This website, members' forum, chatline and blogs are brought to you by the Well Spouse® Association (WSA), an international organization with 501(c)(3) non-profit status in the United States.

Supporting Membership in the WSA is US$30 (US) / US$35 (International) and includes participation in the WSA Online Forum and many other benefits.  It is also possible for those new to the organization to register and participate in the WSA forum for a low cost, Non-Supporting Membership for the first twelve months.  After that time, in order to retain access to the forum you must become a Supporting Member.  (Contact our office by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if a hardship application is necessary)

Well Spouse Online Community User Agreement

The following are the terms of use that you agree to uphold as a member of the Well Spouse Online Community:

The Well Spouse discussion boards, chatline and blogs serve an online community of caregivers of chronically ill or disabled spouses or partners.  By registering, you agree to respect and uphold the integrity of this community.  Our discussions are, first and foremost, for support and information.  Through your direct or indirect participation here you agree to maintain a comfortable and respectful atmosphere for yourself and other members.  We have formed specific discussion guidelines and rules for maintaining a reciprocal and welcoming atmosphere for all discussion board and online community participants.

You are expected to avoid posting:

1- In a disrespectful, defamatory, adversarial, baiting, harassing, offensive, insultingly sarcastic or otherwise improper manner, toward a member or other individual, including casting of suspicion upon a person, invasion of privacy, humiliation, name-calling, personal attack, or in any way which violates the law.

2- To criticize or judge anyone else's actions or posts.

3- To tell others what they need or don't need in a harassing way.

4- To compose or link to profane or sexually explicit text.

5- To reproduce copyrighted material without permission. See the Copyright Trademark statement on the site.

6- To advertise your product or business.

7- To discuss the behavior of any community users.

8- To quote elsewhere what is written in the members-only area except with the consent of the writer.  Anonymous quotes may be used for publications for outreach or other purposes.

Any violation of the above will result in your post being removed.  You also may receive an administrative warning, temporary suspension, or complete ban from this community at the sole discretion of the Administrator/Moderators.

Anyone perceiving a violation of these rules, whether it affects them or another community user is asked to send a message privately to a moderator or the administrator and not make their complaint the subject of open discussion on the site. 

While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.

This is a safe community.  Please do not allow access by non-members to posts or to any other part of the members-only area of the website.  The Well Spouse® Association Online Community is designed to be a place for members to talk freely and confidentially.

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Appendix: Politics and Religion

In posting, chatting or blogging please bear in mind that you have no right to imply that your religious or political beliefs are the only way for everyone to follow -- You may of course think what you like privately to yourself.

If you feel strongly about politics or religion there are plenty of other forums or boards on the Internet that you can go to and engage in full-throated discussion of what other people should be doing or believing.

In keeping with encouraging freedom of speech, and within the bounds of the above rules, expression of political or religious beliefs in the members-only area of the website is allowed. Common practice is for the poster to add a phrase in the Subject of the post: "Warning: political / religious content." This allows those who do not wish to, to avoid reading a post in a potentially controversial area.

We also ask that people confine discussion of politics or religion in respect to their own personal situation, or to the situation of spousal caregivers in general.