The atmosphere behind the scenes at the Dutch-language Wikipedia was characterized in a survey as both ‘constructive’ and ‘argumentative’. Editors indicated that they encountered conflicts and problematic behaviour from others, and that this lead to stress and tension.
They approached Wikimedia Nederland to ask whether an e-support service could be set up for volunteers to share experiences and get advice on coping with stress and tensions. The request came from the Wikipedia community, but the intention was that the communities of sister projects would benefit as well. It was a request that led to an exploration of the world of Dutch psychosocial support and the possibilities and limitations that this entailed. This was done by Sandra Rientjes, then director of Wikimedia Nederland and now retired, together with Wikimedia Nederland board member Renate Oude Nijeweme, who has a professional background and network in the mental health sector.
But before we began our exploration, we sought contact with other chapters that had already gone down this path so that we could learn from them. That is how we came into contact with Wikimedia France. For years, they have been offering Wikimedians the opportunity to get in touch with a support coach. The conversation with France sharpened our focus and made the need for a good coaching structure even clearer. We went to work with great enthusiasm to set up something similar in the Netherlands.
To be honest, we didn’t think it would be a great challenge. We looked into various platforms and got in touch with them with a request that seemed quite straightforward to us: the existing (non-profit) platform would open its doors to Wikipedians seeking support. We would agree on the financial terms, explain how the community works internally, and we were sure we could work together. We also assumed it would be an interesting case study for the other party. Online communication within a community like ours is so different; it would surely be educational for the platform too.
Turns out, we were way off the mark. Not a single platform was interested in our case or in working with us to pioneer and set up the project; at best, they simply pointed us towards their free mindfulness exercises. Eventually, we got in touch with Trimbos, the independent Dutch knowledge institute for mental health. They suggested a number of for-profit options we hadn’t thought of ourselves, and we optimistically contacted the most promising platform. We had encouraging discussions, there was a lot of goodwill, and for a moment, it seemed as though we could bring our search to an end. Despite the generous discounts they were willing to offer us, we could not reach a price that would be affordable for an organization like ours.
We clearly needed to take a different approach. Back to the drawing board, we came up with a different plan. What if, instead of looking for a platform or existing structure whom we could learn about the online interaction within Wikipedia, we instead searched for a person, more specifically, people who already had experience coaching others who interacted online? Surely, we weren’t the only community in the world that had ever looked for a coach? It was crucial for us, however, that these were certified coaches; professionals who continue to develop in their field, who receive peer review and supervision. And someone who has no problem working with the full anonymity of the coachee. But how do you find such a needle in a haystack?
However, it turned out we had misjudged our connections. After posting our query within our network, we received two responses. Marco, who already has experience coaching people using his own self-developed online platform and AI, and Marga, who specializes in coaching people who work together at sea. We’d never even thought of this!
We made a clear agreement about what was needed to verify whether someone had actually contacted them via Wikipedia. Ultimately, it turned out that not much needed to be recorded; a first name or surname is, in fact, sufficient to distinguish a repeat contact from a new one. We therefore agreed not to record or pass on any more information than was strictly necessary for invoicing purposes.
Our search was finalized in the first quarter of 2025, and the pilot officially launched on 1 May 2025. A year has now gone by, and the service has been used twice. This tells us that there is interest in the service, even if it is less than we initially anticipated. Once again, we were able to turn to Wikimedia France for guidance. They indicated that it took a while for the platform to be used more than sporadically in their case too. Now that we have decided to keep it going, we hope that by raising awareness of the option even more, it will be used to a greater extent.
What we have learnt during this journey is that building psychosocial support for a community like ours requires a different way of thinking. Instead of trying to fit our needs into existing structures, we sought people who were already worked with the same intention as us. The the option to chat with our coaches is still in new, but two coachingsrequests in a year means two people who feel heard and who, perhaps as a result, feel more at comfortable in our community.
You can read about our first steps here, and all about the pilot phase on this site. After the board of Wikimedia Nederland made this project permanent the projectpage got updated and the new way of letting people know where they can find the support they need can be found here.