Terms and Conditions -Webchat Support Groups

Terms and Conditions for Online Support Group Users

Butterfly Online Support Groups are a service of the Butterfly Foundation. Our Online Support Groups are facilitated by professional counsellors with experience and special training in the area of eating disorders, disordered eating and body image. This service is operated from Australia.

This service is operated by The Butterfly Foundation for the purpose of providing online support and information for people experiencing eating disorders, disordered eating and body image concerns, free of charge for the benefit of the public. The service is provided for residents of Australia only.

Our counselling and support services are based on the information you choose to share with us. While our counsellors will make every effort to assist you with the concerns or problems you identify – you are in the best position to determine how relevant this information is to your situation.

Services provided by The Butterfly Foundation are not a substitute for independent professional advice from your own or another treating health professional.
Nothing contained in this site is intended to be used as medical advice or to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

The Butterfly Foundation does not accept any liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred by use of or reliance on the information.

Privacy and Security

The Butterfly Foundation operates within Australian legal requirements and standards for privacy and information management. These frameworks are intended to safeguard access and use of your information. The platform used to facilitate groups, Circle.so, is hosted overseas. This means that information you share in the platform may be stored outside Australia, including the email address that you use in your Circle.so account. At the end of each group, Butterfly securely saves the chat transcript on our Australian servers, then permanently deletes the chat record from Circle.so.

For further information regarding how we collect and use your information, please read our Privacy Policy.

Confidentiality

When you are using Butterfly Online Support Groups your personal information is kept confidential. We will not share your information with any other organisation without your express permission, except where we are required to do so under law. This may apply in circumstances where we have a duty of care; that is when you are at serious risk of harming yourself, harming someone else or there is a child protection concern. De-identified transcripts and demographic data may be used for the purposes of training or clinical supervision or to evaluate the services provided by the Butterfly Foundation.

Rules for Participation in a Butterfly Online Support Group

Acceptance of these Rules forms part of the Terms and Conditions of Use of Butterfly Online Support Groups. Please familiarise yourself with the community guidelines below so we all have the same understanding as a group. We welcome you to this supportive community space set up for you and others as we go through our unique journey.

• Butterfly Online Support groups are a space to share your lived experience, wisdom and knowledge with each other.
• Our goal is to have a warm, safe and connecting space for everyone to grow, support and learn from one another through the recovery journey.
• We encourage you to use a nickname or pseudonym and avoid sharing identifying information to maintain your privacy.
• Please maintain the group’s privacy – it takes courage to share your experience.
• Please do not upload a profile picture.
• Please do not upload or attach any photos, images or files in case it is triggering or distressing for others.
• Everyone’s experience is unique, and everyone is in different stages of their recovery journey – please respect that people may bring different perspectives to your own.
• Always treat each other and the facilitators with respect – this includes your use of words and emojis, taking turns, and avoiding comments that might be triggering or upsetting to others.
• Never post specific details of disordered eating, including behaviours and numbers.
• Refrain from discussing self-harm and suicide in the group space. We strongly encourage you to access individual support if you feel at risk.
• The group facilitators may vary from time to time – they are all experienced Helpline counsellors and help ensure that this is a safe and inclusive place for all our community to engage in.
• If the Group Guidelines are not followed, we may need to review an individual’s access to the group platform, to ensure that we are providing a safe space for all participants.
• We welcome all feedback and suggestions to help us improve our services: Click here to provide feedback
• If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact 000, lifeline 13 11 14 or Kids helpline 1800 55 1800.

You may receive a message from one of our facilitators to check-in after a concerning post or to discuss the content. Please do respond to our messages as we are doing our best to create a space for everyone to express themselves while keeping this space safe. However, if you have clearly broken the community guidelines, your accessibility to the group platform may be reviewed or declined.

Inappropriate behaviour

Some behaviours are inappropriate and will not be tolerated in the Online Support Group. Breach of any of the points below will result in your being notified and/or ‘removed’ from the Online Support Group.

•   You must not use the Online Support Group if you are affected by drugs or alcohol.
•    You must not post any statement which you know is false, inaccurate, misleading, defamatory, libellous, or in violation of any law.
•    You must not post any statement, ask questions or use language which may be construed as offensive, harassing, obscene, pornographic, profane, threatening, abusive or invasive of a person’s privacy. This includes no swear words or abbreviated swear words.
• You must not post any statement that may be construed as discriminatory on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or any other form of illegal discrimination.
•   You must not share information or tips that might be used to promote, encourage or support eating disorder thinking or behaviours (‘pro-ANA’, or ‘pro-ED’ information), or to promote, encourage or support suicide or self-harm.

Temporary absence from the Online Support Group room

If you need to leave your computer temporarily for any reason, then please first click on the ‘Away’ button to indicate you are not available. Be aware that if you are absent for more than 15 minutes, the Facilitator may assume you are not coming back and may log you out of the session to maintain your privacy.

Consequences of breaching these rules

If a Butterfly Facilitator believes someone has breached the rules for participating, they will post a general reminder of the rules to the whole Support Group and/or directly to the individual.

If you have breached the rules by engaging in ‘Inappropriate Behaviour’ you will be notified and/or ‘removed’ from the Online Support Group. This removal may occur immediately and without notice if the Facilitator is concerned that the behaviour places Butterfly staff or others at significant risk of harm.

For other lesser breaches of the rules, your posts may be deleted so that others cannot read them. The Facilitator will then add you to a private chat to join them for a conversation. If the Facilitator is satisfied you understand what the problem was and will not breach the rules again, you will be able to return to the Support Group unless the Facilitator is concerned that this may place you or others at significant risk.

If you breach the rules again, you may be ‘removed’ from the Support Group and banned temporarily or even permanently from returning. These steps may be required to ensure that the Groups are a safe space for all participants and Butterfly staff members.

If you have any queries, concerns or require further information relating to these Terms and Conditions, you are invited to provide feedback via the Butterfly website: Click here to provide feedback