SBARVOUVEN.CZ
online peer-to-peer counseling website for LGBT+ people

The Prague Pride organization has been operating the online LGBT counseling service since February 2015. It works through peer-to-peer mentoring – the clients themselves choose the mentor and approach him/her in a discreet chat environment. The service has around 30 mentors who have been through various life situations and problems like those that the Sbarvouven.cz clients usually wish to bring up. During the first 3 years of its existence 2085 people used the service, exchanging over 43,000 messages with the mentors. In 2017 an additional 361 new clients used the service.
The conversations with the clients are supervised by 3 professional psychologists. They train the mentors before they start working for the service and during their work. Every year they go through at least 2 weekend supervisory training sessions. The mentors work as volunteers.
The patroness of the service is Ester Janečková, a TV moderator whose 14-year-old nephew Filip committed suicide in 2014 to protest homophobia in the Czech society. Ester represents the service in the media and takes part in LGBT discussions within companies.
The service’s website also features articles and interviews on LGBT topics. Many users will find answers to their questions in those materials, so they don’t initiate a chat with a mentor. Sbarvouven.cz received 126,000 visits over 3 years.