Room Supporter Role Idea - Feedback Needed!
We know that there are many Listeners who regularly participate in group support rooms, are passionate about their room, but are not necessarily ready to apply as a group mod yet. Keeping this in mind, we have an exciting new idea for a role that we would like your feedback on!
Role: Room Supporter
A listener (adult or teen!) who is dedicated to specific group support rooms, spending time supporting members in that room, building a community bond, steering conversation toward topics relevant to the room and verbally de-escalating conflict when needed.
This role would serve as a stepping stone for listeners who want to work toward becoming a community centerred moderator. Room Supporters will receive specific training on de-escalation and verbal conflict resolution from the Support Team Leaders of each team but will not have access to the moderation tools that a moderator has. The role of the Room Supporter is not to moderate the room. It is to provide quality listening and build community within the room, but also be trained in active listening and be able to verbally de-escalate a conflict.
What do we aim to achieve through the Room Supporter role?
- Integrate listeners spending a lot of time in group support into sub-communities and support teams.
-Allow new listeners to have more guidance when venturing out as a listener into group support.
- Help with community building between listeners and members.
- Create a stepping stone role to group support moderator, similar to forum supporter role before forum mentor.
- Increase quality of listening in group support.
- Allowing listeners to become acquainted with a specific room and its dynamics before venturing into higher leadership positions within the team.
The role would work similarly to Community Centered Moderation. A listener would be listed in the Subcommunity Leaderboard as 'Room Supporter' and appear similarly to how the Mod Badge shows up in rooms for Community Centered Moderators.
Ideas about this idea for a role? What are some pros and cons you can see?
Special shout-out to @sweetLily41 and @SupportiveMonkey46 for putting in a ton of work into drafting up this role!!
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@RaCat@brilliantTurtle89
@Kate This is a perfect stepping stone for people who want to become Group Mods! :D can't wait to see how this works out!
I like this as an idea for a steppng stone role before moderator and a good way to see people really dedicate themselves to supporting in an area and learning the culture of that room prior to starting to mod - comparing to the forums, understanding the community you support in and being a consistent face in there can make moderating easier to transition into and can help the members in that community feel more supported. Will this be a requirement prior to being a mod going forward, as forum supporter is for becoming a forum mentor?
@Anomalia Good question! Open to feedback about it
@Kate
I didn't think that having Room Supporter as a requirement for Mod would even need to be questioned. It sounds like it would give listeners the needed experience in group support before applying to become a mod. If I remember correctly, we require forum mentors to be forum supporters first, so why is it not the same to moderate group support rooms? I can see this role being a great stepping stone for our future mods and how it can allow members to better trust mods they come in contact with since they will have known them before having any moderating powers.
That's just my two cents, though. I can't wait to see how this turns out! Thanks @SupportiveMonkey46 and @sweetLily41 for putting this together!
@Kate - Would be happy to talk in more detail, but my general inclination is that requiring room supporter as a stepping stone to mod has several benefits:
1. Ensures mod is already familiar with the community they will mod in (and the community is familiar to them)
2. Gives (forces?) an opportunity to watch other mods in action and learn from them prior to taking on the role
3. Helps test the commitment to the role - often I think people are interested in a role and have great intentions, but quickly after receiving it end up not being able to be active in it. This can be a strain on teams to have people constantly dropping off, and having a stepping stone role often helps potential leaders to show their dedication first by being active in the community prior to taking on the higher role
4. I tend to think training is a good thing and this would give another opportunity for training, potentially with a different focus from mod. For instance, in Forum Supporter training, we focus on 1. what are the core ways to support in the forums and what are traits that represent good support / quality forum posts and 2. the broader role of a supporter, including expectations of professionalism, presence in the community, and an emphasis on self care. Then in Forum Mentor training, we dive deeper on some of the elements around expectations and professionalism, but are able to focus the training primarily on how to moderate and how to deal with tricky situations and de-escalate conflicts. Having two separate trainings lets us cover more total material, all of which I think is useful
Hope that helps!
@Anomalia great idea this wuld then mean adapting anxietys mod training rather make them wait 2 weeks if they were a room supporter first theyd need that at least 2 weeks instead love the points made the more posts i read on the potential this role has the more exciting it is
@Anomalia I totally agree, I think that room supporter OR team member (team members lead regular/weekly discussions without be mod (but with one present), versus room supporters who dont necessary do), should be a requierement toward the group mod role.
I never was very comfortable with mods applying on my room when they never was in there, then I really love the idea to have this role as first step.
I think it'd work- potentially be a requirement for people looking to co-host who aren't mods? Would be good especially as a stepping stone to let listeners be accepted in the room as quasi-mods so people aren't scared of them. Issue would be what to do for requirements- I'd like it to be similar to a CCM, but with more time focused on each room?
LOVE THIS.
awesome idea!! love it 
@Kate
I love this idea! I know a lot of listeners who are incredible in helping with the rooms but don't really want to become a mod. I think this could be a great role!
I'm really excited to hear about this role @Kate 
I think it would fit perfectly into the community! I like the whole idea of the stepping stone towards being a Mod and being able to verbally help de-escalate a situation without the need for any mod tools. The only thing that could be seen as a concern is people either misusing the role or becoming unclear on what to do - but that could be used for any roles! Altogether, I think it is an amazing role and defiantly worth giving it a try!
@Kate @Laura
As long as this role also helps stop the bullying in LSR and eliminates the whole belief of a 7cups hierachy I'm all for it
@Kate sounds good for bigger subcoms like Trauma and Depression with lots of people. Smaller ones may not have as great a need or the team members to support this role.
@soulsings Anxiety is a pretty big SC now and we sure could use this role we have plenty of reg / new listeners who arent ready for mod or dont want to suddenlly lose friends for being one this is perfect for that
@CaringBrit yes I agree and was going to mention Anxiety but I overlooked it. Anxiety is one of the biggest subcoms.
@soulsings still growing too :)
@Kate I think its a great idea! Maybe there should also be a role like this thats a level down from the forum supporter role? 
I think its a great way for members who can't dedicate the time/don't want to get into full moderation, as I know with being a mod you have to hold at least one support session as week.. Now I don't believe this role comes with moderation priviledges, correct? If not I personally think it should as there are some very routy members and room supproters should have mod priviledges as far as giving warnings and blocking. If they are without them, they could suffer harassment from members (as I know I did before I became a global mod)...
@MissMeghan If there was another forum role, how would it differ from forum supporter?
@AffyAvo oof sorry for my late reply! I'd say it would differ in that, that role wouldn't require hosting forum discussions like forum supproter does, they'd just be a friendly face in for forums (I'd say there should still be a requirement of ex. 10 threads a month) Just a idea
@MissMeghan - Hey there! Just wanted to clarify, but the forum supporter role actually doesn't require hosting forum discussions. The core requirement of a forum supporter is to post 10x per month minimum in the category they have chosen to support and to be kind, professional and supportive in the forums in general. Many forum supporters will take on things like forum discussions, check-in threads, events, welcoming, etc., but the base requirements of the role are just to be active and supportive in the forums!