We will be ringing in the New Year in a very different way this year at Peer Help Groups. We are expecting to launch this next week all of the drastic changes that we have been discussing for the past few months. These changes will include the long-awaited implementation of moderators and the release of Recovery Groups Version 2. This will provide for a more peer run site and allow for the sites to grow to any size.
Moderators will serve the same purposes that we discussed in earlier posts and Recovery Groups will be run slightly different than Version One. These changes will also allow us to implement new programs much more easily.

What does this mean for the user? Well, when you submit a request for advice and receive responses to that request, the only change will be the number of responses you receive. Requests for advice will be sent to a randomly selected group of self-identified mentors who want to help. However, there will be much greater changes in the Goal Setting Program. You will be able to choose a mentor for the program based on their own profile, someone who has maybe experienced similar situations as yours and you will be able to interact confidentially with that mentor on the website. And, of course, these changes also mean a great deal in regards to the Recovery Program. The new Recovery Program will host a weekly discussion, run by a moderator, based on a reading or a topic applicable to the group's needs. You will be able to interact with each member of the group confidentially. This also means that all users will have to create a "nickname." As of now, we use first name and email addresses (even though email addresses are not usually shown). In order for all programs to remain confidential, users will need to create a username.

We are very excited about these changes and remind you that many of these came as suggestions from users. We constantly welcome suggestions and ideas on how to improve the site.

Thank you and Happy New Year