Terms of Use

The  following  delimited  scope  of  this  forum  may be  noted


1. This forum is a space for you to raise doubts and questions related to providing psychological support in the times of COVID-19. It is not about other kinds of support (e.g. health information, information related to practical support, information related to government schemes or guidelines).

2. It  is  meant to be used by health workers involved in providing psychological support related services

3. The responses of the experts (mental health professionals who are empaneled) reflect purely their individual, professional viewpoints/responses based on their expertise and do not reflect the opinion of any institute or organization or of other empaneled members on this forum.

4. While providing psychological support, there can be a lot of variations in terms of an appropriate response for a given situation. There cannot be a single right response across different situations/for different people. Hence, the response provided by an expert needs to be taken merely as his/her suggestions. It is the full responsibility of the user/s to judge the extent to which these suggestions are appropriate/can be applied in the context of a given person/ situation. The liability of any consequences of using these suggestions rests entirely with the user/s.

5. This forum is not meant for a detailed discussion about a person’s (or client’s) problem.

6. This forum is not meant for supervision of the psychological support provided by users to people/clients. Only specific questions, framed in a general way, about difficulties/doubts regarding how to provide psychological support will be responded to.

7. This is not an instant chat platform. Depending on the number of open questions, it may take 3 days for a response to be posted. However, all efforts will be made to post a response at the earliest.

Rules  to be  followed:

  • Questions beyond the scope of this forum will not be answered/may be removed.
  • The user is strictly prohibited from mentioning the name of any person/institution/ hospital/other health worker or any other identifying information in their message/question. Such posts will be removed.
  • Extremely broad or general questions that require a lengthy explanation/discussion are beyond the scope of this forum. These will not be taken up for responding.
  • The user is requested to post only one specific question at a given point.
  • The user is encouraged to look for answered questions/themes/key words – using the search function – before posting a question. If a similar question has been asked and answered before, the new question will not be taken up for responding.
  • If a question/post is perceived to be violating ethical standards, infringing on rights of others, involving breach of confidentiality, hurting the sentiments of anyone, it will be removed.
  • The users are requested to keep the questions brief (150 words or so).