New Wired In team member

I’d just like to briefly announce some really good news. Michaela Jones from Ashton-under-Lyne in the North of England is joining our Wired In core team.

This means that the core team now spreads across four countries: Sarah from Wales, Anne Marie from Scotland and I am currently living in Perth, West Australia.

I have been excited about, and impressed by, Michaela since she first started blogging on the community. Her blogs are really interesting and informative, and I think she has won ‘Blog of the Week’ on three occasions (no more though, as team members are not eligible – sorry Michaela!).

Michaela has spent the majority of her working life in the Third Sector, extensively promoting volunteering as a two-way process of professional and personal development. She worked for VSO for a number of years before developing alcohol problems which badly affected her life. She is now in recovery.

Michaela is co-founder of uchooseit, a peer led organisation that focuses on the more practical side of recovery.

In essence, the aim of uchooseit is to offer the individualised support that people need to overcome the day-to-day obstacles that make recovery challenging. Volunteers are the bedrock of uchooseit as they bring a wealth of experience that they can share with others on their own journey towards the kind of life they want to have.

Michaela is joining the WIred In core team as a part-time volunteer – remember, we are existing on the barest minimum of funding. She will acts as a Content Editor (sharing ‘duties with me), editing blogs and other content submitted to our recovery community.

Uchooseit will continue to be Michaela’s day job. She will work with her colleagues to generate content which can be used on the Wired In site, in particular Personal Stories. This organisation and people in the area will become a pilot content generation site for WIred In.

We hope the approach that will be adopted there can be rolled out elsewhere. Just imagine what could be generated if we had a 50 content generation sites around the globe, the potential we would have for a strong co-ordinated advocacy movement.

I am really excited about the potential of this programme and know that Michaela and colleagues will do a great job. As an aside, I should also tell you that uchooseit are becoming an official partner with Wired In.

Finally, I should point out that Michaela will be intimately involved in developing the WIred In strategy.

Thanks for joining us Michaela – and good luck with your first session on the CMS!

PS. You can find out more about Michaela here and do read her blogs.