Group Support Community Updates: September 2021

Howdy howdy 7 Cups Community!

September has really flown by! I can’t believe tomorrow’s the first day of October. With the changing seasons and many different holidays and awareness days/events coming soon, the next few months are sure to be busy.

In order to bring more transparency to the community in regards to what the Group Support Leadership Team is working on, we have decided to begin doing monthly team updates. Below, you'll find updates directly from our Group Support Admin, Community Ambassador, Group Support Mentor Leaders, Mod Leads, and Room Supporter Lead. (Note: Any blue text within the updates is a clickable link.)

• ASilentObserver (Group Support Admin)

  We built a room support request form where you can request general support in the chatrooms from a group support leader: Room Support Request Form. You can request that a group support leader enter a room for various non-emergency reasons, such as a member seeking support, wanting company in a room, for a host or co-host for a session, a room check-in, etc.

  
  All members are encouraged to submit a Group Support Emergency Form to call a community moderator in the chatrooms. Also, the community requests to please do not spam a community moderator’s inbox with venting or other reasons. They need to focus all the time in the chatrooms to ensure the moderation of their focused chatrooms to provide support and guidance as needed. If you have any behavioral concerns or reports, please fill this form. We are working on better follow-up and communication to ensure you are able to know the status of the report you submitted.

  
  We processed a bunch of applications and onboarded 19 Room Supporters, 8 Chatroom Moderators, and 5 Global Moderators.

  
  Working on an Awesome Mod of the Month recognition initiative. Credit for the idea goes to the teen members of the teen community who thoughtfully recognize and appreciate the efforts of the moderators who are proactively supporting them in the chatrooms. We also launched Group Support Quizzes, and we launched Power Participants Appreciation initiative for Members & Listeners.

• Asher (Community Ambassador)
  
  This month, I have completed a lot of group support outreach to new listeners, as well as to prospective Room Supporters and Moderators. I’ve also been engaging with the Teen Member Rooms to better understand engagement and issues pertaining to these spaces so we can better problem-solve in leadership. With community feedback, I have been reviewing feedback submitted about group support and rooms so we can better understand the needs of the community. Moving forward, I will continue to process feedback, as well as develop more outreach plans and initiatives with Soul.
  
  

• AnnaTess (Sharing Circle)
  
  In September (and preceding months), Sharing Circle has made several exciting changes!
  
  Our traveling Sharing Circle has spread far and wide with, if I may say so, success! We have community-specific Sharing Circle scripts made and have held sessions in sub-community rooms such as Personality Disorders, Relationship Support, and LGBTQ+/MOGII. We hope to continue to expand to other sub-communities to bring the structure of Sharing Circle sessions to those who might want it.
  
  We have also boarded an awesome new Support Team Leaders - @AriadneLove! Unfortunately, we have also had to say goodbye to one of our OG STLs @Gozzil for the time being, although we hope to welcome back onto the team one day.
  
  The image-based Sharing Circle guidelines have also been created and implemented into scripts alongside the text-based guidelines. We hope this helps with accessibility and ease of access.
  
  For October, we plan to set up and inaugurate a new system for host sign-up, and check-in with our hosting team to improve the consistency of support offered and receive more regular feedback. We also will be holding another AMA to hear about which directions you would like Sharing Circle to go!
  
  

• LuLuRings (Engagement and Support Team Leader Management)
  
  Really excited to put together this September update! Lots of fabulous updates throughout the month of September, as well as some exciting things to come as we move into October.
  
  In September, we updated the Group Support Leader Hosting Requirements so that now all group support leaders (Room Supporters and Community-Centered Moderators) are expected to host in their selected subcommunity rooms. We hope to see this encourage more participation and engagement, as well as support in our group support rooms. In leadership, we onboarded 3 new Support Team Leaders to help us coordinate our subcommunity group support teams: @AriadneLove, @Bubblegumwings1234, and @sophiasanae. We also onboarded @PeaceLoveandPaws as our Room Supporter Lead to help organize our Room Supporter Team.
  
  Looking ahead to October, we have a lot to look forward to. The Group Support Leadership Team will be combing through the Group Support forums to ensure everything provided is up to date and relevant, as well as better organizing the spaces to optimize use and navigation. We will also be rolling out newly-updated training guides for all Group Support Roles, including Room Supporter, Moderator, and Support Team Leader roles. If you’re currently in these roles (or intending to apply for one soon), please be on the lookout for the new guides/resources that will be available in the coming weeks. For questions on these guides, please see @LuLuRings, @Xe, or @PuzichkinCat (Teens).
  
