On AtlasTalked, we rely on everyone’s unique qualities to create a truly special selection. We have people who have “been there”, folks that have read a lot of books, elders who have lived a lot of life. Everyone has something uniquely theirs to offer others. Hopefully, they advertise those qualities on their listings.
As a client, we have several tools built-in to help you home-in on the best Friend for you. Namely, the following are our search criteria:
- Online or Offline. All listings are separated into these two offerings. During a pandemic, this section is pretty self-explanatory. After the pandemic, we’re expecting to see lower prices in the Online category.
- Style. This is the broadest measure of how someone thinks they can help. Similar to Inspirations, Style offers a much simpler way to spell out the friends’ communication style.
- Interests. Interests implies the topics the Friend is most interested in talking about. This may be from experience, ol’ fashioned book learning, or whimsy, though it’s very often first-hand experience. These Interests tend to be personal problems, which sometimes overlap with psychological problems and sometimes don’t.
- Inspirations. What inspires a Friend, someone who wants to help others, can come in many forms. If you make a listing yourself, you know what I mean: there are a lot of options here. Many are modalities of helping, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), some are religious, some are lived experience. Notably, even if an Inspiration shares a title with a professional therapy method, the Friend is not offering therapy. These approaches are often broad philosophies and the Friend’s Inspirations merely imply a familiarity and positive affinity with such ideas. If you’re not familiar with a term, consider researching it to see if the Friend’s ideas line up with your own.
- Description. The description is a little longer, but it provides you the best insight into the kind of person the Friend is and what their idea of help is. If you’re interested enough in the person to consider hiring them, there’s no doubt that you’ll read their description. Keep in mind, however, that our peer supporters are not professional marketers: give them a little slack. Trying to sell peer support is a totally new idea to all of us, so these descriptions tend more toward a window into people’s minds than a veritable pitch for their offering.
Piqued your interest? Take a look at our Friend search in action!
If you’d like to help others, why not give it a spin a make a listing of your own?