Our Collective Global Impact in the Caring Revolution!
We've all been doing a lot of work on 7 Cups, strengthening the product and our community. What we haven't had a chance to do, but are now doing is updating our Home page. We've been so busy behind the scenes that we haven't had a chance to update our front door.
Part of what most Websites do is they cite "social proof". Social proof is like when you apply for a job and you ask someone to give you a good reference. Social proof can be seen in awards that we have collectively won and our overall reach and numbers.
Before sharing though, I want to underline how this is a direct reflection of our special community's hard work. It's reflected in our leaders who go above and beyond. They find gaps across the site or community, rush in, and fill them. They mentor other leaders, listeners and our members. They have our collective back and I'm very thankful for them.
It also reflects our listeners. You show up each day, you look out for one another and our members. You give and you give of your time and your heart. And you have lifted, cared for, and helped heal millions upon millions of people. And to our members - this shows the courage of feeling pain, facing it, and finding ways to solve that pain by caring for yourself and others. You support one another across groups and in the forums.
And, last, to our therapists. Thank you for bringing your empathy, expertise, and insights to our community. You are a world-class crew and I'm thankful to have you all on our treatment team with our leaders, listeners, and members. We could not have done this without you. We rise and we rise together and I'm incredibly proud of all the great work we have all done. These awards are yours as much as the platform's. Hats off to you!
Awards:
- StanfordMedX Award for Healthcare System Design Innovation
- Tech Pioneer Award for Transforming Mental Health
- VeryWell Mind: Best Online Group Therapy
- VeryWell Mind: Best Online Therapy for Postpartum Depression
- VeryWell Mind: Best Online Text Therapy Companies
- Best Online Therapy Platforms: Best for Free Services
- PsychCentral: Best Online Therapy Programs for Kids
- Very Well Mind Award for Best Peer Support for Cancer
- Healthline: Best Free Online Therapy Service for Teens
- PsychCentral: Best Chat Service for Bipolar Disorder
And here are our updates stats:
72,298,116
Lives touched around the globe
1,818,598,937
Messages, chat, and therapy sessions
563,378
Trained listeners providing support in 140 languages
I shared this information with the ambassadors this morning. I asked them these questions and I'd like to hear from you too. If you'd like to answer any of these that call to you to help me better understand your perspective from reading this post, I'd love your thoughts!
1.. What stands out to you? What speaks to you? What does this info represent to you?
2. On a 1-10, with 10 being max social impact for good, where did you think we were prior to this info?
3. Where would you put us now? where do you think we can go?
@GlenM
I remember blogging about the 7 Cups "caring revolution" when I was a younger and a newbie to 7 Cups. This recognition and impact tracking just proves my point and our collective vision.
In the new future, I imagine stats regarding our therapeutic campaigns and topic-support expertise growing. It is going to be exciting.
And the best part about this is the give and take and empowerment bit of the caring revolution - all of us have a collective part in this endless growth journey ✨
@SoulfullyAButterfly caring revolution is a great way of capturing it. Thank you for your constant and very smart efforts to help us all better flourish. I'll add CR to the title :)
@GlenM
Hi Glen! 😊 ❤️ Thank you for this forum post as well as for sharing this information with all of us! I'm actually really proud to see that we have won these awards and received recognition for all of our hard work. Thank you for teaching me about "social proof" and what that means to us as a site in the online community.
It's a good feeling to know how it is that we are perceived by others and that we are highly competitive, winning recognition in the eyes of others and by those that seem to be in a position to judge us.
"What stands out to you above? What speaks to you"?
It's deeply meaningful for me as a human being to see you consistently think of the "we" and not "me". You never say "I" did it when something goes well. You say "we" did it. You never miss an opportunity to share with others, to celebrate victories 🥳, to help lift others up. You give credit where credit is due and you provide others with positive affirmations so that they can feel good about themselves, their performance and for being an integral part of the process and the community!
