A fundamental principle of any Socrates Café is to create an environment in which people feel safe and respected. Participants must feel comfortable speaking about personal experiences in the knowledge that this will not be discussed outside the Café. Before the Café begins participants must be asked to respect confidentiality. The principle of confidentiality must also be explained to new members and existing members should be reminded of its importance from time to time. This does not mean that issues should not be discussed outside the Café and indeed it is good if the conversation continues in participants’ other circles. However, anything of a personal or sensitive nature that was spoken about by any participant should not be discussed outside the cafe. An exception would be if the information divulged was putting a person at risk and in that case the facilitator would have to judge their obligation to any follow-up action.