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Sarah Melzack, undertaking supervisor of the AOP Peer Help Line, and Leah Boyle, OT ’s net content material and social media government focus on current tasks and the way their groups have been supporting members
Industrial: Sarah Melzack, undertaking supervisor of the Peer Help Line
How has the Peer Help Line (PSL) been supporting members prior to now 12 months?

Sarah Melzack
Within the final 12 months our superb volunteers have assisted with virtually 100 hours of assist conversations; listening to issues, offering understanding, and serving to callers to work by means of their worries to realize some perspective or a plan of motion. While 2020 noticed a 65% rise in calls, fuelled by stresses and work/life adjustments brought on by the pandemic, 2021 appears to be plateauing however with a rise in psychological well being points, an unlucky repercussion following such an unstable and strained 12 months. Fortunately, lots of callers report a way of aid and readability after talking to us.
What are your plans for the PSL within the 12 months forward?
With the rise in psychological well being points, we shall be concentrating on upskilling our volunteers on this space. We’re additionally conducting a (a lot delayed because of the pandemic) onboarding of some new recruits so it is going to be nice to have some new views delivered to the fantastic volunteer group that we’ve got.
What’s one factor you want to readers to know in regards to the PSL in 2021?
Our volunteers wish to assist. The PSL volunteers are optometry professionals who can perceive the context and implications of caller’s issues, be them giant or small, skilled or private, and so they function in a very anonymised and confidential house. Earlier callers have typically referenced wishing they’d referred to as sooner, so to members struggling I’d say, please don’t delay.
Optometry As we speak: Leah Boyle, OT net content material and social media government
What’s the OT talks social media collection?
That is a web-based video collection, created for OT’s Fb and Instagram, that goals to supply the newest recommendation and perception into get the most effective out of utilizing social media. From easy suggestions and methods, similar to save time, to moral obligations surrounding professionalism and confidentiality.
Within the collection, OT interviews trade consultants in on-line advertising, in addition to optometrists and optometry college students with a longtime social media presence, who every supply a distinct perspective of their space of experience.
What led to the launch of the collection?

Leah Boyle
Over the previous 12 months we’ve all witnessed the expansion of on-line exercise and social media isn’t any exception. Some practitioners might have used this time to consider what they provide on-line and the social media platforms they make investments time into, so we thought this was the right alternative to launch a video collection that would assist them. There’s a plethora of knowledge and steerage on-line about social media finest apply, however we needed to create one thing bespoke and related for optometrists, that they may think about when approaching how they use social media.
How do you hope this collection will profit optometrists?
I hope this helps optometrists to really feel extra knowledgeable, assured and better-equipped when utilizing social media of their apply or as college students. I additionally hope the video collection helps practitioners to consider how they are often extra artistic with the sort of content material they’ll produce and maybe attempt new issues they hadn’t thought of doing earlier than.
How does this match into OT’s social media plans and the way can optometrists become involved?
The OT group want to proceed with this collection for a number of extra episodes so we’d welcome any budding optometry influencers to contact us. We may even be operating Instagram giveaways and competitions all year long and would encourage readers to become involved.
We’re all the time on the lookout for contemporary concepts, so if readers want to suggest something to us, our door is all the time open. We might additionally welcome listening to from any optometrists who’ve an attention-grabbing story to share, be it a patient-related, opening a brand new apply, or experiences learning at college. Social media is about creating a way of group so by sharing experiences, we can assist make this stronger.
To get in contact, e mail [email protected] or [email protected]
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