Project Semicolon welcomes writers, advocates, professionals, and people with lived experience. These guidelines help us publish writing that is human, useful, responsible, and worthy of our readers' trust.
We review people before granting publishing access, not every article before it goes live.
Tell us who you are, what you want to write about, and the experience or perspective you bring. We review applications for fit, responsibility, and alignment with our mission.
Once approved, you can create your author profile, prepare drafts, and manage your articles. Your account may have specific permissions or restrictions.
Approved bloggers with direct-publishing access can make posts live immediately. There is no routine article-by-article approval queue. Your writing remains subject to these guidelines.
Project Semicolon may review published work, request changes, temporarily restrict access, require prepublication review for an account, or remove content when needed to protect readers and the platform.
Our subject matter is intentionally broad. What matters is a meaningful connection to mental health, human experience, or practical support.
Clinicians and researchers are welcome, but credentials are not a prerequisite. Advocates, caregivers, students, community members, and people with lived experience have valuable perspectives too.
Write within the limits of what you know. Be clear when something is personal experience, professional opinion, or evidence-based guidance. Do not claim qualifications you do not have.
These expectations apply whether you're writing a personal story, an explainer, or a practical guide.
Publish work you have the right to share. Don't plagiarize, recycle someone else's writing, invent experiences, fabricate quotes, or present copied material as your own. Tell us when a piece has appeared elsewhere before publishing it.
Use a useful title, readable paragraphs, and headings when they help. Write like a person speaking to another person. Avoid sensational headlines, stigma, stereotypes, personal attacks, or promises of guaranteed outcomes.
Check statistics, medical or psychological claims, and other verifiable facts. Link to credible original sources when appropriate. Clearly label opinions, interpretations, and personal experiences rather than presenting them as universal facts.
Only include images, graphics, video, or other material you own, are licensed to use, or have permission to publish. Credit sources when required, avoid misleading imagery, and never post identifiable personal information or photos of others without appropriate consent.
Tools may help with brainstorming, structure, spelling, or editing, but you are responsible for every published claim and sentence. Verify generated facts and citations. Do not publish bulk-generated, deceptive, or impersonated content. Disclose material AI-generated passages or imagery when they could mislead readers about authorship or authenticity.
Blogger Studio gives you an author profile for your biography, credentials, and permitted website or professional links. The article itself should stand on its own as a resource for readers.
Some readers may be in distress. Write with that reality in mind.
Do not provide methods, instructions, or graphic descriptions of suicide, self-harm, or other dangerous behaviors. Do not romanticize these experiences or frame them as inevitable, attention-seeking, or moral failures. Use content warnings when appropriate.
General education and first-person accounts are welcome; personalized diagnosis, treatment plans, medication instructions, and claims that a particular approach will work for everyone are not. Encourage qualified professional support where appropriate.
Respect confidentiality and privacy, including in stories about family members, clients, patients, and minors. Change or omit identifying details when needed, but never misrepresent invented events as factual reporting.
Where appropriate, direct readers toward trusted support or crisis resources without implying that an article or its author can provide emergency help. Avoid presenting one country's resources as universal for our global readership.
Most approved bloggers' posts become publicly available immediately. Project Semicolon may still take editorial action afterward.
We may correct errors, adjust titles and formatting, request supporting sources, add context or warnings, temporarily unpublish content, remove posts, or limit publishing privileges. Serious or repeated violations may result in loss of access.
We may also introduce prepublication review for particular accounts or content categories when warranted.
Keep your profile and qualifications accurate. Respond to reasonable correction requests. Notify us if you discover a material error or a permissions issue in something you've published. Respect readers and other contributors.
Publishing access does not make any article medical advice or an official organizational position.
No. Relevant professional training is valuable, but personal experience, advocacy, research, and thoughtful perspectives are welcome. Stay within your expertise and identify your perspective accurately.
Not normally. Approval to join the publishing community is the primary gate. If your account has direct-publishing rights, your post goes live when you publish it. Specific accounts or posts may be subject to additional restrictions or review.
Use your Blogger profile for your personal or professional website and other permitted links. Articles are not a place to advertise or redirect readers to your outside content. Any exceptional resource link needs editorial authorization.
Absolutely. First-person essays are welcome. You don't need to turn a meaningful personal account into a clinical explainer or a numbered list.
Participation in the community blogging program is voluntary and unpaid unless a separate written agreement explicitly provides otherwise.
Check the contributor terms and any separate agreement applicable to your work. These guidelines don't independently impose an exclusive ownership transfer or a blanket prohibition on republication.
