The Supporters
Who are the supporters?
The supporters are a team of volunteers, who give time to offer emotional support and advice for people who need it via Forums, Chat,
Live Help [link], or email at
support@recoveryourlife.com.
So that we can reply to you as quickly as possible the Supporters work as a team. What this means is that you won't just have 1 person reply to your email, or talk to the same person on Live Help all the time. This means support can be provided as and when needed and you get a good range of opinions.
It is also worth remembering Supporters are members of RYL just like you and it may be that their own well-being needs to be taken into account as well as the people being supported - This is a balance best levied by a team than a group of individuals.
The Head Supporter is
klo_flo (Chloe) and the Deputy Head is
one_step_closer. (Lindsay). The rest of the team are just like anyone else and will be replying to your threads, whilst also receiving support - something we can all do.
Are you confidential?
Yes. We will never tell anyone outside of the support team what you've said or even that you've been in contact with us, unles we've agreed otherwise. Everything is kept confidential and private to RYL.
What is Live Help
Live help is where you speak to a Supporter 1-to-1... a bit like msn! We do sometimes have technical problems when it disconnects and says the Supporter has left. This will never be the case... it's just technical issues. If you can give us an email address when you connect to Live Help, we can then contact you *if* this happens.
But if the supporters are not online there is always the email system and and forums.
Why does Live Help seem to be offline a lot?
As the Supporters are entirely composed of members of RYL the amount of time Live Help is online for, is dependent on a number of reasons... including how many Supporters are available to be on Live Help due to personal and training issues. As the majority of Supporters are from the UK this also affects the times when Live Help is online due to time differences in different countries.
Should you need to speak to someone at a time when Live Help is offline please find a list of advice agencies
here
Using email
The Supporters can be contacted on
support@recoveryourlife.com. A member of the team will answer your email and it is important to remember that it might not be the same person each time. However, the content will be kept within the Supporters and senior staff at RYL (although it rarely happens), which we would *always* try and do with your consent first.
Replies aim to be within 24 hours, though it can be later than this if it is especially busy or there are limited number of the team around. If Live Help is offline then The Supporters would always urge you to get in touch via the email system.
Becoming a Supporter
To become a supporter you need to be active around the forums or on chat... and be on RYL long enough to have a little bit of knowledge about how things work. You don't have to be recovered to be a Supporter, but it's important that you put *yourself* first and spend some time wondering if it's the right thing for you.
If you think that's you, please feel free to put your name forward by sending a PM to Chloe (
klo_flo) or Lindsay (
one_step_closer). If you think that someone else has the qualities required you can also get in touch with us. Often we notice people who are supporting regularly and with good quality around the forums or in chat and we would ask if they would like to join the support team.
Once you have put your name forward it will be discussed within the team and you will hear back from us the next time we are recruiting new supporters.... whether successful or not.
Take care and be safe,
The Supporters