About

There’s a lot of content here but because of the nature of cPTSD we have to be very mindful to keep this a safe place. So please be aware of the guidelines for your safety and others.
These guidelines were put together with many years experience of peer led support groups. If you are not sure please ask someone. There’s usually a reason why there is a rule or guideline.
This group is a recovery and healing focused group as opposed to simply a connection or support group. See FAQ 7.
This group is a grassroots community led group and not a mental-health professional led group.
There is zero cost involved.
Anybody hosting or involved in this group is a volunteer.
You do not have to attend the zoom meetings to be part of the WhatsApp community.
This group is for adults only. We are not equipped to support children.

Zoom Meetings

We have 2 zoom meetings per week, Thursday and Sunday. They run on independent schedules but both use the same week-by-week content. Both are @8pm London, UK time.

Schedule

Please read the relevant 6-9 pages of the book for the weekly meeting to discuss it during the meeting. Google sheets schedule is here.

E.g. For week-6 start reading on page 36 from the start of Section "Grieving as Emotional Intelligence" until the end of section "Gratitude and Good enough Parenting" on page 42. There are 3 sections and we have allotted 20 minutes discussion time for each of them. But the discussion moves around a lot so this is not a hard rule.

Prompts

We release weekly prompts as discussion points related to the weekly reading. This is to help the discussion flow but you are welcome to discuss anything related to the weekly chapter and cPTSD.

Timezone

8pm London time is the following timezones. Please check your local timezone for changes such as daylight savings.

12:00 Pacific USA
13:00 Mountain USA
14:00 Central USA
15:00 East Coast USA
20:00 Dublin/London
21:00 Western Europe
22:00 Eastern Europe
07:00 Eastern Australia Time (the next day)

Zoom link

The link for both 8pm London, UK time meetings.

Guidelines for Zoom meetings

Please familiarise yourself with the guidelines and preamble before your first zoom meeting. We will only read the guidelines when newcomers attend.

Please do not give unsolicited advice.
Please use "I" statements, as opposed to, "you" statements when speaking.
Please keep everything shared in the group STRICTLY confidential. No recordings are allowed.
Please keep discussion focused on cPTSD recovery, the book and the relevant reading for the week.
While we encourage everyone to share their experiences, please avoid trauma dumping. www.talkspace.com/blog/trauma-dumping/
The host will interject if 1 or more people dominate the conversation to the exclusion of others talking, this includes repeatedly interrupting people. This is for the safety of all members and to create a healing space.
This is not a mental health professional lead group. Please be aware that feedback, advice, things you hear are strictly the opinion of the person saying it. This group is not designed to be a substitute for professional mental health support. Anybody hosting or involved in this group is a volunteer.
We do not pre-vet people so please exercise caution when swapping contact details. If you do not feel safe please let the host or other group members know. We do not allow offender type personalities to join.
We do not tolerate abusive behaviour to other members.

Preamble for Zoom meetings

This meeting lasts for 1h. It will start on time and end on time.
It is only for people who identify as having cPTSD or suspect that they do.
You do not have to be formally diagnosed to attend.
You are welcome to either share or simply listen.
You do not have to show yourself on camera or talk on mic, but if you feel comfortable you are welcome to say hello on camera or microphone and then turn it off for the remainder of the meeting.
We will try to give everyone a chance to share so if the meeting is large we will break into breakout rooms. This will be assigned at random. There will be plenty of time for everyone to share.
If any member takes up too much of the sharing time the host will wave the yellow card. Please wrap up if you see the yellow card. This isn’t to say stop talking immediately but to wind down, so that everyone who wants to, gets a chance to share.
We encourage this to be a supportive community so feel free to use the reactions tab or comment in the chat.

Subreddit

For those who can't attend zoom meetings but want to discuss the book, there is a subreddit where you can post your comments on the relevant week of the book.

WhatsApp Community

There are various subgroups.
Some are request only or private, so you may be denied because of location or other reason.
CPTSD groups have a requirement for having CPTSD or suspecting that you do. You do not have to be formally diagnosed with CPTSD.


