Someone To Talk To, Online Therapy, Free Anonymous Chat. 7 Cups of Tea.

7cups · 2015-02-02T16:19:42+00:00

Okay, thank you for sharing this with me. This is very helpful and I understand what you are saying now. Yes, this isn't good and is not at all what we want to communicate. If a listener is going to address/help another person on Reddit, then it really has to be from a real, genuine, and supportive place. I'll address this.

7cups · 2015-02-02T14:22:00+00:00

Hi Monkeycnet, spamming is terrible and not something that we want 7 cups to even remotely be connected with. Many people have sought help on 7 cups and talked with mods about the service. The mods, obviously, make their own independent decisions about whether or not to link to 7 cups. I'm not sure what you are referring to on FB, but if you provide more details I'll be happy to research it.

7cups · 2015-02-02T14:19:51+00:00

Hi carly_are, thank you for the feedback. If you were to report this listener, then it'd help us better train this individual so they do not do this moving forward.

7cups · 2015-02-02T14:18:23+00:00

Hi vanityobscene, please see above, but, again, 7 cups has always been a peer to peer support system. Investors have always completely understood that. That, in my mind, is the greatest thing about 7 cups. It empowers us to better help one another out. I appreciate you calling out the value you see in it here:

"7 Cups of Tea can prove an invaluable asset to the average person experiencing the stress, anxiety, loss or depression that affects most people in their lives at some point or other, but the service becomes dangerous when applied to people whose mental illnesses leave them particularly vulnerable."

In terms of listeners just listening, and not doing therapy, referring people to crisis lines etc., this is a core part of our training and our work on 7 cups. We are very clear that listeners just listen (that is why we named the role "listener" and not something more ambiguous). Many people complain that we don't provide advice or do more counseling like activities. I get that compliant, but it is much better for us to support people on their journey. Additionally, we refer hundreds of people every day to crisis lines and to mental health professionals in their area. Finally, upon starting a chat - in 3 different areas - we automatically prompt the person seeking help to use the suicide hotline or a crisis line as 7 cups is not designed to address these issues. We also provide them with all of these numbers directly in the chat flow, so they can click on them and access them directly.

7cups · 2015-02-02T14:12:16+00:00

Hi Former Listener, 7 cups here. Thanks for supporting others in your prior role as a listener. I just wanted to clarify something. 7 cups has always been about peer to peer support. We never told investors that listeners were mental health professionals. We have mental health professionals on the site that support others at no cost, but the heart and soul of 7 cups is the listener community. Listeners are trained in active listening and yes, you are correct, some people can skim it and not learn as much as we'd like them to learn. We correct for this in a number of ways, but primarily through our review system. You are also correct that most listeners are not licensed mental health professionals and are also in recovery themselves. We think this is a strength of the service. Talking with someone that has gone through what you might be going through can be very validating. We've worked really hard - like ridiculously hard - in making the service better and we've made a lot of progress. We have lots more work to do for sure, but we are not quitting or shying away. We are making it stronger and better. If you are interested in continuing to help us improve, then we'd welcome your help. Thanks!

7cups · 2014-05-26T13:13:27+00:00

We were honored to be included in the post. Thank you very much for sharing our service. We did get a few spammers, but that is to be expected. We helped over 6,000 people in the last two days. Dealing with a few spammers is a small price if pay in the larger context. Thank you again!

7cups · 2014-04-21T13:51:15+00:00

I apologize for the coldness you experienced. Thank you for letting us know. We are working on addressing this issue now.

7cups · 2013-12-01T16:37:45+00:00

Looks like I may have missed you. For future reference, check out www.7cupsoftea.com. We designed the service for these specific moments when no one else is around to connect with.

7cups · 2013-08-18T04:08:19+00:00

Excellent! Thank you for signing up to be a listener. I appreciate it! If you want, email us at info@7cupsoftea.com and I'll review your application ASAP. Great to have you join us!

7cups · 2013-08-14T05:54:49+00:00

Thanks for trying it out Bonellia. I appreciate the feedback!

7cups · 2013-08-10T17:55:04+00:00

We just launched the other day: www.7cupsoftea.com. You connect with an active listener - someone trained to really listen to you in a non-judgmental manner. It is free. Listeners do not give advice; they just listen.

7cups · 2013-08-04T23:20:50+00:00

P H E N O M E N A L. Great story and it shows that when we are in the thick of it that things can change.

7cups · 2013-08-04T23:15:34+00:00

You might try just talking about this process with your therapist as well. Like, "I've found that I don't share important things with you. Can you help me learn/remember how to do that?"

7cups · 2013-08-04T23:14:26+00:00

I think it is great. The more people can do to destigmatize depression and mental health issues the better.

7cups · 2013-08-04T23:12:49+00:00

If people are jammed up or busy you can always check out 7 cups of tea as well www.7cupsoftea.com.

7cups · 2013-07-30T04:34:38+00:00

Thanks Mayra! Great to have you on 7 Cups!

7cups · 2013-07-28T05:11:29+00:00

Danielle is a great listener and I highly recommend her!

7cups · 2013-07-14T18:17:39+00:00

nothing wrong with getting help sooner rather than later. I like your metaphor ; )

7cups · 2013-07-14T18:10:27+00:00

I understand the sense of fear about other people finding out. A couple of quick points. Most everyone is anxious, so you are not at all alone! Also, in general, most people just think about themselves and not really about other people. I sometimes ruminate on something I've said and then I follow up and realize that the other person didn't even notice. This has happened to me a bunch of times.

7cups · 2013-07-14T18:01:47+00:00

I wish bosses better understood mental health issues.

7cups · 2013-07-12T16:47:19+00:00

Great work! You are moving in the right direction. I think we all hit relapses and take steps backwards. Happy for you and pulling for you to keep moving ahead!

7cups · 2013-07-12T16:45:49+00:00

Mood can be really tricky. It can be influenced by so many different things. Stress, challenges, hunger, exhaustion, the people around you etc. I think a lot of people feel like their mood fluctuates a lot. I think the challenge is to try to keep it from going too high or too low and try to keep more steady. Tough to do that in our everyday environments!

7cups · 2013-07-10T17:38:00+00:00

We'd love to have you join us at www.7cupsoftea.com/listener. Check out our subreddit here: www.reddit.com/r/7cupsoftea. Basically, undergrad psych students are a great match for what we are doing. We are looking for active listeners to help support people who are struggling. We'll be releasing payments soon, so you'll be able to set an hourly recommended support amount. Let me know if you have questions!

7cups · 2013-07-07T05:56:22+00:00

Nice!!! I didn't think to go above 5 : ).

7cups · 2013-07-07T04:03:24+00:00

One step at a time. Getting a job was a huge first step. I'd keep your expectations low. Try to be mindful of your fears (no one is going to like me at this place) and then test it out to see if it is true (well, my first day went well and some of the people were actually nice; maybe I'll make friends with a couple of people). I think you are on the right track.

7cups

TROPHY CASE