Thank you

Thank you for taking time out of your day to join our online community, coming together to discuss and combat sexual violence and the cultures that facilitate it.  We currently have a presence on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and we highly value the communities that have developed around each of our social accounts.

We have written this guide to help you get the most out of your interactions with us on our Notts SVSS pages.  This does not supersede the terms and conditions set by the platforms we use and whose rules we all must follow.

About us

Notts SVS Services offers support to all victims – survivors of sexual violence, aged 18+, living in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.  This includes survivors of all genders, races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, disabled survivors, sex workers, asylum seekers and refugees.

Our aim is for our social media channels to raise awareness on the issue of sexual violence, to challenge the ideas that enable it to happen and to highlight preventative work that is being done in the area.  We believe that a social space helps to develop awareness and enables people to seek support when they need it.

As with all accounts sometimes you might find our posts are challenging or do not always align with your own personal beliefs.  It is okay for you to use and take what you need and ignore what you don’t.  Likewise, when we follow other accounts, this is not an active endorsement of them or what they post.

Urgent Queries

Our social media accounts are checked sporadically during office hours and are not managed as an interactive forum.  They are not a safe space for public disclosures of personal experiences.  If you need support have an urgent inquiry or want to contact our services, please refer to our contact page: https://nottssvss.org.uk/contact/

Feedback and Complaints

If you have feedback or a complaint, we ask that you use our online Feedback form or our Complaints Process.  This ensures that we see your feedback/complaint and that we are able to deal with it quickly and resolve any issues.

Feedback: https://nottssvss.org.uk/feedback-questionnaire/

Complaints: https://nottssvss.org.uk/complaints-policy/

House rules

It is important that our social media communities are safe, diverse, inclusive and respectful.  To enable us to maintain this, we ask that you follow our social media house rules and be considerate to those online in the same way that you would be in real life when you are interacting with our accounts.  We reserve the right to hide or delete posts and comments, block accounts and report inappropriate content and those who won’t adhere to house rules.

We will not tolerate:

Discriminatory, inappropriate language or hate speech (including but not limited to sexism, racism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism or classism)

• Personal attacks, threats or defamatory comments
• Hate, aggression or abuse
• Libellous or misleading content and misinformation
• Religious intolerance of any kind
• Offensive or distressing content or graphic images
• Trolling
• Spam or sales posts
• We also ask that you stay on topic where possible. If you post something onto our accounts that is unrelated to our work or the specific post you are commenting on we may hide or delete it.
• While we do our best to keep our platforms a safe space, people are responsible for their own conduct and we cannot be held responsible for comments made on our posts.

Want to help support our cause online?

We understand that some people want to become involved on social media by using their own platform space to spread positive messages to survivors around experiences and recovery, challenging rape myths and raising awareness.  If this is something you are thinking about, we have written a handy guide about us, some of our key messages and how to keep yourself safer online.

Suggestions and feedback

We strive to create posts and share information which is useful to everyone.  As part of this we might focus on specific issues, dates, events or survivor groups, while other messages might challenge wider attitudes and understanding.  We are always happy to hear your feedback on our social pages and ideas for future content.  The best way to do this is by using the feedback page on our websitehttps://nottssvss.org.uk/feedback-questionnaire/

A note on self-care

It is very important to us that you are able to join us online in a way that is safe and meaningful to you.  We know that talking about sexual violence and abuse can sometimes have a personal impact.  This can be especially true if you are a survivor or you have received a negative response to something you have posted or shared.  If you are being affected by this, it is okay for you to take a break and choose to do something nice for yourself.

We never engage with trolls and we do not expect you to do so either.  Limiting interactions, silencing and blocking accounts are all valid ways of dealing with people who are causing you harm.

If you need any emotional support for things you have seen or experienced, you are welcome to phone our helpline on 0115 941 0440 or contact us online: https://nottssvss.org.uk/contact/