The Podcast:

Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Emma and her system share what they learn along the way about DID, dissociation, trauma, and mental health. Educational, supportive, inclusive, and inspiring, System Speak documents her healing journey through the best and worst of life in recovery through insights, conversations, and collaborations.

The Community:

Here we focus on vulnerable sharing and responsiveness, practicing giving and receiving care with healthy boundaries in a safe environment without trauma bonding and trauma dumping. The forum allows for ongoing discussion, while weekly peer support groups via zoom encourage focus on healing and therapeutic progress.

The Books:

Emma and the family have shared several stories as part of peer support resources in relation to experiences shared on the podcast, as well as more clinical resources for clinicians and those further along in their healing.

Consults:

Dr. E is available for individual consults, as well as therapeutic consults for therapists.

Dr. E is available as a therapist for those who are not already participating in the community, if needs, availability, and state licensure regulations are a match.

Notice:

ALL USERS: Please use appropriate self-care and your own safety plan while exploring this website and during your listening experience of the podcast.  While some professional material may be referenced for educational purposes, Emma and her system and other clinicians utilizing this website are not your therapist nor offering professional advice.  This website is not a clinical setting.  Clinicians are not available for services on this website.  This website is a resource or tool for mutual peer support. Any informational material shared or referenced is simply part of our own learning process, and not guaranteed to be the latest research or best method for you.  Please contact your therapist or nearest emergency room in case of any emergency.  This website does not provide any medical, mental health, or social support services, nor is it a replacement for therapy.

For research about mutual peer support groups and their benefits and cautions (not specific to this community), please see the following:

68% of people found online peer support beneficial

Peer support can be associated with positive effects on measures of hope, recovery and empowerment.

“Peer support includes support or services provided to people with mental health problems by other people who have experienced mental health problems themselves [1]. Organised peer support is designed to build upon naturally occurring support among people with mental health problems. Peer support has been proposed as a way to promote recovery for anyone who has experienced mental ill health, irrespective of diagnosis [2]. For example, it may promote self-efficacy and hope through sharing experiential knowledge and through modelling recovery and coping strategies [3]. This is consistent with psychological theories of change: peers’ social proximity to the people they are supporting may enhance their value as pro-social models [4] and promote motivation to achieve recovery by providing an upward social comparison [5]. The potential for recipients of peer support to also provide reciprocal support, explicit in mutual support groups and implicit in peer relationships generally, may be empowering and of therapeutic value. Peer support workers may also be able to deliver specific interventions that could be provided by clinicians. However, peer support is explicitly not based on psychiatric models of illness [2]… Access to peer support for people with severe mental health problems has been widely advocated internationally by service user researchers [6–8] and by professional organisations [9–11]. Provision of peer support is identified as a fidelity requirement for recovery-orientated services [12], and it is commonly promoted in recovery literature [13, 14]. The provision of peer support as part of community mental health services is increasingly common.”