Updated January 2017

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SANE Forums Partnership Induction Pack SANE Australia PO Box 226 South Melbourne VIC 3205 T +61 3 9682 5933 F +61 3 9682 5944 E info@sane.org W www.sane.org ABN 92 006 533 606

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Contents

WELCOME 3  

NEW PARTNER CHECKLIST 5  

FORUM EVENTS 7  

MODERATION 8  

COMMUNITY BUILDING 9  

PROMO RESOURCES 11  

REPORTING ACTIVITY 13  

APPENDIX - DUTY OF CARE OVERVIEW 14  

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Welcome

This Induction Pack is designed to help guide newly joined partners to the SANE Forums program in their initial stages of integrating the service within their organisation.

Complex Mental Illness & Social Isolation

SANE Australia is a national mental health charity working to provide Australians affected by complex mental illness (CMI) with better support, stronger connections, less discrimination and longer lives. In its 2014 Review of Mental Health Programmes and Services, the National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) identified 690,000 Australians over 18 years old who are living with a CMI. If we conservatively assume that for each of these individuals there will be five family members, friends or colleagues directly impacted, then more than four million Australians are directly affected by CMI in a given year. While a proportion of people with CMI withdraw from others as a way of managing symptoms such as poor energy and low self-worth, many more desire connections with others. According to the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, more than half the respondents with CMI noted that they “needed good friends”. Yet social isolation in people with CMI is common and has a significant impact on their wellbeing, recovery and community participation. Social isolation can be a result of the symptoms of many complex mental illnesses, as well as a consequence of the associated stigma, disadvantage and social exclusion that people with CMI can face1. Social isolation increases through geographic isolation in regional, rural and remote areas, where issues in mental health are compounded by reduced availability of services and supports, and increased stigma – barriers that mean people are not accessing, or are unable to access, face-to-face support more readily.

Benefits of Online Peer Support

By providing emotional support, fellowship and opportunities for meaningful social engagement, social networks have an influence on self-esteem, coping effectiveness, distress and sense of wellbeing for people with complex mental illness2. Peer support offers many benefits, e.g.: shared identity and acceptance, increased self-confidence, the value of helping others, developing and sharing skills, improved mental health, emotional resilience and wellbeing, information and signposting, and challenging stigma and discrimination. Put simply, the smart use of technology enables people to tap into the huge community resource that is peer support. Since launching the SANE Forums in May 2014, SANE has been developing a safe and thriving community of online peer support through both the Lived Experience and Carers Forums available on the platform. The Forums are anonymous, professionally moderated 24/7, and supported by a comprehensive Duty of Care Framework. They were developed with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health, using user-centred research and design through extensive consultation with people with lived experiences and, or in a carer role.

1 Harvey, C., Brophy, L. Psychological medicine: Social isolation in people with mental illness. Medicine Today 2011; 12(10): 73-78 2 Berkman, L., Glass, T., Brissette, I., Seeman, T., From social integration to health, SocSciMed 2000 Sep; 51(6): 843-57.

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The platform is syndicated online through saneforums.org as well as via partnerships with community mental health organisations covering every state and territory across Australia. The Forums can be accessed via all devices and there is also an app that can be downloaded in the App Store and Google Play.

Why Partnerships?

Partnerships with community mental health organisations are vital for reaching the Forums into metropolitan, regional and rural communities around Australia, as well as providing users with diverse expertise, information, resources and referrals. Online integration of the Forums through each partner’s website creates multiple access points into the community, reducing platform duplication in the sector, while also building the capacity of each partner organisation to deliver digital mental health services for their participants.

Technical Development

SANE is funded to develop, host, and promote the Forums at no cost to partners and also provides several opportunities and supports that are documented in this Induction Pack for partners to become more involved. The first step is the development of your unique Forums subdomain links which are to be linked on the homepage of your organisation’s website, in the primary menu navigation bar. Depending on the web development schedule, this may take between 2-4 weeks. Please notify SANE if any changes to your website are planned:

•   Your organisation changes its website design, and/or the header or footer of the website. These changes will not automatically replicate in the Forums as it is a hosted service and not run as an iFrame on your website.

