The official Facebook group is a shared professional space for the IEMT community. Members are invited to ask questions, exchange experience, share relevant opportunities and support one another. Limited self-promotion is permitted, provided it remains proportionate and does not overwhelm discussion.

The group is also a public-facing window into IEMT for people who are new to the field. Every participant is therefore expected to help create an informed, welcoming and credible impression of the Association and its practitioners.

Professional courtesy

• Communicate respectfully, even when disagreeing about methods, evidence, training or professional decisions.
• Address ideas and conduct without personal attacks, ridicule, hostility, bullying or attempts to mobilise others against an individual.
• Do not post gossip, rumours, private disputes or unverified allegations about members, trainers, clients, organisations or other therapeutic modalities.
• Do not make defamatory statements or present suspicion, opinion or hearsay as established fact.
• Respect differences in background, culture, disability, sex, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and professional discipline.
• Allow newcomers to ask basic questions without being belittled or drawn into private disputes.

Self-promotion and commercial posts

• Members may make limited, relevant posts about their IEMT services, events, training, publications or professional projects.
• Promotional activity must be occasional, accurate and useful to the group. Repetitive posting, unsolicited direct messaging, mass tagging, link dumping or dominating discussions is not permitted.
• Only current approved trainers may describe training as Board-approved or advertise routes leading to recognised IEMT certification.
• Prices, eligibility, trainer status, accreditation, evidence and expected outcomes must be represented honestly and in accordance with the Advertising Standards Policy.
• Testimonials, images and client material require appropriate consent. Confidential or identifiable case information must not be posted.
• Administrators may limit, combine or remove promotional posts to keep a reasonable balance between discussion and advertising.

Clinical and professional discussion

• Discussion should distinguish personal experience, practitioner observation, hypothesis and established evidence.
• EMDR research, eye-movement component studies and evidence from other methods must not be presented as proof of complete IEMT treatment effectiveness.
• Do not diagnose group members, clients or third parties, and do not give personalised clinical instructions where proper assessment, consent or professional responsibility would be required.
• Questions involving urgent risk, abuse, safeguarding, serious deterioration or adverse events must be directed through the relevant professional and statutory routes. A Facebook discussion is not a substitute for emergency action, supervision, formal reporting or referral.
• Technical disagreement is welcome when it is specific, evidence-aware and courteous.

Confidentiality and intellectual property

• Do not share identifiable client information, private correspondence, screenshots or material from closed professional discussions without clear authority.
• Case material must be sufficiently anonymised, altered, blended or generalised, with unnecessary identifying detail omitted.
• Do not copy, record, download or redistribute members’ posts, course material, recordings or proprietary resources outside the group without permission, except where lawfully required for safeguarding, complaints or legal reporting.
• Participants remain responsible for ensuring they have the right to share every image, document, quotation or third-party resource they post.
• Facebook’s own terms and privacy arrangements apply in addition to this policy. Participants should not assume that a social-media group provides clinical confidentiality.

Personal views and Association representation

• Members may express lawful personal views but must not imply that these are official Association positions.
• Only authorised representatives may issue statements on behalf of the Association or the British Board for IEMT.
• Political or social discussion should remain relevant to the Association’s professional purposes and comply with the Political Neutrality Policy.
• Participants must not use Association membership, logos or group access to imply endorsement of an unrelated product, organisation, campaign or service.

Moderation

Moderators may guide discussion, close comments, decline or remove posts, restrict posting, pause membership or remove a participant when necessary to protect the group and its members. Moderation is intended to be proportionate and does not, by itself, amount to a disciplinary finding.

• Minor or first concerns will normally be addressed through a reminder, explanation or request to edit or remove material.
• Serious, repeated or deliberate breaches may result in content removal, temporary restrictions or removal from the group.
• Urgent material involving threats, safeguarding, unlawful content, serious confidentiality breaches or immediate reputational or safety risk may be removed without prior warning.
• A matter may be referred to the complaints, safeguarding, adverse-event or disciplinary process where the available information reasonably justifies that step.
• Where a membership sanction or certificate consequence is considered, the published Membership Disciplinary Policy and its fair-process safeguards apply.

Reporting concerns

Use Facebook’s reporting tools or contact a group administrator for routine moderation concerns. Formal complaints, safeguarding concerns and adverse events should be submitted through the relevant Association route rather than argued publicly in the group. Reports should be made honestly and include enough information for proportionate review.