You have integrity, you are "the example" to the rest of us of how we should behave and how it is we should treat one another. You spoke of our "north star" and for us, our north star is you. ✨ Mighty fine one might I say!
You gave us the 7 cups core values and you live those daily. You are no charlatan, you are no snake oil salesman and you ain't no joke my friend! This is what inspires others to follow! You don't ask us to do anything that you don't do also!
I'm really glad that 7 cups is receiving the recognition. It's about time. You blazed a path, you took the risk, you rolled the dice and I imagine it wasn't easy for you. This is your brain child and you did it! You did it to help others and you have helped so very many. I truly wish that others would learn more about the history of 7 cups and realize how it must have felt to be in your position, everything that it must have taken, sleepless nights and lots of courage. As for me, I am in shock and awe. Yes, nothing but respect for you and for what you have done.
I imagine still many more sleepless nights you have. It's because you care and you aren't asleep at the wheel. Again, I wish that others could truly think before they speak, have empathy and compassion as well as realize that there is a lot more that goes into this enterprise than meets the eye.
One of the saddest things I think that I have read around here is about how you felt better about the streak being in place for your profile. It's sad to see a man being judged in his own house. Smh. "They know not what they do". You know you did it Glen, it's all that matters!
"On a 1-10 scale with 10 being max....."
I'm just happy about hearing it however it doesn't change my feelings about being here on the platform. The information doesn't change my feelings at all. I've always believed in the site. I know who I am, what I am and what I believe in and why. What's nice is when everyone else catches up, lol 😊 Weeeeeeeee weeeeeeeee! 😊
If I didn't believe in this place as well as you I wouldn't have fought so hard to stay here. Oh the stories I could tell you, lol 😊 Thank goodness you had *grit* as one of the 7 cups core values and thank goodness those days are over now that "Glenda" ✨is here. We can all keep waiting for the eagles if they are needed, but little ones picking up the sword helps too until they come.
*high fives* 😊 big *hugs* ❤️ Thank you for allowing me to share in our victories today! For at least one day, just strut my friend!
@SparkyGizmo thank you Sparky for your kind words! I appreciate the encouragement, but can't take that much credit. You all have picked me up many times and helped me grow. The site/app, community structure etc. is a consequence of us working together to solve problems. We built this together by solving the next biggest problem ahead of us.
I was just chatting with H about this. I asked, does this post come off as humble bragging? You know how people say i'm so excited I just got X #blessed. I don't want this post to come off that way. These are shared victories and recognitions. I'm a part of them for sure, but I already get too much credit. You all give me lots of encouragement and love and I'm thankful for it. I sometimes struggle with the best ways to pass that credit forward. This post is an attempt to say - hey you all!! hey! hey! look at what we've done! And any feedback on how I can better transfer that credit would be very welcome! We could not have gotten to where we are today without the community, first and foremost. At the end of the day, it is all about you all :)
@GlenM
In an effort to help, I didn't take it as humble bragging and not even in the least! I saw it as the sharing of information in an effort for all of us to feel good about the work that we do here on the platform! It's celebrating our victories! 🥳
Celebrating the victories together around here, I see as very needful things. We have to celebrate each others individual achievements as well as our achievements collectively as a team.
Around here, lots of little things add up to very big things and so it's a culmination of efforts. It's a group effort to get us where we need to be and you consistently show us that and in more ways than you may realize. 😊
I guess if it's categorized as a "humble brag" then count me in and guilty as well. Talk about being a bit too full of myself.....well, I have to see myself as the "face of 7 cups". I mean that in the way that it's me taking ownership of my behavior, of being a representative and agent of the platform, giving my best efforts. I take the good with the bad. I'm allowed to *sit in this space* and in this moment and be grateful that you provided it for me. I'm allowed to be proud and feel good about being a part of something bigger than myself. 😇
This information doesn't change my decision of being here, simply another confirmation that I was right all along and we all deserve to celebrate the wins!!!! Glad everyone else (those that are judging us from the outside) is catching up to my thought process, ha ha ha! 😊
One of the worst rules I have ever seen put in place was a rule for the LSR, kind of like this unwritten rule, but kept surfacing in the forums as a reminder as well as in the room. It was the rule that we could not congratulate one another for gaining a new role here on the platform. Like, the teammate is right in front of you with a new badge under their user name, but yet you can only tip toe around the issue. You can only say "congratulations" but yet not say why.
