How to deliver a support service online: case Cyber Mentors

The Internet. That's where our service users are. That is what Beatbullying, UK's leading bullying prevention charity realised when they were trying to figure out the most effective way to expand their regional reach.

Go regional = go digital!

Instead of going for a costly regional model Beatbullying decided to invest in an online service that would not only enable them to reach people all over the country, but also save money. After a lot of thinking, planning and building they finally unveiled CyberMentors -an online service that offers peer support and online counseling to children and young people who are being bullied or who are going through difficult times at school or at home.

Although the initial reason for setting up CyberMentors was the charity’s need to expand their regional reach, they also knew that an online service would offer the kind of flexibility and accessibility that cannot be achieved by an offline service. For example online counseling services are tailored to offer maximum flexibility: young people can choose who they talk to and when. This would be impossible with an offline service.

Think things through and get buy-in (and a CEO who really believes in the project)

Building a comprehensive online support service that has all the necessary safeguarding mechanisms to protect the children and young people using the service was not an easy task. Especially because there were no role models to learn from –everything had to be thought through by the in-house team.

Dyer told me that more important than the technical side of things was the actual model behind the service -the processes that make everything work. How do the models for volunteering and fundraising fit into this new picture, for example? She also said that it was very important to get the whole organisation behind the project: “You can’t make things work without buy-in”. Emma-Jane Cross, the CEO of Beatbullying, was the innovator and driving force behind the whole CyberMentors model. With 100% support across the staff team, it made development of the initiative a truly rich and collaborative development process.

So how does the service work in practice?

If you want to learn more about how the service works, including the various safeguards and the referral process (i.e. when and how counsellors intervene and when external organisations such as social services are contacted), I recommend you have a listen to a talk by Chloe Morton, Head of Therapeutic Services and Online Support at CyberMentors (recorded at the Third sector digital communication convention).

Virpi Oinonen

PS. Digital service delivery isn't my main interest (although the topic certainly is fascinating!). My next blog posts will be about visual ways to communicate complex and difficult issues -online and off. Stay tuned!