Advice and Experts

In the advice section, there are articles written by what are being called 'expert contributors'.

The desprition there is "These professional doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists and counselors share the latest in mental health news, wisdom and advice"

One of these contributors even claims - "is also a mental health expert for 7Cups.com on patient advocacy and suicide".

When people do not have professional designations within the field, should we be calling them experts under that description? Especially for things as serious as giving advice on what to do when someone is suicidal?

I think articles based on personal experiences are fine, but care needs to be taken in distinguishing those articles from professional advice IMO.

To frame this under the requested feedback model:

Problem - the way the Advice section is being promoted it appears that all the experts are professionals in the related field of the articles they post. As far as I can tell, many are not professionals in theres areas. Any PhD doesn't mean that someone fits in as an expert in something like mental health; having a friend who died by suicide doesn't mean that someone can give professional advice on what to do with a suicidal friend. Or a more theroretical example, a cardiologist, while a medical doctor probably shouldn't be referred to as an expert if they write something about their personal experience with bipolar disorder, unless it's something specific on how it can affect the cardiovascular system, cardiac issues with medications, etc.

Solution - Don't refer to people who aren't professionals in the field as experts.

Detailed suggestion - Separate these articles into 2 broad categories 'expert advice' and 'articles' which aren't written by those who are professionals in that area. Separate the contributors appropriately, so those who are not professionals aren't listed under the description of "these professional ..."

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