What do I do if a community member is trauma dumping? With Mallory Contois, Head of Community at Mercury

In this episode, we hear from Negativity in New York. Today’s letter deals with the nuanced line between keeping your community positive while making space for people to be honest and real about the struggles they are experiencing.

To better help Negativity in New York, I invited Mallory Contois as my guest expert. She has lots to contribute today because as the creator of one of my FAVORITE communities, Old Girls Club — a virtual community for working women with over 1,800 members that’s been running for 2.5 years on Slack.

Mallory has seen some sh*t, so tune in for some tactical advice and practical strategies for navigating the difficult task of allowing tough conversations to take place in your community but not letting them take over.

In this episode:

(04:33) Moderating difficult topics and maintaining a safe space

(12:08) The Politics channel: a test

(16:28) Different responses for different sizes of community

(19:31) The communitea: Negativity in New York’s letter

(20:58) What to do when a community member is trauma dumping

(27:35) Practical advice for having those tough conversations

(33:39) The importance of creating some distance from community members

(37:37) The wild success of the Yell in Caps Here channel in the OGC community

Expect: Thoughtful community engagement tactics and community management coaching.

Resources Mentioned:

👩‍🦰 Join the Old Girls Club jointheogc.com.

🎧 Past episodes mentioned: Episode 7 with Andrea Middleton and Episode 9 with Jae Washington.

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💛 Join Ember. The place for community creators building community-powered businesses.

Mallory Contois

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Bri Leever

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