Others then chime in, "why are they being congratulated"? You are not allowed to answer the question. Mod would step in and tell everyone to not speak of why, but to speak of it and only congratulate one another via pm.
This is us speaking out of both sides of our mouths. We encourage others to do great things, to learn and to work hard, to achieve and then we minimize it, sweep it under the rug. We ask others to rise towards greatness and then treat it as if it's shameful.
I love celebrating victories and we should do it and often!
In addition, if anyone were to ever accuse you of being some humble braggart, nothing is farther from the truth, they haven't been paying attention.
A pivotal moment for me here on this platform happened years ago. You asked us all for help. You were vulnerable to all of us, you expressed a need, you told us you couldn't do it alone and you asked that we pull together as a team. Something inside me really changed that day. Help you want, help you shall have!
It was a powerful example to me that there is strength in having the courage to be vulnerable and to ask for help and support. I saw it as you asked me to help you. You reached down to little ole' me, of all people. Guess what? It worked! Lot's of little "ole' me's" around here that circled the wagons!
You have continued on that path. You have been completely transparent, vulnerable, plugged in and shared your true feelings, thoughts and emotions about a myriad of different things in an effort to share of yourself.
You are no braggart. You are quite humble. It's quite refreshing and shows true strength.
❤️❤️❤️
@SparkyGizmo thanks again for all of this helpful context! Much appreciated :). Tagging @heather225 here to help triage the unspoken rule about not celebrating leadership and wins. I think it is smart to surface unconscious rules that get set b/c if we are not aware of them, then they can impact culture in ways that we are also not aware of. Thanks for bringing this up!
@GlenM thanks for the tag!
@SparkyGizmo i am gonna chat with some folks and I'll be in touch 😊
@Heather225
@GlenM
Hi H! 😊 ❤️ Take your time and I'm here for you whenever you need! I'm glad that both you and Glen see this as a bit of a problem with this unwritten rule. It has always felt counter intuitive to me. It seems to go against the grain of our culture and belief system here on the site.
I don't create policy however, I do abide by it.
In an effort to provide a bit of back history, I was told the reasoning behind this "unwritten rule", (one that at the time was not included in the room rules at the bottom of the page in the LSR and I wouldn't know if it is there currently) was that others may have gone for the same role, not received it and would then feel bad to see others achievements being celebrated. This was the reasoning told to me.
Sure, I can understand feeling bad about many things and if one does, they can reach out to a peer supporter to talk about their feelings, go back to the leader of a particular team to discuss how it is that they can improve in an effort to apply again as well as to connect with a mentor to help develop them for future roles.
Celebrating the victories of another, congratulating them for specifically what their accomplishment was is a reportable offense while in the LSR. If one wants to sift through forum threads we can see that speaking of badges is not allowed. Seems to be a bit odd to me as the badge is apparent under ones user name.
It has created conflict many times in the room as some know this "rule", others do not, so the ones that abide by the rule appear to be non supportive and non celebratory for fear of being reported.
For me personally, my peer support badge was taken away once. I broke no room rule, at all. In fact, I felt that I was doing a good thing.
A new listener came into the LSR and felt quite intimidated as they had the "newbie badge". Everyone else in the room at that moment had some sort of badge under their user name and it made them feel small and insignificant, as if they didn't belong and were unworthy of being there with us.