•   Your organisation changes its top menu navigation (but not the overall design). While SANE is funded to provide the first iteration of your organisation’s version of the Forums, there may be a small cost associated with any significant changes (e.g.: if your organisation redevelops its whole website). SANE will provide a quote before proceeding. This is direct from the developer and there are no “pass on” costs from SANE.

Important Links

The following quick links are published on the Forums for community members, but may also be helpful for your staff’s induction to the Forums:

•   Getting Started •   Community Guidelines (members must agree to these in the registration process) •   How-To’s •   Self-Care on the Forums •   Privacy Policy

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New Partner Checklist Phase 1: Initial Set-up

Provide PNG files of your organisational logo when returning the signed Letter of Understanding and Service Agreement. Please note, depending on the focus of your organisation you may choose to adopt only the Carers or Lived Experience sections of the SANE Forums – however the default agreement is for both sections.

Once the signed documents are received, our web developer will start designing your subdomain of the Forums – <yourorganisation>.saneforums.org. Depending on complexity of your website design this can take 2-4 weeks to complete.

Once your version of the Forums is ready, the unique URL needs to be linked to the main menu navigation of your organizational website. For any technical support issues, SANE can liaise with your web person directly.

Any staff participating in the Forums partnership on behalf of your organisations are encouraged to register as members by creating an anonymous alias. You may also choose to create a generic organisational alias such as “Carers Australia” that can be used by multiple staff members.

All partners are invited to participate in optional Moderation duties – if your organisation decides to participate, we will schedule training at your offices prior to the service going live on your website.

Read through this Induction Pack and discuss any additional questions with SANE.

Phase 2: Collaboration Planning

After the Forums have been live on your website for about 4-6 week, SANE will get in touch with an update on the initial web traffic from Google Analytics.

SANE will also make a time with you to discuss over the phone or in person the key activities in three key areas that will best support your participation in the program: •  Internal Integration: supporting the internal process for your organisation to adopt

the platform •  Community Engagement: providing content and event opportunities for you to

share your expertise, info and resources with Forums users e.g. TOPIC TUESDAY •  External Promotion: providing resources to help you promote the Forums

externally to your participants

To support your promotional activity, visit the online “Partner Resources Hub” to choose from posters, postcards, info card, factsheet, and testimonials. Visit www.sane.org/partner-resources.

Stage 3: Ongoing Activities

Every month, you will receive our ‘Partners eNews’ update with news from SANE as well as updates on the content and promotional strategy for the Forums.

Also on a monthly basis, we will share social media content (images, links and copy) for optional use on Facebook or your newsletters.

Depending on the committed activities, the Partnership Manager will contact you every 1-2 months to check in on activities, as needed.

On a quarterly basis SANE will provide an update on the web traffic to your version of the Forums as well as an update on the web data for the total partnership group.

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Partnership Framework

Community Engagement

Providing opportunities for you to share your

expertise, info and resources with

Forums users

External Promotion

Providing resources to help you promote the

Forums externallyto your participants

Internal IntegrationSupporting the

internal process for your organisation to adopt the platform

Partnership Overview The SANE Forums Partnership Program aims to support partner organisations in seamlessly adopting the service in three key areas (see Figure 1). We recognise that partners have diverse strengths and resources, so our program is designed to be flexible to meet your needs.

Figure 1.

Internal Integration involves providing internal communications materials for intranet, staff induction packs, employee publications or staff meetings. It can also involve SANE team members delivering presentations and training for staff and, or leadership teams. Community Engagement provides partners with a range of Forums content, events and activities that they can opt into and share expertise, info and resources with Forums users (see “Forums Events” section). Partners can also choose to participate in Forums Moderation activity, particularly if there is a business benefit for their organisation – for example, by integrating Forums moderation with their existing Helpline services and providing professional development opportunities for their staff. External Promotion involves the promotion of the Forums service on your website via traditional and social media channels. SANE provides several promo templates available on the online “Partner Resource Hub” (sane.org/partner-resources) that can be tailored with partners’ logos.

