by
Jasmine Palmer
| Mar 01, 2023
Volunteer in a peer support role on Beyond Blue's Online forums!
Want to volunteer your skills and empathy to support others in the community? Beyond Blue is currently recruiting volunteer Community Champions to provide online peer support via Beyond Blue's Online forums to people experiencing anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. There are currently eight positions available.
This role is suitable for individuals wishing to share their personal experience with mental health issues, including experiences of one’s recovery and wellbeing. We also welcome individuals who identify as a carer or supporter of someone with mental health issues to participate.
To be eligible for this role, you need to have already made at least 50 meaningful, quality posts on the Online forums as a standard member. Please see additional eligibility in the criteria in the 'How to apply' section below.
About the Online forums
The Online forums is an online community that supports and learns from each other, sharing their stories and experiences in times of distress and wellness. They are moderated and provide a safe space to share experiences, concerns and offer messages of support to others.
About Community Champions
Having a space to ‘vent’ and let others know about the difficulties we’re experiencing in life is important.
Community Champions help maintain a warm and friendly community. They spark new conversations, guide and welcome newcomers and, when needed, remind forum members of the rules. In particular, Community Champions help by:
- Actively looking for and answering unanswered questions or posts.
- Welcoming new members and helping them find their way around – particularly in connecting them with other members or threads that are similar to theirs.
- Helping the community be a vibrant, respectful, and enjoyable place.
- Starting new threads on topics of interest relating to hope, recovery and staying well.
- Referring any concerns you have about a member’s wellbeing to our moderators.
Because the Online forums are always on, you can meet the commitments of this role at a time and place that best suits you.
Please note this is purely a peer support role and you're not expected to be responsible for the wellbeing of individual members.
You can read more about what the role involves in the Community Champion Guide.
How to apply
To be considered for this role you should meet the following criteria:
- Commit to posting eight to 10 times a week in the Online forums across a variety of threads. This should take about three hours a week.
- Have already made at least 50 meaningful, quality posts on the Online forums as a standard member which adhere to the spirit and intent of the Community Rules, Member Terms and Privacy Policy all users agree to upon joining. By quality, we mean multi-word posts made up of sentences and/or paragraphs that contribute to the overall warm, friendly, vibrant, respectful, enjoyable and safe culture of our Online forums community. Above all, this culture is underpinned by the idea that we all should strive to give support to receive support.
- Complete a wellness plan to help us protect your mental wellbeing while doing this valuable, but sometimes taxing, mental health peer support work. Details of this will be provided and guided by our Online Communities Volunteer Coordinator and dedicated forums Community Support Worker.
- Have or obtain a Working with Children Check that is current in the state or territory in which you reside and will be volunteering from. Given the logistics involved and the slightly different requirements for these checks across Australia, Beyond Blue asks its volunteers to obtain these themselves and will reimburse the costs involved upon provision of a current approved Working with Children Check -- so please make sure you keep your receipts. We can provide guidance about how to get one in your jurisdiction.
If you’re interest in becoming a Community Champion, please complete the expression of interest form below. The Online Communities Volunteer Coordinator will be in touch to discuss your interest further.
If you have any questions about the role or your interest please email modsupport@beyondblue.org.au