How LinkedIn has allowed me to do peer counseling through simple messaging

I started to write on LinkedIn in 2017, thinking no one would view my writing. It just was a place where I could “store” writing and come back to it later. I didn’t know how to use LinkedIn except for writing and professional connecting.

At the time I didn’t really need a job, and I wasn’t looking for any professional connections, so LinkedIn really wasn’t “my thing” for years. It was only when a friend who used LinkedIn regularly suggested I start posting more mental health content on LinkedIn did I listen and started to push out content!

Pushing out content and seeing people’s reactions has been amazing but the thing I love about pushing out content on LinkedIn is the connections and people that message me for help and support.

I never knew that people would resonate so much with my content. I told myself when I started to write on LinkedIn to hold not much back from the world because I knew my mental health struggles was something others could relate to too. I just didn’t know how much my content would be relatable.

I got a message from a woman who was really struggling and had read one of my posts about anxiety and depression. She didn’t know what to do and was having a lot of suicidal ideations. She didn’t know where to go for help and was thinking of quitting her present job because her anxiety/depression was so bad.

For a solid 3 months, this woman and I messaged each other back and forth. We were on different time zones, so when I would wake up I would see her message and when she was waking up, she’d usually message me. We talked about her coping mechanisms and ways to manage the moods she was going through. We talked about tactics that she could use to combat her anxiety and depression. This was a powerful interaction because she reached out to me, a complete stranger, for support, and took initiative despite the fact she wasn’t feeling good.

I never imagined I would be doing peer-to-peer work on LinkedIn through messaging internationally!

Helping others through advocacy and peer counseling is my jam and it makes me happy it’s been possible on LinkedIn.

#LinkedIn #peertopeer #support