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Forum Events

Forum Events are central to our community development strategy and include the following activities on a weekly or monthly basis: Weekly:

•   “Ask Anything Monday” is a discussion thread where members can email questions to the SANE Moderation team anonymously so that it can be posted and discussed in the community without them being identified with the post.

•   ”Friday Feast” is a casual discussion thread held weekly in the Lived Experience Forum only, where members get together to share a "virtual" dinner plate and debrief with each other about their week.

Monthly:

•   “Topic Tuesday” are monthly two-hour decisions with a focused topic and often an expert guest between 7-9pm AEST.

•   This occurs in the Lived Experience Forum on the 3rd Tuesday of the month; and in the Carers Forum on the 4th Tuesday of the month.

•   Forums partners are invited to work with SANE staff to develop a topic of specific importance to their organisation – this may be an awareness day or a public campaign. The aim is to help raise awareness of our partners’ services and give members access to specialised knowledge, support and information they may not otherwise receive.

•   In the planning phase, we work very closely with you every step of the way, from setting the topic and preparing up to five talking points, to technical assistance and facilitation on the night of the event.

•   A member of the SANE Moderation team is responsible for managing any Duty of Care concerns during the event, as well as general admin support behind the scenes.

•   Many of our partners like to prepare a paragraph for each talking point beforehand, so that they can simply ‘copy and paste’ across on the night.

•   Planning begins about one month prior to the scheduled event. Special Events:

•   From time to time SANE develops special event programs for the Forums community, such as a webinar series or one-off information sessions with expert panels and speakers.

•   If your organisation is interested in developing a special event activity, we would love to hear from you and are flexible in developing the format and content with you.

ACTION: During the collaboration planning phase the Partnership Manager will confirm if you would like to participate in a TOPIC TUESDAY or other activity. As there are just 12 events per Forum per year, SANE aims to share opportunities across the partnership group as much as possible and partners are encouraged to nominate themselves in advance to secure their spot.

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Moderation

Moderation is critical to ensuring the Forums are a welcoming, supportive and safe place, which is why SANE is committed to providing moderation 24/7, 365 days a year including all public holidays. Our moderators are trained mental health professionals who are responsible for overseeing and implementing the Forums Guidelines and Duty of Care procedures. As mentioned, partners have the option of participating in moderation duties, but it is not a requirement of the Partnership Program. Partner moderators not only assist in steering the community in a positive direction, but also bring in a diverse range of knowledge and expertise. Our partners report that participating in moderation provides a number of strategic benefits – for example, by integrating Forums moderation with their existing Helpline services and providing professional development opportunities for their staff. A typical shift is between three to five hours, either during business hours or after-hours. Shorter shift time options can be negotiated for during business hours only. There are specific duties that moderators must complete at the start, during and end of each shift, for example:

•   Review, remove and document any non-permissible content posted by members, as defined within the Forums Guidelines.

•   Members are also prevented from posting comments that contain words or phrases identified as potentially triggering or discriminatory.

•   Contact members directly via email in the event of an incident that breaches the Forums Guidelines in a supportive and encouraging manner.

•   Attend to any emails in the SANE Forums inbox or member queries, as appropriate and seeking guidance if required from the Community Manager.

•   Moving members posts to more appropriate “Discussion Topics” sections, as required. •   Update appropriate documents reporting incidents that occurred during the shift. •   Hide any posts that are spam or advertising. •   External partner moderators are to escalate incidents to SANE Australia staff as stated in

the Duty of Care framework. •   Moderators are encouraged to be cautious of over-moderating member posts as this can

create a censored environment. ACTION: At the commencement of the agreement, and at any time during the partnership, partners are welcome to participate in Moderation duties. SANE delivers on-site training for your staff in how to use the moderation platform tools and provides ongoing support as needed.

