Access to this membership is dependent on your agreeing to and abiding by the points specified in the group agreement, which are as follows, and are available to access on the main Forum page at any time:
1. To engage in discussions in good faith, with a view to build one another up through sharing of our experiences and resources, rather than seeking to minimise or shame others.
2. To refrain from abusive behaviour or badmouthing of any kind, towards fellow members and non-members alike.
3. To maintain confidentiality of other members. There is to be no discussion of the names of those in the membership with non-members, no copy-pasting of text for any reason, and no screenshots taken of posts or comments made by anyone in this forum.
4. The maintenance of confidentiality extends to offline and verbal conversations with friends, partners and other individuals. You are welcome to discuss reflections you have had after reading someone else's forum contribution, while refraining from sharing the person's name or details of their situation (e.g. A conversation starter like "after reading about another member's experience with fertility treatment, I have been able to start processing my own experience. I have realised..." doesn't breach confidentiality. A statement like "Shannon wrote that she's up to her seventh IVF cycle and it's really hard on her mentally. It made me remember when we..." breaches confidentiality and is to be avoided.)
5. While members agree upon joining the membership to maintain confidentiality as per the previous points, Anna is unable to 100% guarantee this will be followed by all members at all times. As such it is your responsibility to decide how much you wish to share regarding your personal or professional life, including about things like your relationships, employment satisfaction, physical location, identifiable details regarding your children etc. You may choose to use a pseudonym as a username rather than your real name if you wish (this can be chosen and modified by members in their account settings).
6. To refrain from posting personally, or linking to, any hate speech, discriminatory content and potentially dangerous disinformation. This includes but is not limited to racism, transphobia, ableism.
7. All conversations within this forum are visible to other members. There is no "direct message", "personal message" or "hidden message" function. If you wish to continue conversations in private, please ask a user to message you if they wish to do so and provide alternate contact means (e.g. a social media handle or email address) for them to do this. Users have no obligation to follow up on this request from others within the forum. Anna is not responsible for any correspondence or interactions that happen outside this forum directly.
8. There is a thread titled "Member services and external events" which you are welcome to add to each month. This is the only location members are able to link to their own products, services and events, or those of their community groups or affiliate partners. Affiliate links must be disclosed every time they are posted. Any promotional content in other threads will be flagged and Anna reserves the right to remove it.
9. No individual medical advice is to be sought or provided in this forum. While members are encouraged to share their experiences, any information given or received within the forum is general in nature only and not a replacement for individualised medical, midwifery or mental health professional advice and care.
10. The topics of childhood and COVID-19 vaccinations are not to be discussed in this forum. Please reserve these discussion for your family doctor, paediatrician or midwife. [If you are interested in my opinions on these topics please refer to the Anna Asks podcast. I recorded multiple episodes on this topic during the pandemic lockdown period, which you are welcome to access at your leisure. Dr. Sara Wickham has a book entitled "Vitamin K and the Newborn" which is a great resource to help make the decisions you feel are right for your baby/ies regarding Vitamin K administration in the immediate post-birth hours, days and weeks. If you are stuck please email me your questions directly rather than posting to the forum.]
11. To back up anything they have written themselves that they want to have a secure record of (e.g. their own personal reflections or poetry they wish to keep) in case of technical problems.
12. To post words only, not pictures or photos. This is a child safety measure.
13. To alert Anna by email (anna@annacusack.com.au) immediately if you notice any activity on this forum that breaks the above agreements. Anna (or another nominated person, if Anna is on leave) will endeavour to address this ASAP, within 24 hours of being notified. Anna will also be checking in and participating in the forum regularly, however as the forum becomes more active, user alerts will help to have any issues addressed faster.
14. As membership moderator and administrator of this membership Anna has the right to remove posts and comments that violate any of the above points, and to revoke the membership of anyone who, after being spoken with privately, continues to breach the terms of the member agreement. It is up to Anna's discretion as to whether refunds will or won't be issued to those whose membership is cancelled for breaching the group membership agreement.
