Virtual SafePlace meetings are open for anyone who has lost a loved to suicide to connect with others who have experienced a similar loss.
Will I be on video?
For privacy reasons, your microphone and video will be disabled upon joining the meeting. You will be able to enable these once in the meeting, and we ask that you do join with video. It’s helpful to see each other while sharing and to offer non-verbal support.
I don’t want people to see my full name.
Our facilitators will remove everyone’s last name as you join the Zoom room. Additionally, guidance about changing your participant name is available on Nerdchalk if you would like to do this before logging in.
I’m worried about my privacy in a virtual meeting.
Privacy concerns are completely understandable. We ask all participants to respect the confidentiality of those in the meeting, just as they would want their confidentiality to be respected. Everyone who has access to the meeting link has lost a loved one to suicide, and have filled out a form on our website requesting access. Our meetings are password protected, and we have the most updated versions of Zoom with the most recent and up-to-date security features.
Who is facilitating these meetings?
SafePlace meetings are peer-led by other suicide loss survivors. These are individuals who are far enough along in their grief journeys, and who have been trained to support other loss survivors.
How will I know who will be there?
Virtual SafePlace meetings are held on a drop-in basis. Because of this, we can’t guarantee who or how many people will be at any given meeting. We recommend trying any given meeting more than once, because who’s at the meeting and what people need from the meeting will be different each time. You may also attend on a different evening to meet different facilitators and participants.
How do I sign into the meeting?
Samaritans receives support from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to run SafePlace groups. Because of this, we are required to record statistics regarding meeting attendance. Each participant completing a sign-in form helps ensure the future of the program, and our ability to continue serving loss survivors. All of your personal information will remain confidential.
During the last ten minutes of the meeting, your facilitators will put a link in the Zoom chat, and ask you to sign in. Clicking on the link will take you to the form on the Samaritans website, where you will enter the date, your first and last name, your email address, and whether it is your first time attending SafePlace. Once you have entered your information, you can click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. To return to the Zoom meeting, locate the Zoom icon in your computer’s task bar, and click on it.
