Chat Anxiety?
One thing we've learned at 7 cups is that we have to make it very easy for people to seek help. Any barrier - even if it is really small - keeps a significant percentage of people from taking that next step to chat with someone. Recently, we've learned that a lot of people hit that connect now button on our home page and leave the site almost immediately. It seems that it is not uncommon for people to get anxious when connecting with a listener for the first time. We need to address this barrier, so that people are less anxious. If you can provide me some feedback on these questions, then that would be great:
1. Were you anxious the first time you hit "connect now"? if yes, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being very anxious, where were you?
2. Were you also anxious the second time? If yes, where were you on that same scale of 1-10?
3. Can you identify what thoughts or fears you had that may have been causing you anxiety?
4. What can we do to address this anxiety beforehand so people feel safer chatting with a listener?
Our current ideas to make it safer include:
-showing a how it works section so people can read mock transcripts and know that it is just messaging.
-when people go to their private room integrating a peaceful video that includes nature sounds like www.calm.com while they wait.
Thank you for your feedback and help!
I was speaking to a fellow Samaritan volunteer who's been a listener for an incredible 48 years. I'm fairly new to it, around a year or so and still get anxious every time the phone rings, even though most calls aren't about suicide. I asked her if she still feel apprehensive when the phones rings - and to my surprise she said yes!
I find it a little like that taking chat requests here. Personally, it doesn't have anything to do with the site itself. It's more the fear of the unknown. Once I take a request, my apprehension disappears, it's just the thought of being connected to a person experience real troubling emotional difficulties, and me being the calm voice of reason. I don't question my abilities as a listener or worry about how to cope in any situation. It's a little bit hard to describe.
This is just my opinion, but feeling a little apprehension (not fully blown anxiety) isn't a bad thing - the day I become complacent about this/human emotions is the day I stop listening anywhere as a volunteer. That's not to say being confident and having no qualms about taking a request is a bad thing, in fact I'm glad people feel like that. This is just how my brain works, even if it is a bit illogical..
I just joined this website and had the pleasure of speaking to a very good-hearted girl who was kind and helpful. :)
I have to say, the little bot in the beginning is really cute and made me calm down and smile a bit right away. I think that is a fantastic aspect that should be kept. :)
Thank you!
All of my members and guests who say anything about it hate Noni and her associated popup messages. There's nothing like finally gathering up the courage to pour your heart out to a stranger and then being interrupted by some dumb popup telling you where you are on your "Growth Path." Furthermore, Noni confuses people and makes them think I'm a bot too sometimes!
The first timers don't know what's going on, so they would just let Noni lead its way, which I think is a bad idea, because Noni puts the first available lister. I think it is best if listeners with enough experiences and good enough of feedback should be placed for the first timers via Noni, instead of randomly selecting available liseners. It's not good that when a newbie is nurvous and anxious and get a listener who has had only a few chats expereience.
There are a lot of good ideas in here. Its so cool to see how collaborative this community is.
I liked the idea of making the choice of a listener more obvious, also a video to show what the proces is (and isn't).
In terms of people being confused with Noni being real or not, maybe we can't help all the issues with Noni, but I like the bot and think its helpful. I don't know if listeners can see our answers before they decide to chat with us, but that might match people up better as well.
1. Yes, I was pretty anxious. Probably about a 7.
2. I was still anxious, but mostly because my first experience with a listener didn't go extremely well. I'd say it was a 4 or 5.
3. I was scared of talking to the person and that they might judge or be unkind. I was also afraid I might do something wrong. I'm usually very socially anxious though so this isn't uncommon.
4. Make sure the people know whats going to happen so they aren't so scared about whats going to happen and explain that listeners are there to help and won't judge in any way.
Sorry if this wasn't helpful. Good luck everyone! :)
my biggest struggle with connecting to listeners is those moments after you connect when there are no messages. I hate sending the first message in fear that they dont want to talk to me... after a few messages i feel fine but before then....