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Community Building

Community Building activity is an additional optional alternative to Moderation duties. On a casual basis, partners are encouraged to chat and respond to posts by Forums members. For example, some partners ask their staff log-in once per week for an hour. It does not involve reviewing posts or any Duty of Care responsibilities. While your staff members’ aliases are anonymous, they should disclose that they are representatives of your organisation which ensures transparency and also helps to specifically promote your services, information and resources. Additionally, your organisation may also choose to have an organizational user profile – e.g. Carers Australia – that staff members can share the responsibility of posting under. Typical activities can include:

•   Asking open-ended questions to encourage conversation amongst members. •   Build relationships with and between members, ensuring no-one feels alone or unheard. •   Be yourself. Showing your personality online gives authenticity and helps build rapport

with members. •   Model desired behaviour - when responding to help-seeking posts by members show

respect, be supportive and normalise help-seeking behaviour. •   Have fun! The posts can often have a heavy tone, so we encourage you to bring some

light heartedness at appropriate times. Additionally, from time to time expert posts may also involve responding to specific issues and concerns that partners can provide expertise in e.g. eating disorders or PTSD. SANE will notify you if this arises, with the aim of responding to the post within 24 hours. Partner Noticeboard It is community building best practice to allow the majority of the content to be generated by our members – that’s why we created a special section called “What’s New” where information about services, research and technology can be shared. In this section there is a dedicated “Partner Noticeboard” post where partners can upload press releases and share other promotional content that doesn’t link to a special topic-based event:

•   Carers Forum: https://saneforums.org/t5/Special-Events/Forum-partner-notice-board/m-p/64668/highlight/true#M1231

•   Lived Experience Forum: https://saneforums.org/t5/What-s-new-services-research-and/Forum-partner-notice-board/m-p/64669/highlight/true#M673

Community Guides

Overtime a positive culture has been developed within the Forums community, with key ‘Super Users’ consistently modeling behaviour that embraces the values of the Forums. In recognition of their community spirit, several of these ‘Super Users’ have been invited into the Community Guides Program, which is a voluntary initiative. Guides do not have formal responsibilities, their drive comes from their commitment to the community and helping others. The title is to show new members in particular that they know their way around the place. It helps to foster a sense of community and lets people know that they are there to help out.

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Troubling Shooting

The Forums platform stores computer cookies to help remember member information so that logging in can be made earlier each time. However, if you have previously accessed the Forums through SANE’s version or via another partner website prior to your organisation’s own version bring developed, then you will need to clear the ‘cookies’ in your Browser History when you start to use your own unique link. If you don’t clear the cookies, the Forums will revert to the version you first visited. If you’re not sure how to do this, simply Google the name of your internet browser and then ‘how to clear cookies’. ACTION: Partners can participate in Community Building activity on a casual basis as much as they are interested. It is an optional activity and really serves to help build the knowledge and understanding of your staff of how the Forums community works and insert organisational expertise, info and resources whenever relevant.

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Promo Resources

Promo Materials

SANE has developed an Online Resource Hub for partners which is published online at www.sane.org/partner-resources. You will find the following materials in both low-res emailable and high-res print-ready file formats (see Figure 2):

•   FACT SHEET for staff – A4 •   INFO CARD - Business Card Tri-Fold •   POSTCARD - 10.5cm x 14.8cm •   POSTER – A3 •   BANNER AD – SQUARE 250 x 250 •   BANNER AD - Landscape 400 x 240 •   Member testimonials which are useful for partner publications

These templates are branded with SANE’s logo but can be adapted with your organisational logo upon request. SANE provides the artwork files at no cost but currently our budget does not cover printing and distribution expenses. Figure 2.

