WI_Fighter... would you be comfortable posting your letter here? If not, how about PMing me with it, I would like to use the basics of it, adapt it for my local area, and also send it to MY Local papers! (One which includes the Miami Herald!) I often have my letters published, for some reason... (thanks candybear for the idea!)

While I'm thinking still on this... it isn't the site that KEEPS us safe, imo, but each other. Some of us are so quick to defend a new found "friend" here, that we fail to see some of the red flags. If others send us a PM asking us to be safe with a certain member...until that member is "proven" so to speak, of if we see another member or two post questions to that new member...and no response, no real response (not necessarily "the" answer to the question) is given, we need to be able to step back a second, also.

IMO those who are mentally unwell are that way because the normal systems of mental health self-care are disordered somehow. (I know with PTSD, the alerts are set TOO HIGH, for others maybe they are set TOO LOW.) If we work to keep each other safe, and accept caution flags as good advice and not derogatory digs, we'll all be safer here. IMO, It's ok to not be able to share, or not want to, but that's far different than not understanding the fragile nature of the minds of some mentally unwell members - or deliberately taking advantage of them.