As we are currently still developing, the most important areas where we need volunteer help and support are:

• Developing and completing our comprehensive peer mental health support training course

How can you help? We need input, ideas, and constructive feedback in designing our peer support course with content that is thorough, effective, and relevant to us as peers living with mental health challenges.

• Providing Peer Support Services to members of the community

How can you help? We need volunteers to help provide support and services to those in need, particularly we need volunteers to be Peer Mentors and Peer Counselors.

• Be a community education or support group facilitator

How can you help? We need volunteers who are passionate about engaging with others, passionate about facilitating and discussing mental health and recovery topics.

• Spreading awareness of who we are, what we do, our mission, our values, and our goals to those in our communities in Riverside County

How can you help? You can let others know of us and who we are, you can distribute and post our flyers at local businesses, organizations, and places where people could benefit from knowing about us, and you could share about us on social media including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

We screen all volunteers to ensure that they are a good fit for our organization, and for the work we do with our clients and the community by providing peer mental health support and mental health justice, equity, and advocacy.

Our application screening process is thorough and by filling out our application questionnaire we get to learn more about you as a person. We not only ask about who you are, but we ask you questions related to your interest in joining us, your interest in peer support and community mental health, and we get to learn more about the skills and experience you have in previous volunteer and work positions. This helps us learn who you are as an individual, what your strengths are, what your areas for growth are, and what roles you would best be suited for.

The primary platform for our work is hosted on the Google Workspace platform including sites, docs, sheets, and forms.

For official RCPS email: Yourname@riversidecountypeersuport.org you need to be a licensed user in our Google Workspace.

As we currently do not have an operational budget volunteers can contribute by paying for their Google Workspace licenses or wait until we have funding through donations to cover this monthly expense at $6.00USD per month per licensed user which may increase based on our Google Workspace plan needs. Volunteer staff who choose to work on our management and leadership teams will be required to pay for their google workspace licenses until appropriate funding is secured.

If you choose not to pay for your own Google Workspace license with our organization, you will be provided alternatives to use in lieu of official RCPS email.

Our current phone number is operated out of the Grasshopper phone system and we will instruct our volunteers on using our phone system.

Our primary platform for internal communication is our Slack Workspace, currently on the free version of Slack.

For teamwork tasks and assignments and record keeping, we use: Microsoft To Do and Microsoft OneNote

We are actively researching for efficient and user-friendly platforms and tools for our organization, and we are open to suggestions.

In the future we aim to transition to HIPAA compliant platforms and tools.

We currently do not have a physical space for our organization. 

Right now, we work remotely and, in the field to work with our clients, community partners, and to conduct other business in the scope of our mission and our goals.

Our director, currently works remotely from home, in Murrieta, CA and remotely in the field.

In the future, our goal is to have several physical locations within Riverside County to conduct our work and to support our clients.

Currently we do not have non-profit liability insurance, however in the future we will.

At this time our current protections from liability are the following:

The Federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997

Definitions Under the federal law, a volunteer is a director, officer, trustee, or service provider who performs services for a nonprofit organization or governmental entity and does not receive compensation (other than reasonable reimbursement or allowance for expenses) or anything with a value in excess of $500 per year. "Nonprofit organization" is defined broadly and is not limited to organizations tax exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). It includes any not-for-profit organization that is organized and conducted for public benefit and operated primarily for charitable, civic, educational, religious, welfare, or health purposes, whether or not tax exempt. Excluded are organizations that practice any action that constitutes a hate crime. A governmental entity includes a state and its political subdivisions. 

Available Protection A volunteer is not liable for harm caused by his or her act or omission on behalf of the organization or entity if: 1. at the time of the act or omission, the volunteer was acting within the scope of his or her responsibilities in the organization or entity; 2. if appropriate or required, the volunteer was properly licensed, certified, or authorized by the appropriate authorities to undertake the activities or practice in the state; 3. the harm was not caused by willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed; and 4. the harm was not caused by the volunteer operating a vehicle for which the state requires the operator or owner to possess an operator's license or maintain insurance. 

Limitations on Volunteer Protection This volunteer protection does not apply when the volunteer's misconduct constitutes a crime of violence, act of international terrorism, or hate crime, or to any misconduct that involves a sexual offense, the violation of a federal or state civil rights law, or intoxication or drug use. As with many state laws, the federal law provides that a volunteer is not liable for merely negligent acts or omissions but can be liable for gross negligence. An individual allegedly harmed by a volunteer can still sue the volunteer, claiming gross negligence. Whether or not the volunteer successfully defends the civil lawsuit, the volunteer must pay the cost of his or her defense. A volunteer found to be liable may have to pay all of the harmed individual's economic losses, whether or not the harm was caused solely by the volunteer, but a volunteer acting within the scope of his or her responsibilities to the organization or entity will be liable for noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering only in proportion to the volunteer's responsibility for the harm. The federal law does not affect the liability of the organization or entity with respect to harm caused by the volunteer to any person. If the organization or entity is found to be liable for the harm caused by the volunteer, the organization or entity may be able to seek recovery from the volunteer. The federal law does not protect the volunteer from civil lawsuits brought against the volunteer by the organization or entity on whose behalf the volunteer performs services. 

Permissible Conditions on Volunteer Protection The federal law permits a state law to impose one or more of the following conditions on the protection of volunteers: 1. The organization or entity must adhere to risk management procedures such as mandatory training of volunteers. 2. The organization or entity is made liable for the acts or omissions of its volunteers to the same extent as an employer is liable for the acts or omissions of its employees. 3. Volunteers are not protected if a state or local government officer pursuant to state or local law brings a civil lawsuit. 4. The organization or entity must provide a financially secure source of recovery for individuals harmed by the volunteer, such as an insurance policy, coverage in a risk pool, equivalent assets, or other arrangements. 

In addition to protections covered by The Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, as an organization we screen all applicants, and may require additional background checks. All of our volunteer staff members will complete our comprehensive peer support training, safety training, and will act in good faith and sign liability waivers, waiving RCPS of any liability for legal damages, monetary damages and/or compensation, or any other legal action against Riverside County Peer Support, where allowed by law. We will also require our clients to sign a release of liability waiver in good faith of our support and the services provided by our programs and by our volunteer staff.

Our organization and our leadership staff hold the highest value and appreciation of you, our volunteers, and those in the community in the support of our mission and the work that we do in community in mental health peer support and mental health justice and equity.

While our work is critically vital to our clients and our communities, we often do not get recognized or appreciated for it. 

As such we aim to, at our discretion and capacity, hold volunteer and community appreciation events and activities in recognition of your dedication and hard work.

Please know, that our verbal gratitude and appreciation doesn't convey in whole how we feel or acknowledge how deeply we care and appreciate you as a person, and the work that you do. 

At this time, as an organization, we are still in development and all of our staff positions are filled by volunteers. This includes our leadership and management staff.

As we solidify ourselves as a prominent organization in community mental health peer support, we hope to gain funding through local, state, federal programs and through generous community donations in support of our work.

When we establish ourselves as a legally defined 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and have a declared operational budget we will move forward into offering paid staffing positions available first to our current volunteer staff. In the future we aim to provide other paid staffing positions as they become available.

 Additionally, in the future, we would like to offer out of pocket cost reimbursement to our volunteer staff peer providers and offer a monthly stipend to our volunteer staff peer providers in recognition for their work.