Online Friend Service

How the online friend service works

• The online friend service operates nationwide and is run by volunteers from all over Finland.
• The online friend service uses the email address verkkoystava@redcross.fi for its communications.
• The online friend service serves in Finnish, Swedish and English.

Online friends and local friend service

• Online friends' profiles are not visible in the local friend service. A volunteer must fill in a separate face-to-face friend activity card if they also wish to act as a face-to-face friend.
• Online friends are volunteers of the branch and their profiles are visible through the branch's management view (which is different from the friend service). It is a good idea to invite online friends to friends' peer meetings and to encourage them to also join local friend activities.
• It is worth promoting online friend activities to clients especially when the local friend service cannot offer volunteers of a suitable age or when the waiting times are very long.
• The clients and volunteers of the online friend activities are aged 15–85. Most friend pairs communicate by email or through an anonymous chat application.

Guiding clients to the online friend activities

• The client submits a friend request at Oma Punainen Risti.
• The clients are sent the ground rules for approval by email. Once the client states that they have read and accepted the ground rules, a friend proposal is sent to them by email.
• Clients are asked to commit to the activity for at least 3–6 months.

Guiding volunteers to the online friend activities

• To become an online friend, you complete the basic friend course as well as the "Verkkoauttajana Punaisessa Ristissä" self-study training.
• The volunteer must create an OMA profile and the friend trainer gives a training entry, after which the volunteer fills in the online friend card in OMA Punainen Risti (found by logging in to OMA and editing your own profile).
• The online friend card is transferred to the online friend service and the volunteers send the volunteer instructions by email for registering for the self-study training. Once the volunteer states that they have completed the training, the volunteer's friend profile is activated.
• Once a suitable friend has been found, a friend proposal is sent to the volunteer by email.
• You can instruct the volunteer to watch this animation, which explains how to create an OMA profile and the friend card: Mukaan Punaisen Ristin ystävätoimintaan - YouTube (in Finnish)