How to sign up as an adult media volunteer
Find out how you become a media volunteer if you're 18 or older, and what happens when you sign up.
What experience do I need?
To be an adult media volunteer, you need to:
- Be 18 or older
- Live in England or Wales
- Have experience of a mental health problem
- Be willing to talk about your mental health with the media
You don’t need to:
- Share anything you don’t want to with the media. If there are specific details about yourself you don’t want to be made public, that’s absolutely fine.
- Have any media experience. Mind’s media team will offer you guidance and support every step of the way.
- Have lots of free time. You can fit media opportunities around your work and social life.
What happens after I apply?
If your experiences match what we're looking for, we’ll arrange a call to ask you some questions. We'll then work with you to create your volunteer profile.
A volunteer profile includes information about you and your story. We’ll use your profile to match you with media opportunities.
"Bryony from the media team was very calming and helpful both before and during the interview. We went for coffee beforehand where she prepared me for the questions. She is incredibly supportive and encouraging. I enjoyed working with her on this empowering media opportunity."
Media volunteer Devon, who spoke to BBC Radio 2 about his faith and how he supports young Black men in his community with their mental health.
Ready to sign up?
It's great that you're interested in becoming a media volunteer. We’re afraid we don't have any openings for new volunteers at the moment. But when there are, we’ll advertise them here. Why not see how else you can get involved with Mind in the meantime?
Get involved
How will I find out about opportunities?
If an opportunity comes up which we think might suit you, we’ll send the journalist an anonymous version of your profile. If they want to speak to you, we’ll get in touch with you.
You can always choose which opportunities you want to do, and how much you’d like to share about yourself and your experiences.
What support does Mind offer?
We’ll support you every step of the way. Our priority is that you feel comfortable and happy with everything.
Leading up to the opportunity
- We’ll speak to the media organisation for you. We’ll organise everything with the journalist or producer. This includes asking any questions you might have, letting them know about any topics you don’t want to discuss, and any reasonable adjustments you have.
- We’ll let you know what to expect. If you’re doing an interview, we’ll tell you the likely questions and share our interview tips. If you’d find it helpful, we can try to arrange a practice interview with you. You might want to read our information on how to prepare for a media interview.
- You can change your mind. If you no longer want to take part, or your availability changes, that’s completely fine – but please let us know. We might be able to adjust the opportunity, offer extra support, or find another way for you to get involved which feels more comfortable.
During the opportunity
- You don’t have to do it alone. If it’s an in-person interview, we’ll always try to come along. If we can’t, and you don’t feel comfortable going alone, we’ll try to make other arrangements. The same goes for interviews on the phone or video calls. We can try to join the call, if that’s what you'd want.
- You can stop at any time. If you need to take a break or stop an interview, you’ll have our full support. You don’t have to explain why to the journalist – we can speak to them for you. Your wellbeing is our number one priority.
After the opportunity
- We'll debrief. Once you’ve finished the opportunity, we’ll call to check how it went and ask if you have any feedback, questions or concerns.
- We’ll keep you updated. We’ll tell you when it’ll be published or broadcast. If you have questions, concerns, or you’re unhappy with the way your story has been reported, please let us know. We can speak to the media outlet about this for you.
- We can help you find mental health support. If you need support for your mental health at any point, we’ll do our best to help you find it. We might recommend one of our helplines, local Mind services or share useful resources.
FAQs
If you have any questions, check out our FAQs below. If you'd like to speak to one of the team, email [email protected]
We can’t guarantee when or how many media opportunities we’ll contact you about. This is because most media opportunities come up when journalists ask us for an interview with someone. These can be infrequent and we’ll only contact you if your experiences match what the journalist is looking for.
If you haven’t heard from us in a while or you’re looking for other ways you can support Mind between media opportunities, please visit our page about volunteering and participating at Mind.
You can find out about how we look after your information by reading our privacy policy.
You can! If you want to update or remove information from your volunteer profile, email [email protected]. If your contact information changes, please let us know as soon as you can.
Yes! Media volunteering can be a great role to add to your CV. If you need help summarising the role on your CV, please get in touch. We’ll always try our best to help.
If you tell us something which makes us concerned that you or someone else could be at risk of significant harm, we’ll need to do something about this.
This might involve us sharing what you’ve told us with other organisations, like the local council or social services. We’ll always do our best to talk to you about this, before we share what has been said. And involve you in any decisions that are made about what happens next.
Usually, journalists will ask to include your name and sometimes a photo of you. But sometimes you’ll be able to share your story anonymously.
If we know you want to be anonymous, we’ll only approach you when that’s possible. This might reduce the number of opportunities we’re able to offer. We won’t ever share your name, photo or contact information without your consent.
Yes. We’ll always cover your expenses. This will always include travel expenses, and sometimes meal and accommodation expenses too.
Once your interview is published, the media outlet might want to share it in another way. For example, if you do a TV interview, your quotes could be used in an online article, on the radio, or they could share a link on their social media.
We’ll usually know about this in advance, so in most cases we’ll let you know how they’d like to share your story.
Please let us know as soon as you can so that we can speak to the journalist. Sometimes online articles can be edited. TV, radio and print interviews usually can’t be changed once they've been published or aired.
Most broadcast interviews – except for documentaries – are usually only available for 30 days, and sometimes less. The same is true for interviews in print – especially national newspapers, as new issues are published almost every day.
When media volunteers speak out, they help to raise awareness, reduce stigma and change lives. The public response to our volunteer’s stories is usually extremely positive – we know that many people feel less alone or seek support after hearing them.
But it’s important for you to think about how the people you know might react too – and how you might feel about that.
Please let us know if you’re worried about someone’s response. We might be able to offer advice or change your media opportunity to help you feel more comfortable. You might also find it useful to read our information on how to deal with stigma.
If you’re not sure what the requirements are, you’ll find them at the top of this page.
If we can’t sign you up, there are lots of other ways you can get involved in Mind’s work. To find out more, visit our page on volunteering and participating at Mind.
If you want some time off or you change your mind about being a media volunteer, that's okay. You're welcome back any time.
Let us know by emailing [email protected].