Group	WhatsApp Subgroup	Topic
Community	Announcements	Zoom meeting reminders & community notifications.
Community	Hosts	For hosts of PWBC meetings or those administering the community. If you’re interested in becoming a host for a zoom group you can join.
PWBC	PWBC: Pete Walker 📚Club	For book club related chat. To discuss the book.
PWBC	Sunday	Sunday book club meeting specific
CPTSD	I need advice/feedback (no venting)	You must ask a genuine & specific question to the community, on which you are looking for advice/feedback. Please use the venting group if you do not want specific advice. It is also suggested to thank those who give you helpful advice.
CPTSD	Recovery memes & jokes	Funny & not so funny recovery memes. Dark humour is allowed.
CPTSD	Introduce yourself	Introduce yourself to the community so we can get to know you. A short bio about you & what brought you here.
CPTSD	Recovery Tools & Links⁩⁩	A place to share any recovery tools you think would help others. If a tool helped you please let the community know. Polls are allowed & encouraged on the topic of what tools worked.
CPTSD	Journaling	Hosted by Sasha. In this group we will share journaling prompts for healing from childhood trauma. Many prompts will be from Patrick Teahan & will involve re-parenting the inner child. Do as few or as many as you like. We will discuss our progress with the previous weeks’ journal prompts on Sundays, & if there is sufficient interest, we may also do Sunday zoom meet.
CPTSD	Recovery wins	To celebrate your recovery wins & share your glimmers. Big or small.
CPTSD	Fun & Games	A place to discuss fun things you are doing as part of healing and to find people to do it with.
CPTSD	Venting	Hosted by Sasha. Don't need advice but just need people to hear? Then share that here in venting.
CPTSD	Find an Accountability Buddy	Please give a small bio and what you're looking for. Please always exercise caution when messaging privately. Things to include are Age Gender Location What you're looking for in the person How you want to talk E. G. WhatsApp /zoom/phone How often you want to talk What you're working on at the moment in your recovery. What you want accountability with. Hopefully there will be someone to align with you. Please be mindful that we don't pre-vet people so if you want any issues with your buddy let us know.
cptsd.wiki	cptsd.wiki	cptsd.wiki project - main group.
cptsd.wiki	cptsd.tech	cptsd.wiki project technology group
cptsd.wiki	cptsd.wiki planners	cptsd.wiki committee group
Local	Desi	South Asian CPTSD group
Local	r/London mental health	Mental health group for people in London, UK
Local	Nederland 🇳🇱	Dutch language group
Local	UK CPTSD 🇬🇧	For those in the UK. Meetup arrangement.
Local	Español	For Spanish speakers

WhatsApp community guidelines

Please keep your comments in each subgroup to the topic it is designated for please. This is for the safety of everyone. Your comment may be deleted if necessary.
No bigoted language towards marginalised minorities along the lines of sexual orientation, gender, race etc. This will result in an immediate ban.
We encourage this to be a supportive community so please use the reactions tab to support one another.
If you are having any issues please contact an admin.
You are allowed to privately message people but it is strongly recommended to ask the person if they are ok with being messaged. Any harassment of any member will mean an immediate ban from the community.
No self-promotion for your business is allowed.
You must have cPTSD or suspect that you do to be a member of the cPTSD groups.
No offender type personalities are allowed to join.

FAQ

Why was my comment deleted?

Content moderation can feel really unfair and personal but please be assured it’s not. We have rules about what can be posted in various groups to help keep ALL of us safe.

An issue with trauma is that we can often be dysregulated and part of that dysregulation is that we trauma dump. www.talkspace.com/blog/trauma-dumping/

“This can lead to impulsively seeking out anyone who’ll listen, regardless of whether or not they’re equipped to deal with your emotional outpouring.”

Often when we trauma dump we aren’t actually looking for guidance or specific advice on recovery and healing. Dumping is a maladaptive coping mechanism.

You may feel that you need to say the things you say because you can’t bear not to, but we have to be mindful that in this group we are trying to heal and that not everyone has the capacity to hear your emotional pain at this stage in their own healing journey. This doesn’t mean we are saying there is something wrong with you. We are simply not the right space to hold it. There are other spaces that can hold it but this is not it.

Can I message someone via DM?

As this is WhatsApp this isn't anonymous (unlike reddit), so it will of course depend on the context. This is of course a group based on cptsd recovery hence people are traumatised and trying to heal. That takes priority and people have a right to feel safe. Some people are happy to connect and others likely won't be.

To that end if you do message someone it's worth prefacing it with a genuine statement about them having the option to block you or not reply if they don't feel comfortable. It helps keep the group safe and also gives people autonomy.

We do have guidelines that if someone doesn't feel safe that they can let an admin know.

We're generally quite strict on what is allowed here because it helps keep everyone safe and means that recovery maintains the focus. But we aren't Reddit where mods delete everything on a whim. But people can be vulnerable and you might not know that and an unsolicited direct message might not be OK for them. Hence us recommending the preface so that even if it's not welcome they still feel comfortable as a group member because they don't feel like they HAVE to reply to fit into the group. Harassment is an immediate ban of course.