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Social Media

SANE’s social media channels provide a wealth of information and content that is readily available for partners to utilise for their own channels and publications:

•   Facebook https://www.facebook.com/saneaustralia •   Twitter https://twitter.com/saneaustralia •   You Tube https://www.youtube.com/user/saneaustralia •   Blog https://www.sane.org/media-centre/the-sane-blog

On a monthly basis to help promote the TOPIC TUESDAY events, SANE will provide an image banner, links and draft copy (see Figure 3 for example banner). Figure 3.

Side Panel Content

There is also some flexibility to content which appears in the side panel of your version of the Forums. Currently this is sent to a default of the content which appears on SANE’s version of the Forums. Please contact the Partnership Manager if you would like this to include specific information or links your organisation and we will aim to update this on a quarterly basis. Figure 4.

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Reporting Activity

In the monthly Partner eNews SANE will provide an update to the end of the prior month on total traffic to the Forums since launch in May 2014:

•   Discussion Threads & Posts •   Unique Visitors •   Page Views •   Registered Members

On a quarterly basis, SANE will generate reports for your version of the Forums, and for the total partners versus SANE’s version of the platform (see Figure 5 for example):

•   Sessions (not Unique Visitors – see notes below) •   Page Views

Please note: for quarterly reporting periods, we are not able to automatically generate individual reports for partners’ Unique Visitors in Google Analytics as IP addresses for returning visitors will be counted once per quarter. This means that if we were to compare data for a full year, then a returning visitor might be counted four times (once per quarter) when in fact they are a single unique visitor for the year. That’s why for more accurate reporting each quarter we provide the total Sessions rather than Unique Visitors. Figure 5.

ACTION: When the Partnership Manager provides your individual quarterly report, please provide the data for your organisational website for the same time period so that we can identify the percentage of people coming to the Forums through your website. If you have any questions about how the data is reported, please get in touch.

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Appendix - Duty of Care Overview

This document governs the Duty of Care (DoC) for both Carer and Lived Experience Forums. This framework aims to mitigate risk for Forum members, SANE Australia and the partners of SANE. It covers a spectrum of risks, with strategies to manage foreseeable risks and outlines policies and procedures to be followed if a risk eventuates. The DoC Framework has been developed in consultation with SANE partners to reflect best practice and the objectives and principles of the forums. This document will be reviewed annually. This is an overview of the Duty of Care Framework. If there are inconsistencies between the two documents, the full Duty of Care Framework takes precedence.

Duty of Care Risks A comprehensive assessment of duty of care is maintained in the Risk Traffic Light Matrix which uses a traffic light system to rate incidents as Low, Moderate or High risk (green, orange, red respectively). The matrix then identifies action to be taken and is linked to the Escalation Process where necessary. The flow chart at the end of the document will outline the process to follow when risk is identified.

Extent of Service The SANE Forums is a universal mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention service that does not provide treatment, one on one intervention, counselling etc. We provide spaces for peer support with moderation. The nature of these community spaces results in the occasional person in crisis (and in need of immediate help) posting for help. We work closely with appropriate partner organisations (including the police) to get people to the help that they need when in imminent danger of hurting themselves or another. SANE Australia creates a clear boundary and stresses throughout the Forums that the Forums do not replace the role of a professional health advice or crisis care. The extent of the SANE Forums service is clearly stated in relevant areas of the site. Moderators (internal and external to SANE Australia) on the Forums will be fully trained and aware of boundaries of service. Moderators refer members to relevant services when a user needs additional help, unless they meet the criteria to escalate to external emergency services, in which we will contact directly.

Involving external agencies By providing a forum as an element of SANE Australia’s service, we have a duty of care to our members to ensure that we respond appropriately to any immediate risk of harm across the community platform. There are two external agencies that we have an ethical obligation to report to in certain instances: Emergency Services and Child Protection Services. Emergency Services Our responsibility to escalate to police is very specific – we must assess if there is an imminent risk of serious harm to the member or if a member is planning harm to another. If the risk is found to be imminent and serious, the matter is escalated to emergency services. Any matter that is assessed to not pose an imminent or serious risk to life will be dealt with in the usual manner as per the moderation guidelines.

