1) Moderator for the Sharing portion of the meeting:
“F” was the moderator and “C” kept time for this meeting. “R” will be the moderator and “C” will keep the time for the June meeting.

2) Organizational Issues portion of the meeting:
Each person responsible for things, reported on the areas they were responsible for. “F” reported that there were no problems with the bank account. “C” reviewed any website issues as shown below.

3) Format of the meeting:
As was discussed in April’s Org. Issues, we tried running the sharing portion of the meeting for the first hour and 45 minutes. The Organizational Issues portion ran for the remaining 15 minutes. The time felt short and rushed, but in general the group liked being able to share for a longer period of time. The trade-off seemed worth it, so we will try it again for June’s meeting.

4) Update FAQ’s:
The group reviewed the FAQs that were posted on the website. Suggestions and revisions were made, and are now posted. “C” will bring the updated version to the next meeting to confirm it’s contents, as it’s still a work in progress. If anyone has further input with regard to this, you are welcome to contact us and let us know.

5) Update Pamphlet:
“C” will bring an updated version of the pamphlet for the group to review at the June meeting. We discussed posting the pamphlet on the website so that people could download and print the pamphlet.

6) E-mail Policy change:
The group discussed the idea of sending out a group email after meetings as well as before. The current policy states that a group email is only allowed to be sent before meetings to give notice of an upcoming meeting. We would like to send an email to everyone after meetings as well, informing them that new information has been posted. We think this may spur people to look at the website more often, which may possibly encourage more interaction and submissions to the site.

1) Moderator for the Sharing portion of the meeting:
“C” was the moderator for this meeting. “C” will also be the moderator for May. For June, “R” will be the moderator and “C” will keep the time.

2) Moderator for the Organizational Issues portion of the meeting:
“R” was the moderator for this meeting. For the next meeting we decided that each person who holds a responsibility would just report on the areas they are responsible for.

3) Administration of New Landscape:
Because of major changes in her personal and work situation, “V” is no longer able to be active in New Landscape. The things she did will be taken over by other people as follows:

a) “C” will keep the mailing list, administer the yahoo email account along with the website email account, and send out the pre-meeting monthly mailings.

b) “R” will take over the post office box.

c) “F” will manage the bank account. “C” is the back-up.

d) “C” will take minutes of the organizational issues portion of the meetings, and make sure they get posted to the website.

e) “R” will prepare agenda (monthly) for the discussion of organizational issues.

f) “F” will maintain contact with the YMCA.

4) Website – link from Many Voices site
“V” had asked Lynn W. of Many Voices to post a link to our website on their “Links” page. Lynn said she would – when she was finished getting out the next issue of Many Voices. Jeanette will follow through on this.

5) Plan for the timing of the next meeting:
The group decided to try something new for the next meeting. The sharing portion will run for the first hour and 45 minutes. The organizational issues will run for the remaining 15 minutes. As the website has come into being, the group felt that administrative issues are lessening, and would like to devote more time to sharing. The group will “test” this at the next meeting.

6) Update FAQ’s:
“C” will bring the “FAQs” to the next meeting to discuss/update them.

7) Update Pamphlet:
Once the FAQs are updated, we can update the current pamphlet. We will discuss this issues at the next meeting.

1) Moderator for the open discussion/sharing portion of the meeting
“C” will be the moderator for April, with “F” as backup. We need a moderator for May and beyond. (Can be two people: one to keep time, one to moderate.)

2) Moderator for the organizational issues portion of the meeting
“R” is the permanent moderator for this portion of the meeting.

3) Before-the-meeting setup
“R” is the permanent volunteer for the meeting setup—chairs, etc. Anyone else who comes early and wants to help may also participate (this has happened for the past few months).

4) Website: www.new-landscape.com
a) Art Forum:
The group agreed that not all submissions had to be positive or uplifting, though none could be “over the top.” We agreed on the wording of a warning statement. It is: “Caution – Some images could be triggering to some people.”

b) Write-up of “Group Format & Structure” portion of the meeting:
Two issues were discussed about the write-ups:
1) Some members would like their names used in the write-ups, and some prefer to be mentioned by initials only.
2) We sometimes get feedback on the write-ups from people who don’t come to meetings. We agreed to post the following notice on the website:

“In this section, we’ve posted the organizational issues brought forward during the “group format & structure” portion of our monthly meetings. Here we discuss the direction of New Landscape and the nuts-and-bolts of keeping it going. Some members wish their names to be used in the write-ups; some prefer to be mentioned by initials only. We have honored their preferences. Anyone wishing to comment on the issues in these notes may send feedback to contact@new-landscape.com. Your comments/ideas will be discussed at one of our future meetings.”

c) How far back should the “Group Format & Structure” write-ups go?
We agreed that we would post all the write-ups, from the very beginning. The reasons are:
1) We often get inquiries from people who want to start groups in other states. They ask what our process was like. Instead of writing long answers to each one separately, we could point them to the website.
2) The archive is helpful for therapists who are considering referring patients to New Landscape; it gives them a better feel for who we are and how we operate.
3) The write-ups are also important to people in New Landscape; they are our history, the archive that describes how we evolved.

d) Add a fundraising window asking for donations?
We agreed that we would like to do this. We will discuss the wording of it at a future meeting.

