Post your Support Leader Applications. -- LiveWire Teen Forums

Thanks for taking the time to read my application.
I�d like to begin not by telling you while I think I�d make a good LiveWire Peer Support Leader, but about why I�d like to be one.
I guess I have all the ordinary reasons � that I�ve had lots of fantastic support from all the support leaders on the site, that I feel I should help people. But to be honest with you, when I joined LiveWire I was hardly one of the most supportive members around. I figured that as long as other people were willing to do the peer support thing, I�d be okay just chatting in the other forums and on the groups. Who wanted to waste time typing out lengthy replies to other people�s boring problems that all had really obvious solutions anyway? Not I.
A couple of months ago, though, I saw a post complaining that LiveWire has become unsupportive. I don�t think I ever replied to the thread in the end, but they were saying the same as many people I�ve seen since � that everybody had forgotten that LiveWire is primarily a peer support site but that these days when they posted they just couldn�t get the quality replies and support they used to. I know now that there are lots of these topics, but at the time I was still a relatively new member to the site and I hadn�t really seen them before; certainly not at the volume they were appearing.
I immediately scrolled down to the quick reply box at the bottom of the screen and began to defend myself. I started to write something about how I was definitely a supportive member of LiveWire, that I�d always been able to get the help I needed from this site, that I�d built up several strong friendships on the site through helping other � no, hang on. I hadn�t actually done that. Actually, I wasn�t really a very supportive member of the site either. I couldn�t even remember the last time I�d so much as looked at the support forums. No, I hadn�t done my bit. And as for getting the help I needed � well, actually, sometimes I hadn�t. The times I�d received the best replies were definitely when I�d used the ehelp system and let the support leaders take care of my problems.
I moved on to another topic then, but I kept flicking back. A while later, someone posted something saying that it wasn�t hard to just help one person every day, and if everybody did that then LiveWire (and the world at large!) would be a better place. I started to think. Well, one person isn�t much, is it? Surely I could manage just one person every day?
Somewhat reluctantly, I began to take myself off to the support forums and look for people with questions I could answer and situations I could relate to. I discovered within minutes that I�d been completely wrong in my perception of people�s problems � they don�t all have straightforward answers, and they certainly aren�t ridiculous. I began to go a little beyond my resolution of one person a day � as long as there was someone I thought I could help, I�d take the time to write out a reply or send them a private message. It made me feel good when they posted to say their problem had been solved, or that they appreciated my advice, or even when they didn�t post at all, because I knew I�d done my best to help.
I�ve kept writing supportive replies ever since I decided to help one person a day, and I�m still enjoying it. I didn�t really think about applying to be a support leader, though, until I submitted another ehelp. I found that once again, the answers I got to my problem were caring and sympathetic, but also full of good advice. I followed the advice I received, feeling better now that someone had helped me determine a definite course of action, and what I�d thought an insurmountable problem almost solved itself. I want to make someone else feel like that. Not everybody�s problems will disappear overnight, not everyone I can help, not everyone will take my advice, and advice won�t always solve a problem, but some people just need a kind word to help them along, and I can certainly do that. When I need advice about something personal, LiveWire is my first point of call. I�m sure the same is true for many other people, and I want to help them. In an ideal world, there wouldn�t be any more people complaining that they couldn�t seem to find anyone who�d help them on LiveWire. That�s not going to happen overnight, but I can certainly do my bit to help, and I think I can do it best by being a peer support leader.
To me, the support leaders of LiveWire are people I can ask anything and be sure of a confident and caring response. I�d like to be considered one of those people � someone who can be trusted to listen, someone who will say the right thing and care enough to keep giving help as long as it�s needed. I know I can give people the help they want, but even when I can�t wave a magic wand and make their problems go away, the least I can do is try.
I�m generally a serious person, although I do like to think I have a sense of humour somewhere! I don�t feel the urge to laugh at people�s problems. Once I�ve posted a reply to someone�s problem, I often check back to see if they�ve replied or made any more topics about it later. I care if people sort their problems out. My friends often come to me for advice. I would consider myself a responsible and caring person, and I�d like to have the opportunity to help more people in the role of support leader.
In short, I�d like to be a LiveWire Peer Support Leader because I care. I like to help people, and I want to do more of it. Thank you very much for taking time to read my application and for considering me as a potential support leader. I want to give peer help and peer support. Period.

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Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept
an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that
it can't be taken on its own merits.
~Dan Barker