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Each state and territory have been informed of SANE’s Duty of Care Framework. The processes of engaging with each state’s relevant emergency services have been informed through consultation with these authorities. After hours, a Duty of Care Officer (Community Manager, HelpCentre Manager or Community Engagement Specialist) will be on to act as the point of escalation for non-SANE moderators, who will only escalate if they classify the risk of suicide or harm to another to be above low risk. The fundamental decision-making point for both harm to oneself or harm to another is: The member has stated that they have a plan, and the means and that they are in the progress of, or intend to suicide within the next 12 hours. Process involving emergency services The steps in involving emergency services are:

1)   If external moderator is on shift – the SANE staff member on call is to be informed of potential moderate to high risk incidents

2)   SANE staff member to complete to Harm to Self/ Harm to Other assessment tool 3)   If deemed high risk, Reference Group member to be notified 4)   Notification to emergency services

Child Protection Services Any situation where there is perceived or stated risk to the safety of a minor, SANE’s Reference Group should be consulted for review. Situations are currently assessed on a case-by-case basis, and if the risk is deemed to be a child protection issue, the Reference Group should be involved to approve escalation to the relevant Department of Child Services.

Documentation SANE Australia is not a counselling service, and therefore needs to be careful of the documentation it keeps about its members. The documentation is not to speculate on a member’s diagnosis, but a factual record of events. For this reason, all documentation about members:

•   must be based solely on the content the member has explicitly mentioned in their post and/or email/private message correspondence. Do not make assumptions.

•   will not attempt to make a diagnosis based on what the member has posted. •   while there will be Moderators external to SANE, the information is confidential to SANE

Australia. This confidentiality is not to be breached to outside individuals or organisations. Emergency services is the only third party who may at times have access to relevant documentation when high risk incidents take place.

When a risk related to harm to self or harm to another takes place, the following documentation is to be created by SANE Australia:

•   Risk assessment Harm to Self or Harm to Another •   Collection of member’s forum posts or email/private message content •   Post-incident report •   A short entry in the Moderator Incident Report Log.

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Self-Care Looking after yourself is really important when taking on the role of moderator. Being exposed to other people’s problems can take its toll. A negative impact on your wellbeing can happen when dealing with a topic that is particularly triggering for you (perhaps something you or someone you know has experienced) or can build up over time. It’s essential that you have a plan to maintain your wellbeing. Some ways of doing this include:

•   Being aware of your triggers: If you know there are topics that could have a negative impact on you, do not reply to the post. Screen the post to ensure there’s no escalation needed and it’s in line with Forum Guidelines. Allow the community to respond and no one responds, another moderator will respond on their next shift. Alternatively, flag the post with the Community manager of Community Engagement Specialist who will reply.

•   Pre & post shift: Create boundaries to ensure you are not spending more time than is required on the forums. At the end of the shift, it is vital to find something to do to move your mind away from moderating. It is recommended you create a list of activities to refer to when your shift has finished. This could range from reading to exercising. Do something nice for yourself!

•   If something is bothering you: If something has happened during your shift, which is

playing on your mind, please talk to someone. If the matter concerns your moderation on the forums (e.g.: how you responded to a post) the Online Community Manager is happy to debrief after your shift either during business hours or directly after your shift if they are moderating with you. If something is impacting your wellbeing it is important to speak to someone you trust or a professional

•   Take time out: Being a listening ear can impact your wellbeing over time. If you sense

that you need a break from your regular moderating shift, please notify the Online Community Manager. Please flag this with us as soon as you can so we can organise a backup. An agreement will be made as to how much time you require off and a restart date will be tentatively agreed on, with the Online Community Manager checking in before your next shift.

ACTION: If you have any questions about the SANE Forums Duty of Care Framework, please contact the Partnership Manager or SANE Forums Online Community Manager.