Practicum 4: Berenson, Online Support Groups

Practicum 4:

Being completely honest I have continued to struggle with the ethical implications associated with essentially pretending to have a severe mental and physical disease. Its been difficult for me to pretend to be depressed or diabetic because I feel like I am being insensitive to people who do in fact suffer from these diseases.

 While searching the support section on iMedix for my phony disease, I found another member had shared a link to the website www.spillnow.com which caught my eye because it was actually founded by an older alumni in my sorority a couple years back. I clicked on the link, which directed me away from iMedix to the SPILL home page. Founded in 2009 by UW graduate Hedi Alsop, SPILL stands for Supporting Peers in Laid back Listening and is an online support group geared towards college age kids suffering from a variety of mental illness or who are just plain lonely. This is where my practicum changed directions a bit and really took off. Instead of pretending to suffer from more serious mental illnesses like clinical depression and seek advice on iMedix from other members, SPILL allowed me to anonymously blog to other like-minded college students online bout real issues. For instance SPILL is a confidential peer-to-peer support system online for college students and students can simply vent confidentially about whatever problems they’re going though and get unbiased support from other students who are trained supporters. If I was simply having a bad day getting anxious about searching for jobs and graduating I could vent to someone online and no longer felt unethical by deceiving people and pretending to suffer from a much more sever illness that I didn’t have.

On SPILL both parties are anonymous to one another and the ‘spiller’ gets responses within 24-48 hours. You can spill about anything but frequently talked about subjects on the website include loneliness, friends, school, depression, recent break ups, insecurity about intelligence, discord in relationships, pressure to succeed, drinking problems, concern for a friends and casual sex. (www.spillnow.com). These are topics that may sound trivial but most college students deal with them to varying degrees at some point in their college career. SPILL’s webpage also provides helpful links to other resources to help students in need:

The website extensible lays out SPILL’s mission, “To comfort individuals that are struggling by creating a safe, confidential support network that is available all hours of the day. Unlike iMedix, all SPILL mediators are extensively trained and must commit to responding to each email within 24 hours. This creates a much more structured environment and is a completely free resource for all college students.

According to the website SPILL aims to:

"Provide a confidential outlet for stressors by connecting students with an anonymous network of peer

who have experienced similar struggles."

"Reduce feelings of loneliness for students who are feeling isolated by showing them that they are not

alone in these hardships."

"Be a safe-haven for students who are:

initially afraid or embarrassed to speak with someone face-to-face,

on a waiting list for campus counseling and trying to get by, or

struggling with issues late at night when few resources are available."

"Ease the transition to college life by providing non-judgmental, same-aged listening ears."

"Foster a more tight-knit student community that encourages altruistic support between strangers."

"Provide multiple unbiased perspectives from 4-6 other students so that students can get a diverse set of

opinions and resources for dealing with various situations."

"Offer peer-to-peer support outside of the clinical setting, and similarly reduce the stigmas associated with

reaching out for help when you need it."

"Promote campus resources. Research suggests that encouragement from peers who are “on the same

level” tends to be better received by struggling students than if it were to come from an authority figure,

increasing the chances that they will further seek out the recommended resources."

"Improve student retention and decrease the prevalence of suicide on college campuses by acting as a

preventative resource that promotes psychological wellness and reduces academic stress."

"Provide real world volunteer experience for students who are interested in going into social work, psychology, or counseling by giving them a chance to respond to emails in a supportive, non-judgmental manner."

After thoroughly reading the mission statement I decided to ‘Spill’ some small stresses of my own and see what advice I would receive in return. Stay tuned.