Your First Post
When you are ready to make your first post, the Welcome Wagon forum is the place to introduce yourself and begin to get to know others in the community. It is a good idea to write "I am new" or something similar as the subject heading. This alerts other community members to say hello and welcome you.

We advise you to keep your first posts light and friendly with no details of any abuse history. We particularly recommend that you avoid writing posts asking for support through crisis before you have got to know others at Mosaic Minds. Please remember that almost everyone who posts to the Mosaic Minds forums is struggling with many of the same issues you are. Members may empathize and want to help, but offering crisis support to people we do not know is very difficult. Asking for crisis support in your first posts may mean you receive no response because it is too difficult for people to respond. Thus, you risk worsening your crisis when what you hoped for was help, and you may find that people are more wary of responding to your subsequent posts. The more people know you, the more likely you are to get the encouragement and support you hope for through crises.

You may write as little or as much as you wish in your first post, but please bear in mind that the more you can share of yourself the easier it will be for others to feel they can risk getting to know you (it's a two-way risk, remember), and the more quickly you will meet people with similar lives and interests. This is the basis for friendships to develop. The following are some suggestions for what to write in a first post. It is not a prescriptive or compulsory list. It is fine to say less, or you might think of other things to tell about yourself.

Write about who you are - have you been diagnosed with DID or do you experience other trauma-related dissociation; are you a partner/friend/relative of someone who experiences trauma-related dissociation; how old are you; are you married/partnered/single; are you male or female; do you have children; what ages; what are your hobbies/interests; do you have other alters/identities/parts who may be posting; if so, you may wish to give their names and ages.

You do not have to write anything that makes you feel too uncomfortable or very unsafe, but remember that to make friends, you have to take some risk and allow yourself to be vulnerable to some degree.