What is this group about and how did it start?

This group started on 9th November 2023 out of the r/cptsd subreddit as a small book club covering Pete Walker’s book “Surviving to Thriving.” As more and more people joined and asked for subgroups to be created we became a cPTSD community.

I really want to give back, how can I do that?

If you'd be interested in hosting one of our 1h zoom meetings let us know. There is a guide and we will support you as much as possible. You could also join the “cptsd.wiki” subgroup or become an admin for the community. But the best way to give back is to get involved and support others, like their comments, and give them good recovery focused feedback.

Is this book club approved/connected to Pete Walker the author?

No. But we let him know about it and he’s supportive of what we do. In fact he gave us some advice.

“Hi,
Thank you so much for your email and generous, uplifting and validating feedback. I’m so pleased my book has helped you so much, and I’m delighted that you have set up a subreddit about it. Thank you and I wish you and the members much benefit and healing from participating in it. I’m so sorry but I do not have any availability in the foreseeable future because I am already maxxed out on my time committments. I wish I could visit the group but I just do not have the time. And, Thanks again! Also, many, many survivors tell me that my book: COMPLEX PTSD: FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING [see link below] reads and feels like a Guidebook for Recovery, giving them a sense of hope, relief and direction in their recovery efforts... especially when they do a lot of underlining, make notes in the margins, dog-ear favorite pages, and work with the Inner Critic Steps [Toolbox 3] and Flashback Management Steps {Toolbox 6] in the back of the book...and then reread it, or parts of it, from time to time.
Kind regards, Pete
Pete Walker, M.A., LMFT www.pete-walker.com

How do you stop vulnerable people being approached by predators?

We simply can’t. We have a rule that no offender type personality can join, but the ultimately responsibility of your safety is with you. If you feel uncomfortable, at any time, you can let an admin know or block the person. If you are particularly vulnerable it’s recommended that you do not join this group at the moment. If you feel less vulnerable later on you are always welcome to rejoin. Please be aware that WhatsApp and zoom are not anonymous like Reddit. But because of the lack of anonymity we get to know people as real people and have conversations with them. So there are benefits and drawbacks to various platforms. This group is overwhelmingly safe and we’ve had no issues so far. But we have guidelines and rules for if the worst does happen.

What does “recovery and healing focused group as opposed to simply a connection or support group” mean?

A recovery group is one where the focus is on healing from an illness. As uncomfortable as it is to say not everyone with a specific illness wants to or is ready to heal from it. That’s ok. People are at different stages.This group isn’t a place to only connect with others but to learn and put into action healing strategies. Some groups are only there for people with an illness to connect with one another or to be heard about the struggle of having an illness. The focus of this group is to heal from cPTSD (whatever that individually means for you). We have guidelines about trauma dumping, what can’t be talked about in specific groups, who can and can’t be a member and also we study the book BECAUSE we are recovery focused.

Being a member is a means to an end (namely healing) rather than the end itself. We hope that you join, heal and move on when you’ve done enough healing that you no longer struggle with cPTSD. You might want to stay and give back to the cPTSD community.

For some people reading the above, that might seem impossible or simply not realistic or even triggering. But many people with cPTSD do start healing, then continue to do so and maintain healing to the point of not struggling with the symptoms of cPTSD anymore. Pete Walker says this is the case.

If you find the above difficult to hear then it’s likely that the focus of this group might not be right for you at the moment. But if you’re interested then stick around and ask questions and let’s learn from each other and Pete Walker.

Is this group really free? Who pays for the zoom?

A member donated a pro zoom account for the meeting. Yes we are free. We are free because we understand that having cPTSD doesn’t always allow people to be able to function in ‘normal’ life and have the means to pay for things such as therapy. So this group is free and community led so that we can share resources and help support one another to heal. You can discuss/share paid resources in the group but you are not allowed to sell or promote them.

I've missed too many weeks to catch up on the reading, but can I still attend?

The book will bring up big emotions for people. So rather than reading it in its entirety and then discussing it, we thought we'd break it up into sections for week by week discussion. Each week we stick to 6-9 pages of the book.

Pete Walker said that you can read the book in any order or skip bits that aren't relevant to you. We aim to finish reading the book in 45 weeks and have 7 weeks for any unforeseen circumstances and holidays so that we finish in 1 year. So roughly reading 1 page a day. We hope that is manageable.

Also we figured everyone separately would have a breakdown/emotional flashback while reading it so even if they spent most of the week in dissociation they could catch up if it wasn't too many pages to read on a weekly basis.

Pete Walker Book Club

Contents