at_APP’ after their name and an Administrator badge.
  • APP staff and trustees who are not moderators have an APP badge next to their name.
  • We also have a team of trained peer support volunteers. All our volunteers have recovered from PP or are the partner or family member of someone who has recovered. Volunteers have a Volunteer badge next to their name.
  • All of our moderators and volunteers are ‘experts by experience’. They are not counsellors or health professionals. They can offer their own experiences, empathy and signposts to resources and support that might be helpful.
  • We check the forum daily and try to respond as quickly as we can. You can help us by emailing us on app@app-network.org if you see anything that shouldn’t be there.
  • We respect your confidentiality. We will only tell someone else what you share here if you or someone else are in immediate danger of serious harm and if we have enough information about who you are and where you live to help you get effective support. We also have to pass on information if a terrorist threat has been made or we have been ordered to share information with the courts.

By signing up to our forum, you agree to these guidelines and Health Unlocked’s terms and conditions.

Our moderators may delete or edit any posts that do not meet these guidelines. We will always try and let you know if we have done this, and explain why.

Occasionally we may have to make updates to these guidelines. We will always post a public message to let everyone know that we have done so.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please email app@app-network.org.