Reaching out

Since it seems I've temporarily retired from my previous world I've had a chance to think about some of the issues I've encountered working in community management and online advice and support provision. So, if you'll indulge me, I thought I'd share some musings for a while. If nothing else it should keep the old noodle running and make me feel a little less like I've fallen off the planet.

Today's thinking was around potential next steps for the way advice is provided online and support offered to those who might be in need of help. In part it was inspired by events around a number of high profile twitter 'trolls', in particular the recently bereaved and abusive young man who decided to vent his anger at the recently bereaved Tom Daley.

In all the work I've done online to support communities and services that provide support I've never objected the idea of a troll. I've seen too many individuals spewing and screaming racism, threats, sexual insults and the like to pretend this isn't problematic. What I have found more objectionable is the dismissive attitude directed towards supporting this individuals, especially in the media as these cases continue to make headlines.

Personally, I don't feel there's a great difference between interactions online and those offline. Win both circumstances people are communicating and interacting with each other, sharing, supporting and at times insulting. And like the world outside of the Internet, different spaces have different rules and appropriate behaviour. What's acceptable at a relatives funeral isn't the same as what would be tolerated, or even encouraged, at a football match. What's more difficult online, with such rapidly changing and developing social spaces, is where those lines are drawn and what support may be available for those crossing them, especially without intention or understanding.

Working online I've encountered a number of clients who behaved in really abusive behaviour and I was struck by how differently this was treated online compared to offline. Would a teenager shouting abuse at passersby be ignored on the street? Would regular disturbed speeches and hand written notes posted to a teacher be treated as a crime or as a sin of an individual needing help? I'm left feeling that the online world isn't deliberately more callous, it just feels like it right now. Online we seem to treat challenging or uncomfortable behaviour, so often, as a Victorian would treat a starving child on the road. With some pity but also plenty of disdain.

The biggest shame here is that there are so many routes now available for people to find help, online and offline. There may be waiting lists and questions about over-medication, funding challenges and geographic restrictions, trolls and people who feel looking for support is 'attention seeking' - but all of these continually hurdles are vastly outweighed by the oldest of them all. People often find it impossible to take the first step in looking for help. Once signed up to a positive community or spending time at a local community group, or seeing that GP for the first time, chances for improvement grow and grow quickly.

So, whilst there is still a huge amount for individuals, charities, support groups and everyone who cares to do to develop better and more effective services, isn't there also a huge need for all of us to start doing more to reach out to individuals in pain or need, no matter how unpleasant that may look at times.

Social networks, social websites... Social services? Why should we, presented with the technology to find many people in need of help and support have to wait, hands tied, until those people reach a critical point, or go beyond a critical point, before helping? Why not go out and find people who need support, pass on websites or services we've found helpful to individuals expressing need, in whatever form?

I think this is an opportunity on the same scale faced by Dr. Bernardo or others who changed our attitude to those requiring support and social networks offer an amazing opportunity to conduct this kind of outreach service. You know one of the easiest ways to tell something would work? When the question you face when considering it isn't 'will it work?' but is instead 'how could we handle that much work?'

I'm not saying I know how to deal with those capacity issues, I know how incredibly stretched charities and support services are right now but helping people early has always meant helping people with less resources and better results. You can wait for people to come to your service or all of us working in health provision can try to find ways and time to form the kind of outreach services that have never been possible before, rather than hoping a person's friends or someone else will encourage them to reach out.

Naturally this would need to be done with good humour and compassion but why should we leave outreach to marketing promotors or political pundits, when the real opportunity here is to take support from enclosed, site based services, into a pro-active, ever evolving space.

Just go and search on twitter for the issues you work with, those opportunities to help are endless.