I took the opportunity to tell them about the forum post that Glen created titled "track A and track B". I explained that we all belong here, that we are all equals, that 7 cups believes in equality and it's a commutative effort. I spoke of that and our founder is happy to have us here and that any and every contribution is worthy. I mentioned that while I was in the room I hold the "peer support" badge and that others may have loftier ones and it could be seen as a "baby badge" to others but that I know I belong and I enjoy what it is that I do.
My peer support badge was taken away from me the next day. I asked why and I was told that I was screen shotted 3 times (maybe one screen shot passed around like Halloween candy to multiple users in an effort to remove me?- H has cleared that issue up now with screen shot and reporting behavior it seems-must come from the users device when reporting) . I'm like, cool, glad you see me doing good things and that I know what it was that I said. I repeated to them what it was that I said as I still remember it to this day. The person then reverted to... it was taken to be a "rant".
With acceptance comes peace. I vowed to never ask for that badge back. I was told I could do so in 2 weeks, I respectfully declined because what was done to me was wrong. I believe in what I said, I believe that I was supportive to that newbie listener and that I believe in what Glen said in that forum post.
I was like fine, lets prove it. Let's see how much I believe. I decided if I truly believe in what I said to that newbie listener then I'd proudly roam here on 7 cups, no badge needed just like them 😊. That leadership comes from with in and I am still capable of doing great things.
Interesting, many months later, maybe 6 months I get a pm from one of the people that caused this harm. It was a request to rejoin the peer support team. Fascinating. I can only imagine that it must have been a directive to them from admin. to request that I do so. I kept my word. I didn't ask for the badge back however I did gladly accept being reinstated.
I was here, you are here so while I'm at it, it's good to tell you everything about how speaking of badges with this unwritten rule can be a bit devastating and others making up rules as they go along in the past.
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@GlenM
❤️❤️❤️
@SparkyGizmo
What great feedback and your enthusiasm is so encouraging and motivating.
"It's deeply meaningful for me as a human being to see you consistently think of the "we" and not "me". You never say "I" did it when something goes well. You say "we" did it. You never miss an opportunity to share with others, to celebrate victories 🥳, to help lift others up. You give credit where credit is due and you provide others with positive affirmations so that they can feel good about themselves, their performance and for being an integral part of the process and the community!" This stood out for me and I wholeheartedly agree. Glen is very humble and gives back all of the credit to the community and to each of you that have made this possible. It is never about him and this always shines through for me too in how I experience Glen celebrating something awesome about 7 Cups.
The collective global impact is something incredible and to see those numbers continuing to grow is really remarkable. So many more exciting things for 7 Cups is on its way and I cannot wait to see what is in store for 2024 for 7 Cups! 💖
We are so glad you are here with us Sparky!
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS
Thank you my sweet friend! ❤️ It means the world to me that you are happy that I am here! It feels so very good to be warmly received. I sure am happy that you are here too! ❤️ I'll be counting you in my gratitude moments today, just as I have done other times before!
Thank you for *filling up my cup* today and I promise to use it for good and do my best efforts to fill up the cups of others as well!
*high fives* 😊 and big *hugs* ❤️
@SparkyGizmo yes to echo what Lisa said, we are very glad you are here Sparky! Thanks for all the encouragement and for helping us think through challenges :)
@GlenM
❤️❤️❤️
@GlenMThank you for sharing these awards and this insightful data. I had no idea we'd earned so many. It helps us see clearly where we've come from and the impact of the global support you all unite to bring to this community.
And I echo the sentiment - credit goes to each person who contributes, whether it's our impressive leaders, listeners providing daily care, or. members showing courage and solidarity. I'm constantly marvel over how strong compassion beats within our community. Thanks to every one of you for laying the groundwork and the building blocks, and for tirelessly caring for one another. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to serve you all, and I hope knowing your work is worthy of awards makes you feel as proud of yourself as I am of you.
@Heather225 so well said H! And I love that "how compassion beats in our community" great image and feeling 🙌. Thank YOU for always championing our community and for your quiet leadership moving us forward.
