Your safety comes first. Here is how support works, how to reach it, and how background checks protect everyone in the program.

This program was rebuilt around safety. Support runs through channels that are confidential and independent, so a concern never depends on one person to be heard, and reaching for help never runs through anyone's permission.

Independent, confidential channels

There are separate paths for different kinds of support. They are kept separate from each other and from program leadership.

• To report harm or a conduct concern: email the administrator at MentorProgram@sfldg.org, or reach the LDG Chairman at chairman@sfldg.org. Accepted participants have the full reporting policy and form in their handbook.
• For wellbeing or a hard stretch: the Mental Health and Wellness Team, reached through your mentor or program leadership.
• If your concern is about program leadership itself: it goes to the LDG Board, so no concern ever depends on the person it is about.
• If you are not sure which to use: contact program leadership and let them help you route it. Working out how serious something is should not be your job.

The Mental Health and Wellness Team

The team is made up of kink-aware clinicians and a kink coach. They support participants in two ways: helping a mentor think through how to support their mentee, and supporting a mentee directly through a hard time. Support and any investigation always stay separate.

You reach the team through your mentor or program leadership, and what you share is confidential. You never need anyone's permission to ask for support, and it operates independently of any D/s protocol, leather family, or community rank.

This is not a psychotherapy, clinical, or medical service. Communications with the Mental Health and Wellness Team are not protected by HIPAA or governed by clinical confidentiality standards, though all team members handle information with discretion and care

Boundaries that protect you

Mentor and mentee relationships have clear boundaries. No romantic or sexual involvement is permitted during the program, and direct play between a matched mentor and mentee is not permitted either. Indirect play, such as a mentor demonstrating on a third party in front of their mentee, is permitted only if it's education-centered, witnessed by at least one other person, and consistent with program values, and it's never kept secret from the cohort or leadership. As the more experienced person, a mentor carries primary responsibility for holding that line. The full statement lives in Mentors & Mentees.

Background checks

A safeguard, not a judgment. Background checks protect mentees, mentors, and the program. They're a standard safeguard applied the same way to everyone, and not a judgment of any individual. Criminal-legal systems have disproportionately harmed queer, trans, and people of color, so this policy reviews most records individually and in context rather than as an automatic disqualifier, with narrow exceptions described below. Sensitive information stays tightly protected throughout the process.

Who is checked. All Mentors, Mentees, and Operating Committee.

What happens if something shows up. A clear result proceeds normally. A flagged result goes to a small review group, who may meet with you to understand the context before any decision. You're encouraged to disclose anything that may appear, and give context, on the application itself.

Most items are reviewed individually and in context, consistent with our belief that past mistakes do not automatically disqualify anyone from belonging here. Two categories are the exception: convictions for violent crimes and sexual offenses are not eligible for this program, without exception. Everything else is a conversation, not an automatic disqualifier.

Data retention. A completed background check remains current for five consecutive years of participation. After five years, or after any gap in participation followed by a return to the program, a new check is required before continuing. LDG does not store background check reports directly; results live on the vendor's platform under its own retention policy. What LDG retains internally is limited to the outcome of the review (clear, or flagged and resolved) and any context the participant chose to share, and that record follows the same five-year clock before being securely deleted.

Confidentiality and data protection.

• Your legal name and results will only be seen by a small designated review group, not the wider committee and not the cohort.
• A legal name may be a deadname. It will never be disclosed to the cohort and never be used in any roster beyond the private admin record.
• You will be invited to initiate the background check yourself (we don't do it automatically). You will have the opportunity to offer context on flagged