  October is Health Literacy Month, so to honor that, the Group Support community will be celebrating Mental Health Literacy Week October 11th-15th. Our group support teams will be hosting several informative discussions on mental health topics and fighting stigmas surrounding those topics. Also coming up in October will be a Group Support Halloween Event October 29th-31st, which will involve many fun icebreakers and game sessions across the community. Look out for these event announcements coming soon!
  
  

• Xe (Resources and Ethical Management)
  
  In September, we managed to recruit a new Group Support Project Agent: @theriverissinging. River will be helping us with many organizational tasks. We have also been working to communicate with subcommunity leaders to problem-solve and examine community feedback together. As of now we have checked in with several teams and will continue to do so moving into October. We are also working to develop forum posts, as necessary, to take into consideration community feedback from members and listeners. See HERE for an example.
  
  In order to present an overview of group support and the needs of specific subcommunities and to keep all the leaders involved on the same page, we are making designated threads for checking in, which have a detailed document attached. For now, we have done so for Trauma Support and Personality Disorders Support. We are also streamlining group support for all subcommunities for better accessibility to members. See examples HERE and HERE.
  
  Moving into October, we are working to revive and update the Doorkeeper dashboard and system, as well as developing new training guides for Room Supporters, Moderators, and Support Team Leaders. We will also begin initiatives to streamline group support leadership values. We have decided to attach importance to all community leadership positions as being integral to community building, with an emphasis on experience, accountability, and transparency. We will ensure that these values permeate throughout our group support and training guides.
  
  

• CheeryMango (Adult Mod Lead)

  
  The month of September has been a busy month!

  
  During the month, we relaunched the Group Support Mod Buddy Program. We hope that through this program, our moderators are able to get the support needed and to feel more comfortable in moderating in our community rooms. We appreciate the hard work that our moderators are doing for the community!

  
  Additionally, we launched our Group Support/Leadership Discussions. These discussions are aimed to help better equip our leaders with the necessary tools and information for success in leadership and in their roles. We’ve also hosted bi-weekly mod meetings where our chatroom moderators gathered to discuss and share feedback on moderation in our community rooms. Meeting notes from the moderator meetings can be found here. We are actively working on making moderation more effective for both our moderators and community members.

  
  For those of you haven’t already, please take a moment to our Leadership Survey. Your feedback on how well supported you are in your roles is greatly appreciated.

  
  Lastly, upcoming in the month of October, we will be continuing with our bi-weekly mod meetings. A new poll will be shared shortly for the new meeting day and time(s). Additional resources for moderators and leadership discussions can be expected as well.

• EvelyneRose (Teen Mod Lead)

  
  September’s been very busy! On the teen side, I’ve been observing rooms and taking in feedback so I can better serve this amazing community in my Mod Lead Role. As we move into October and getting closer to the end of the year, be on the lookout as I’ll be doing 1-1 outreach to teen mods, as well as seeking volunteers to support me in hosting mod discussions to reinforce and enhance mod training so we can have an altogether higher-quality and safer group support community for our teens!

• PeaceLoveandPaws (Room Supporter Lead)

  
  Thank you to everyone for your warm welcomes as I have stepped into the role of Room Supporter Lead. I appreciate everyone’s support.

  
  I have posted an announcement of my position, my areas of support, and created a poll for both teens and adults to complete. I have also included the room supporter application for members and listeners for those interested in learning more about the role. Please see the original post HERE. The poll is open until October 5th. I anticipate the first meeting will be held the week of October 11th based on the poll responses.

  If anyone would like to volunteer your time and efforts to assist with Room Supporter discussions or AMA sessions, please PM me for more information.

@ASilentObserver @EvelyneRose @Asher @kindSoul10 @pamharley003 @blitheEmbrace27 @EmmaE @leafycup @LoveLilly @cuteOrange213 @LuLuRings @PeaceLoveandPaws @PoliteOcean @KateDoskocilova @AnnaTess @Starmedia @CheeryMango @enchantedlove @Greenchoice1 @KimsonTheSteveFundYPOC @SuryanshSingh @amiablePeace77 @DigitalKnight @whenitsdarklookforstars @Xe @MrsAshleyMarie @kindLemonade @BanjotheBudgie @mentalspace7cup @AriadneLove @sophiasanae @Olivia210 @PuzichkinCat @Bubblegumwings1234 @theriverissinging