How does SMART keep online meetings safe?

At SMART Recovery, we believe in the power of mutual aid.  

Shaping safe digital recovery spaces for everyone is a shared responsibility - which means that how you choose to behave in a recovery meeting doesn’t just impact you, it impacts everyone. 

When you register for an online SMART Recovery meeting, you’re not just supporting your own recovery journey - you’re becoming a part of the recovery journeys of every other participant in your meeting by sharing your lived and living experiences, and respecting those of others. 

Our Role 

SMART Recovery takes ensuring our meetings remain safe and protecting the privacy of recovery meeting facilitators and participants extremely seriously. All online meetings require: 

• Formal registration by the meeting Facilitator through Pathminder, our official meeting management system. 
• Independent registration by participants (Name and Email Address only) and approval by Facilitators. 
• Active verbal consent from every participant, every meeting, to upholding the Meeting Guidelines and shaping positive recovery spaces through respectful and supportive behaviour.  

All online meetings are hosted by SMART Recovery Australia via a secure, trusted platform. Our Customer Experience and Training Teams provide both technical and operational assistance to facilitators to deliver their meetings safely. 

Justice-involved participants can request Proof of Attendance online to verify their attendance. 

The SMART Recovery privacy policy can be viewed on the SMART Recovery Australia website.

Your Role

To ensure consistency, safety and confidentiality, all online SMART Recovery Meetings have a core set of responsibilities which everyone participating in that meeting must uphold. 

You'll see these when you register for an online SMART Recovery meeting and in the online waiting room so you can be prepared to participate meaningfully and respectfully every meeting.

By registering for this meeting, you agree to:

• Maintain strict confidentiality.
• Not record, transcribe, or publicly project this meeting in any way. 
• Participate in good faith through seeking genuine recovery support. 
• Actively verbally consent prior to the commencement of each meeting to uphold the Meeting Guidelines. 

Failure to comply with the above will result in your removal from the meeting. 

Use of your camera is strongly encouraged to help build trust, community and support within your group and create a safe recovery space for everyone.

Verbal consent is required to attend and participate in an online recovery meeting, and is non-negotiable. This not only helps build trust within the group, but also helps us to identify any potential disingenuous or fake participants e.g. bots.  

The above agreement forms the core of the Meeting Guidelines. Your Facilitator will expand upon these to clearly outline what respectful participation within your particular meeting or group looks like, and may even work with your group to help write these. 

What To Do If Something Isn't Right

Recovery journeys can be bumpy, but we’re here to help make sure your path is as smooth as possible. In the unfortunate event you experience a negative interaction with another participant or Facilitator, notice a suspicious participant profile or become aware of illegal recording during one of your meetings, please let us know immediately at smartrecovery@srau.org.au so we can support you.