The Treehouse website allows for two methods for survivors to interact with other survivors- a chat room and the forums. For those unfamiliar with the differences between the two, a chat room involves ‘real time' conversation in a room/channel where the participants are listed to the side. Forums on the other hand, are a collection of messages that have been ‘posted' by individuals where the responses can happen immediately or any length of time- hours, days, weeks- later. And where it's clear who is in the chat room at any given time, anyone with a computer and access to the web can read messages posted to the forums. In both cases, safety is an important issue.

Sharing of personal information ie., real name, address, email or phone numbers is not allowed in either the chat room or in the forums. Any post containing this type of information will be deleted.

The Treehouse chat room and the forums are for adults 18 years of age and older. For those under 18, please see our Links page for alternate suggestions.

Although the Treehouse chat room supports discussions of MPD/DID, it is not an appropriate room for child alters. Our age guideline applies here as well. For those wishing to allow child alters a place to chat, there are other chat rooms on the web and on Dalnet that are more appropriate for filling this need. Please see our Links page for suggestions.

Chatters in the Treehouse may not be in any sex or blatantly inappropriate channels at the same time. You will be asked to leave either the other channel or the Treehouse immediately- if you chose not to comply, you will be banned from the Treehouse.

Personal attacks and threats (towards self or others will not be tolerated. Both our forums and chat room are places of support and are Not for people in immediate crisis. If you are in crisis you need real life support. Please contact you therapist or other mental health professional, a crisis hotline or go the emergency room of your local hospital. Also see our Links page for contact suggestions.

One of our most important guidelines is to be considerate of each other - treat others as you wish to be treated. The challenge for everyone is to remember that we're all in different healing stages, and to respect where other people currently are in the process. There may be times when the opinions shared, or those you wish to share, conflict with your own ideas and beliefs or how others think and feel. Disagreement with others is not unhealthy and in fact, is an asset to those who wish to grow and learn. Often for survivors, disagreements can feel like personal attacks. It's therefore essential to listen and differentiate between what is being said from what is being ‘‘heard." Often times the maxim of "we agree to disagree" is a healthy way of both honoring our own beliefs and ideas while acknowledging what the other person is saying in a respectful and considerate manner.

Currently, we are not imposing guidelines on the content of what an individual may choose to discuss in the chat room or post to the forums. However, it is important to remember that graphic accounts of abuse will often trigger other survivors and leave them in a place where they must attend to their own needs and aren't able to offer support. Therefore, we ask that people be sensitive to others, and that your personal choice of topic/content be measured against the likelihood of other survivors being triggered. However, individuals are responsible for their own safety in either the forums or chat. If you are feeling triggered or otherwise negatively impacted, please walk away from the computer and do something gentle for yourself. Please try and remember that you are only responsible for your own behaviours and actions.

As stated on our home page, one of our predominate intentions is to allow the kind of environment where people can speak freely as long as it’s done respectfully and without flaming others.

We are clarifying our guideline concerning how we will deal with chatters/posters with the SOLE intent at being in the Treehouse forums or chat room to "flame" our members or act with malicious intent towards our web site (are fairly easy to spot since they provide little or no support to others). This is NOT freedom of speech. A ‘flame’ is an insulting criticism or remark meant to incite anger and disrupt the forums or chat room. It’s intentional and a game played by some to emotionally manipulate others into posting, thereby getting attention. Flaming, unfortunately, is one of the curses of being on the internet.

The practice of flaming is NOT acceptable at the Treehouse. When a person signs up for membership and comes into the chat room or forums ONLY to post a message to ‘flame’ our members (and not provide support elsewhere), the post will be marked as such and an email will be sent to the poster. If the poster chooses to continue to flame our members or this site, they will be banned from the Treehouse forums or chat room.

The Admins at the Treehouse will take any actions felt necessary to protect the safety of our members and to prevent those who act with maliciousness towards our members or our web site from participating here. If you have any questions about this guideline, please email us (see the email link on any web page).

Although our goal is to provide an important resource for individuals working through their struggles of being a survivor, it's also a place where friends get together. There are times when the conversation is light and fun - for those wandering in, it may not be readily apparent that this is a survivor's chat/forum. Humor is very important part of many people's lives, survivors included, and all that we ask is to be respectful of others. It can be difficult for someone trying to be heard to feel supported if others are joking around. Please be considerate in the use of waves and graphics in chat.

We reserve the right on a situation-by-situation basis to take any actions necessary to protect the safety of the chat room, the forums and our participants. In chat, please respond to a channel op if one contacts you.

To provide feedback about the Treehouse, please click on any email link.