@GlenM
I love this! ♥️
The awards are incredibly powerful bc of various sectors giving the awards and it being online therapy (long before COVID before online was a common place entity to reorient health services for instance) and its diverse communities targeted but it STILL only showcases such a small part of what exists here.
The sheer numbers are impressive too unbelievable …. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I worked in health promotion I see so much beyond the above … it is the WHO WHAT WHY and HOW too that makes this story of 7cups incredible.
Just to give you an idea of the depth of focus check out this graphic based on the Ottawa Charter what makes and keeps us healthy….values, determinants of health, the medicine wheel at it core… and most of these aspects of 7cups is definitely there. In my past work we used it to see gaps in planning and strategies to affect change in populations.
@SunShineAlwaysGrateful thank you for this very helpful comment! I did not know you had that background. I'm glad you can see some of the elements of the wheel here. I think of 7 cups as a sphere where we can all add to it on our little section, square or corner. And lots of folks have added public health elements.
It has taken us 10 years, but I think we are finally getting ready to tell our story. If you are up for helping us think through how to do that, then I would welcome the help! Also, no pressure. It might be fun to do it in a forum like setting where we could all iterate on ideas together.
I would love to assist after the holidays. I think the story is far greater than the awards still important but only a small piece … definitely! 💯 percent.
@SunShineAlwaysGrateful awesome! Okay, let's catch up after the holidays. If anyone else is interested in this, then please reply here and we'll loop you in! Thank you for the help!
Hmmn thinking 7cups visual of it own comprised of 7cups components would be colorful and easy assessment of the many layers here just a thought ….
@SunShineAlwaysGrateful excellent idea! We have many great artists in the community. I think we can make this one of our first projects. If anyone wants to jump in early, then help very welcome! And we can always iterate on initial versions.
@GlenM
One thought to capture here so I don’t lose it or forget it ….
Social proof … Awards, reviews, numbers as above the extend and the graphic to capture the components 7cups in a carousel that effortlessly with those wrote the code moves through those social proof items is a good way to keep it dynamic and clean as unless cluttered … of course marketed in the colors of 7cups … if that makes sense …
@SunShineAlwaysGrateful
Sorry not cluttered lol 😂
@GlenM
What stands out to me is the sheer amount of people supported globally and it is something to be incredibly proud of. We live in a world where not everyone has access to mental healthcare and as we know this has a significant impact on their well-being. It is so good to know we have supported so many people globally and when I first heard that figure I was really taken back! I knew we had reached so many people but this number is HUGE! It is incredible to see. On a 1-10, I thought 7 Cups was around an 8 for social impact because I always knew our numbers were good but now I've seen those figures, we are at about a 9 because we have done so much but there is still more work to do.
The exciting thing about 7 Cups is it just keeps growing and I am hopeful we are going to see even more growth in 2024 and beyond! This is amazing and a big thank you to everyone who made it happen, listeners, members, leaders, and therapists.
@GlenM
Where would you put us now?
We've definitely come a long long way! But the thing that stands out to me in our community is the relentless efforts. We strive high and then strive yet higher. We never stopped I think, not even pause, in all this journey of 10+ years. But got to ask.. What makes us so passionate as a community? What's special about us that the enthusiasm only increases year by year?
We share a giving spirit I believe. That is special. At most places, it's the "getting" spirit. Here we experience and feel deeply moved and guided by the higher joys of giving.
where do you think we can go?
I'd like to see this giving spirit rise more. Not so much for the external numbers (though they are great to celebrate), but much more for the internal and profound healing that happens for many as they stay in touch with the sacred land of 7cups.
There's something very helpful to remember I heard recently that I'd like to share here. It said, "There are 2 ways to live:"
1) Get and forget (think about what I can get, and for what I get take things for granted)
2) Give and forgive (think about what I can give, what more I can give, and forgive others for what I don't get from them.)
