I wasn’t sure if people would be willing to volunteer for free or not. You’re more than welcome to.
The nice thing about money is that it helps the supply of listener hours expand to meet the demand, if they aren’t well matched. I imagine if I had framed it as a volunteer thing, people would not be comfortable asking for money, even if being able to ask for money would have the beneficial effect of expanding supply to meet demand. So I think volunteering is fine but asking for money should be fine too.
I guess maybe I thought spending an hour a week talking to someone for an indefinite number of weeks felt like a lot to ask of a casual volunteer, but that volume of conversation also seemed like it might be pretty helpful for some people? Money helps avoid the awkward question of the point at which a volunteer’s commitment ends. If the nature of a person’s depression is such that they are very concerned about being burdensome, this could be important.
Edit: I heard that the biggest downside of casual listening is that the casual listener will sometimes just say “I don’t feel like doing this any more”, which can be tough on the depressed person. So maybe the norm should be that if you are taking money in order to help someone, you should stay committed to helping them.
I’m a bit worried that with the option of free, a lot of people will feel too guilty to ask for money, and that the supply would go down (ie. some people who otherwise would only do it for money wouldn’t do it for money now that the free option is available). But on the other hand, the people who wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it for money but would feel comfortable doing it for free would push the supply up. My impression is that overall, the result will be a higher supply, and that the free option is worth it.
LW has members from many countries. Are we sure it’s legal for people without a medical license to charge money for providing mental help in all of those countries?
Isn’t the usual trick is to put a very nice disclaimer saying that “this does not substitute professional advice, and if you are depressed you should visit a therapist” or something contradictory that removes all your belief in how much help that’ll give you.
I was careful in my post to use language indicating that this is not therapy, just having someone to talk to (e.g. the way a life coach might talk to you). If you think I could have made that more clear, feel free to send me PMs with suggestions (ideally based on legal research).
Is the money a requirement? Ie. could you volunteer as a free resource, or would that mess the market dynamics up? What is the thinking?
I wasn’t sure if people would be willing to volunteer for free or not. You’re more than welcome to.
The nice thing about money is that it helps the supply of listener hours expand to meet the demand, if they aren’t well matched. I imagine if I had framed it as a volunteer thing, people would not be comfortable asking for money, even if being able to ask for money would have the beneficial effect of expanding supply to meet demand. So I think volunteering is fine but asking for money should be fine too.
I guess maybe I thought spending an hour a week talking to someone for an indefinite number of weeks felt like a lot to ask of a casual volunteer, but that volume of conversation also seemed like it might be pretty helpful for some people? Money helps avoid the awkward question of the point at which a volunteer’s commitment ends. If the nature of a person’s depression is such that they are very concerned about being burdensome, this could be important.
Edit: I heard that the biggest downside of casual listening is that the casual listener will sometimes just say “I don’t feel like doing this any more”, which can be tough on the depressed person. So maybe the norm should be that if you are taking money in order to help someone, you should stay committed to helping them.
Agreed about the commitment.
I’m a bit worried that with the option of free, a lot of people will feel too guilty to ask for money, and that the supply would go down (ie. some people who otherwise would only do it for money wouldn’t do it for money now that the free option is available). But on the other hand, the people who wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it for money but would feel comfortable doing it for free would push the supply up. My impression is that overall, the result will be a higher supply, and that the free option is worth it.
LW has members from many countries. Are we sure it’s legal for people without a medical license to charge money for providing mental help in all of those countries?
Isn’t the usual trick is to put a very nice disclaimer saying that “this does not substitute professional advice, and if you are depressed you should visit a therapist” or something contradictory that removes all your belief in how much help that’ll give you.
I was careful in my post to use language indicating that this is not therapy, just having someone to talk to (e.g. the way a life coach might talk to you). If you think I could have made that more clear, feel free to send me PMs with suggestions (ideally based on legal research).