Why is online anonymous peer support so important?
Peer support can increase feelings of belonging and reduce feelings of loneliness by creating safe, judgement free spaces for students to share their experiences. It helps to bring together marginalised, hard to reach groups from across the world, helping individuals overcome barriers to support they typically have faced.
Having a diverse community around the world means that there is often someone there willing to offer a listening ear 24/7.
Given these benefits, it is not surprising that peer support has been shown to improve mental health outcomes. A systematic review published in The Journal of Mental Health (Lattie et al, 2019) found that peer support services significantly reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress, especially in high-risk groups such as university students.
Peer support forms part of an individual's life tool box; a system that is always there, helping users to build skills and resilience for the long run.
Online peer support provides a safe space where seeking support is modelled by others.
This is backed up by research; The Journal of Medical Internet Research published a study which found digital peer support enhanced selfhood, compassion, and mindfulness as well as lowering depressive and anxiety symptoms after the intervention finished (Yeo et al, 2023).
Peer support can also be helpful for those who self harm; a recent randomised controlled trial by Kruzan et al. (2022), published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, revealed that individuals who engaged in an online peer support community, such as TalkCampus, exhibited lower rates of self-harm compared to those who did not participate in such platforms.
Lastly, peer support is a cost effective solution; a report by The King’s Fund found that peer support can lead to a 25% reduction in the use of traditional mental health services, freeing up resources for those with more severe mental health needs. Whatsmore, it supports earlier escalation of mental health problems, ensuring individuals get support sooner, before they hit crisis point and reducing the need for costly interventions.
Students need safe spaces to be real. How can peer support help?
When asked, 82% of our students hadn’t told their university that they were struggling. TalkCampus can reach those that are hard to reach, difficult to engage and at risk of struggling alone.
By providing an anonymous space with wraparound community safety guidelines, our peer support platform encourages students to reach out.
Loneliness and the desire for connection with others is a key theme on TalkCampus. Overwhelmingly students feel that they are alone in their struggles and seek validation, reassurance and support to know that they are not alone. Students have shared struggles with distance learning, adapting to a new country, missing home and their family and a fear of rejection when meeting and wanting to integrate with others. On TalkCampus students are rarely alone in their struggles and one of the common moments of impact and affirmation is hearing someone say ‘me too’. 66% of students said they understand their mental health better because they have learnt from others within the community.
How do you ensure online peer support communities are safe and impactful?
TalkCampus has been built from the ground up exclusively for students, with safety at the front and centre, offering an unrivalled experience.
In contrast to many services and online spaces, TalkCampus is moderated in real-time by a diverse professional team of clinicians and trust and safety professionals. This unique dual approach means that users benefit from expert content moderation and clinical support, within seconds.
All content within TalkCampus is subject to strict moderation which centres around clear community guidelines that educate students on how to use the platform safely. It is vital that peer support offers a safe, supportive space for students, where a non judgemental and kind approach reigns over ‘tough love’ and criticism.
TalkCampus also leverages proprietary world class safeguarding technology allowing us to moderate in real time, maintaining high standards across massive scale. Built in partnership with MIT, Microsoft Research and Harvard University, our technology enables early identification of risk including self harm and suicide ideation. Once identified we can instantly launch interventions and an elevated level of care to ensure the student is handheld to safety.
Safety features within TalkCampus are also plentiful putting control into the hands of the student. For example, students are able to flag, block and hide any content and users. The capacity to set personalised trigger warnings, set wellbeing breaks and customise the content displayed within the platform ensures that students can feel safe at all times, regardless of what ‘safe’ may look like for them.
How does peer fit into your University care model?
Peer support can be a valuable platform for those from the very mild end of the mental health spectrum, who are just struggling with the normal ups and downs of daily life, to the higher end of mental health; those with common mental health problems who are struggling daily with problems such as depression, anxiety and OCD.
Online peer support doesn’t replace traditional support, instead it wraps around existing
mental health and wellbeing provision. It is the service between the services; accessible
before a mental health issue is apparent, between therapy sessions, and to support
keeping well/relapse prevention after any treatment.
Peer support can sit alongside Telehealth and student support services through TalkCampus’ ability to integrate customisable pathway information to ensure accurate signposting to local, linked support services.
Whilst peer support is suitable for most, it isn’t quite right for everyone. Those with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar are likely to have higher care needs beyond what peer can provide.
References:
Kruzan, Kaylee & Whitlock, Janis & Bazarova, Natalya (Natalie) & Bhandari, Aparajita & Chapman, Julia. (2022). Use of a Mobile Peer Support App Among Young People With Nonsuicidal Self-injury: Small-scale Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Formative Research. 6. e26526. 10.2196/26526.
Lattie, E. G., Adkins, E. C., Winquist, N., Stiles-Shields, C., Wafford, Q. E., & Graham, A. K. (2019). Digital mental health interventions for depression, anxiety, and enhancement of psychological well-being among college students: systematic review. Journal of medical Internet research, 21(7), e12869.
Yeo, G., Loo, G., Oon, M., Pang, R., & Ho, D. (2023). A digital peer support platform to translate online peer support for emerging adult mental well-being: randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mental Health, 10(1), e43956.