I want to give my all to personify the second kind. Because the first kind makes the mind poor (makes it ever-dissatisfied and restless) and the second one makes it rich and richer (induces peace).
@Fristo "we have the giving spirit" <-- I 100% agree with this. Many of us have been through tougher times and have had people generously look out for us and b/c we've experienced that we know how powerful it can be to give to others. Generosity is really woven into our system or gift economy.
I like these 2 ways of saying it. I think for people that have lived in a way that reflects #2 you end up realizing, hey, wait a minute, this is a much more enjoyable and better way to live. Like it is just pragmatically the better choice! And, the bonus is, you get to give and help people along the way. Good insights!
@GlenM
It's wonderful that 7 Cups has received so many recognitions. Recognitions of the truth. Something we know with certainty, but might not be known by the outside world. May these recognitions help to spread the good word to the masses worldwide.
And those numbers are impressive, way beyond my capacity of visualizing them in my mind. They all feel like infinite to me. They are much larger than what I imagined, tenfold at least.
On top of that, I would add another dimension: intensity.
What goes on at the core of 7 Cups, all the good that is done, is very opaque to the outside world, because of its nature, the need for confidentiality, discretion, and protection of its members' feelings from stigmatizing "mental illness" or "severe trauma" speech (the kind the WHO, for example, would not have any problem to do.)
But most listeners who have stayed long enough, and it's certainly my case, have known first-hand of many cases of people who came here in very painful circumstances of their lives, some extremely painful, even unbearable beyond words, and were comforted and supported in a way they couldn't find anywhere else.
For many, 7 Cups mitigated their pain to a point where life became bearable and even good. For some, 7 Cups saved their lives, literally, And with time, helped them flourish in many ways that were unthinkable when they first came here.
I am one among those hundreds of thousands of listeners shown in the statistics, and the cases I know are among those millions of people who came to 7 Cups. When I project these kinds of cases I know to even a fraction of those figures, (to be conservative using the statistics), we are talking of thousands and thousands, maybe millions of similar cases. So the amount of human suffering that 7 Cups has alleviated is huge, beyond comprehension.
There is not a number for "decrease in human suffering" in those statistics, but it would certainly be huge, and very significant in terms of our ultimate goal in life, its very meaning, and what's, in my opinion, most important for the world as a whole.
You should be very proud of what you have achieved, we must all be proud of volunteering for such an impactful organization in alleviating human suffering in the world.
Regarding where we can go, what 7 Cups has done is huge, but I can't see a limit to it getting bigger, as needs in the world are so vast. It's like Earth is huge, the solar system is huge, our galaxy is huge, but the universe is so vast that it dwarfs even the largest thing we might conceive of.
In this vastness, there is no limit to growth. And 7 Cups is always getting ready for growth, with so much effort in dealing with the challenge of ensuring quality when scaling up, by being an early adopter of the most advanced technology for that purpose, and by so many teams and people and hours of work devoted to Quality and Safety, as well as always exploring new formats and ways of support.
These efforts will certainly make 7 Cups and its capacity for alleviating suffering grow by orders of magnitude with time. I can't see a limit to this.
@HealingTalk, what a poignant comment. Thank you for sharing about the intensity of the work we do. It is often unspoken as you said and sacred. And you point to that with these comments. Deep and important work that is difficult to capture with statistics. One life is worth the work and with our colllective efforts we’ve helped many more.
I’m also thankful for how you bridged your personal experience to many of the listeners on here. That was another nuanced way of pointing to the scale while keeping the meaning of what we do.
Thank you 🙏
@GlenM
Thank you, Glen, for your kind words about my reply to your mind-blowing, amazing post, which shows how massively impactful 7 Cups has been in making better the lives of so many people.
And as a human being living in this troubled world, congratulations and all my gratitude for the immense good you have done, that those statistics and recognitions objectively attest, by creating and leading 7 Cups!