ReachOut's moderation team are professionally trained mental health workers. We come from a trauma informed and strengths based approach to supporting community members, as we encourage safe discussions around mental health, wellbeing and self care.
We do have responsibilities as mandatory reporters if a young person is at risk of harm, and you can read more about that here.
A strengths-based approach focuses on people’s internal strengths, resourcefulness and building resilience and coping skills. We encourage people to seek professional help when needed, and encourage people to build their own toolkit of coping skills and strategies for when things are tough.
Moderators can’t always respond to every post, but we do monitor all posts for safety. If someone is in crisis, we may ask them to step off the forums and seek crisis supports.
Peer support is at the heart of the forums - we encourage the sharing of lived experience , and our community is based on the values of courage, compassion, generosity, inclusiveness, responsibility and fun - you can read more about that here.
There’s a lot of different definitions of peer support, but this quote really sums up the heart of it -
Peer work does something unique and valuable - it harnesses the lived experience of mental ill-health and recovery to support others and foster hope.
A lot of our forum members have been through tough times, and show a huge amount of generosity and compassion in sharing what’s helped them through. Peer support doesn’t have to be super complicated - sometimes just letting someone know that you hear them, or sharing a kind word, can make a massive difference.