5) New York City Voices:
One person who sent in feedback about our website suggested taking out an ad in New York City Voices (www.newyorkcityvoices.org). We agreed that we did not want to take out an ad, but that we might be interested in having their website post a link to our website. Since no one at our meeting was familiar with the New York City Voices website, we agreed that we would take a look at it some time during the next month; at our next meeting, we will decide whether to ask them to post a link to our website.

6) Art therapy program:
The same person who gave the feedback in item 5 suggested we might have an art therapy program—someone to work with some of us in person to explore dissociation through art. We agreed that this would be a worthwhile program to consider sometime in the future, but at present, we are not ready for it. (If and when we are ready, the art therapy program would not be something that would replace a regular meeting; it would be an additional meeting.)

1) Moderator for the open discussion/sharing portion of the meeting
“C” has volunteered for March, with “F” as backup.

2) Moderator for the organizational issues portion of the meeting
“R,” who has been moderating this portion for the past few months, volunteered to continue doing it indefinitely.

3) Before-the-meeting setup
“R” has volunteered for the March meeting. (This involves coming at least 15 minutes, early, checking with the Security desk to make sure they scheduled us in the usual room, and setting up: chairs, table, signs for the door.

4) Writing up the March meeting
“V,” who usually writes up the meetings, will not be able to attend in March. “C” volunteered to take notes of the meeting topics, and “R” volunteered to take notes of the organizational issues. They will forward their notes to “V,” who will do the write-ups.

5) Bank Account
“F” is the main person who can write checks. “C” is the alternate, should the need arise.

6) Website: www.new-landscape.com

– Feedback:
Since the website went up last month, we have received several emails, all positive. Some people also sent suggestions/corrections. The group decided on a policy for handling these. Anything simple (e.g., correction of typos) may be implemented immediately. Anything involving content or policy will be discussed at the next meeting. (New Landscape will respond to anyone sending in feedback to let them know we received it.)

– Format and Content:
The website is new, and may still undergo changes here and there, but the group agreed that the general form/content is good.

– Eliminating names (from the write-up of the organizational part of the meeting):
We agreed that in general, names would not be used (“a member” or “someone” would be used instead). However, if anyone wished to be identified by name, the write-up could include his/her name. Some people felt that the lack of names might seem too impersonal to people reading the website. The group agreed that we would include a statement on the “Organizational Issues” window to explain why we were not using names. The wording of this statement will be discussed at the March meeting.

– Password:
The group agreed that we did not need a password. The elimination of names on the website, and the fact that the exact meeting location isn’t given, create enough safety. The advantage of not having a password is that people can more easily find out about our group. (The website directs them to the email address if they want specifics on the meetings.)

– Links from our website to other websites:
Currently there are three links on our site: 1) Many Voices; 2) ISSD; 3) Sidran. The group agreed that all links that we post should be to dissociation sites; not to general mental-health sites. We also agreed that any links posted on our site would first be discussed and approved at a meeting.

– Art Forum:
How “strong” or “graphic” may submissions be? The group agreed that all submissions didn’t have to be positive and uplifting, but none should be over-the-top. It will be up to the webmaster to make the decision on what to accept. The group also agreed that we would include a statement on the “Art Forum” window stating that some of the images might be triggering. The wording of this statement will be discussed at the March meeting.

– Can the website replace the monthly mailings?
We agreed that we would still send out meeting-reminder notices (via email). These notices won’t have any attachments; people will be directed to the website for information that was formerly in the attachments.

– Can the website replace the give-away table?
We agreed that it could. The only things we will still keep on the give-away table are the New Members’ Pamphlet, and the Sharing Guidelines.

7) The following items were tabled for discussion at a future meeting (for lack of time):

– Add a fundraising window to the website asking for donations?

– Other safety issues (website).

– New York City Voices: One of the suggestions we received involved taking out an ad in New York City Voices (www.newyorkcityvoices.org).

– Art Therapy Program: One of the suggestions we received involved having an art therapy program (getting an art therapist to help us explore dissociation through art).