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
What kind of abilities, if any would this role have and who would they essentially "report to" in case of more support needed? Overall, fantastic idea, very, very interested in this.
@MamaBear21 as it would be the rooms Support Team leader onboarding the room supporters the STLs for that room example Anxiety is me and heather etc
@Kate how can you qualify for this?
What kind of training would I need?
How does the training work and with who?
Can I even apply?
@Kate I would really like to use my strategic communication skills. I have 8 years of studying to my name at the moment, based in the field of communication. This would also give me a chance to, be needed somewhere, by someone.
I like this idea! I can definitely see how members and listeners would benefit from this stepping stone - as becoming a group mod straight away can seem a bit intimidating and comes with quite a lot of pressure 
I was thinking perhaps a Room Supporter could be mentored by a Global Mod/Community Centred Mod, if they wish to gradually transition into a Mod. I suppose my only concern would be that people may get confused on what role is what. I'm sure with time however, people participating in group chats will adjust to the change 
if you need a hand with anything to do with this project, I'm only a message away
@Kate
Yay!! This is a great idea!!!
I hope this role would make some changes in the group chatroom!! I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the chatrooms are often empty e,e
@EmikoKokoro
Agree with you. Empty both memberwise and ideawise.
@Kate i love this idea. I havent been a listener all that long, but noticed the support chats can veer waaaaaaaay off topic very easily
I would love to join as well. What do I do and how do I start
@sunshineDew66
I think the role is not officially out yet :0
@EmikoKokoro
Ya. I am waiting :)
@Kate, This Room Supporter Role sounds cool and i feel that it will be a great way for them to learn and be trained as to a Hands on before that come Mods. It may be the best pre Training i ahve see her.
The only issues with it would it not cause issues between Mods if they give VB warnings and they send Mod report, and vise verave
I do think you'll want to be very aware of the stability (or lack thereof) of the individuals. The first or second time I was in a 7 Cups chat room, a listener (who seemed to be well-known to the group, so probably an experienced one) came in and threw an absolute hissy fit public tantrum about how she sacrifices so much to listen to stupid people whine about their problems and when she wants to talk about HER problems she's getting a message that there are no listeners available and she'll have to wait. It took the whole room focusing entirely on her to de-escalate the situation. Clearly not a really stable individual, but she was being allowed to counsel others. That sort of thing happens in places like this. Long-term members are promoted to supervisory positions when the reason thay're long term members is because they have serious issues and are entrenched in a codependent site culture. But someone like that can do a lot of harm, so I would be very cautious who you put in those positions.
i love it. i feel left out alot of the time because i don't spend as much time in group chats. i could use the support cause i feel then i could give more support!
#biglove
@ThisCrazyLife77. I feel the exact same way. It has a cliquish feeling sometimes which causes me to go even less. Its kind of a cycle.
Someone focused on community support and inclusivity would be a welcome addition. 🌹🌺🌷
@ThisCrazyLife77
That's how I feel...but wasn't sure how to day it. Very effective for me in reading that. Thank you. Its true. I find pleasure in helping others as it gives me time away from my cursed life lol.