January 2024 Community Update!

Dear Community,

Happy Holidays! I am just getting back home. I grew up in New England and finally made it home last night after nearly 15 hours in the car. I’m so glad to be home! And back in the office. I missed our work!

A nice thing about the holidays is that the world quiets down. Everyone agrees to not call or email one another. I love that quiet space. It gives me a lot of time to think in bn walks with family, presents, and way too many desserts.

This month, 7 Cups has achieved a great milestone by launching talk therapy! Talk therapy can be a great alternative to text-based therapy. Our users now have the flexibility to select text-based therapy or therapy over an audio/video live session.

I think about us (7 Cups) all the time. I’m still percolating and refining some ideas that I hope to share soon. As always, your ideas, thoughts, and feedback are always very welcome.

I wish you all a lovely New Years Eve and Day! I hope 2023 can be put to a nice close - like closing the last page of a book - and that 2024 opens before you with hope, peace, and community leaping from the pages.

H
As we close out 2023, and ring in the new year, I thought it'd be fun and therapeutic to do some reflection exercises as a community to get us thinking ahead. I’ve rolled out a challenge: 2024 Finish the sentence. Please give it a try and once you’ve finished that (and bookmarked the page to revisit!), consider Writing a Letter to Your Future Self. It's like those letter-writing sites but instead of scheduling them to send it back to you, I will be doing it! There's no due date. I'll be scheduling them as they're submitted!

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the love and support you’ve poured into our community over the year. You take such good care of each other on every level, from leader to listener to member, and it’s that unwavering spirit of compassion of human sincerity that sets us apart and makes us a truly unique and special force in this world. I look forward to continuing to nurture great work relationships with you, and getting the opportunity to collaborate with even more of you, as we drive our mission and further expand our reach. Everything 7 Cups stands for is the result of your efforts - we couoldn’t do this without you! Happy New Year!

Laiba

The Inner Development Goals Course was added as an elective choice in the 7 Cups Internship, Content Development and Marketing program, Leadership Development Program, and the Quality Listening Program. 

Learning about cognitive distortion series came to an end, we covered a total of 10 popular distortions. In Dec, we covered Should statements & Mental Filtering. Thank you to everyone who followed along and worked on their personal growth then you may want to check out the posts made for our therapy event here. 

Obs
Thank you all for your best efforts to bring compassion, support, and encouragement to everyone. Your actions made a world of difference in the group support chats. I hope we continue to do same and scale it further in 2024. On Group Support front, a bunch of updates: 

• We got the most exciting feature update- Quote Reply! We received positive and uplifting feedback from all who tried it. It allows to create a smooth and easy to follow conversation flow for everyone in the group chats. 

• We introduced Group Support refresher quizzes to refresh the memory on the important guidelines of providing support in a group setting. It was a great to notice how many did well with the refresher. Attempt them if you haven’t yet!
  

On the Listener Group Chat front, shout out to @Hopedreamlove to organize fun filled 12 days of Teen Listeners holiday event. Thank you everyone to join in and participate and making these sessions special and memorable.  Also, we initiated Listener Level-up Series to discuss diverse listening topics together and learn from each other to level up our listening experiences as team. Please do join and share your thoughts as every experience and learning counts. 

Also, we started various discussion sessions and big shout out and thank you to all leaders who stepped up to make it possible. Thank you to @wishfulwillow6962, @bluerivercares, @chillingrain for going above and beyond to bring support for community. 

SoulfullyAButterfly
This month, we wrapped up the Stress Savvy Challenge with great reflections on the journey - this challenge helped several users explore stress in a safe environment while learning about strategies to help. 

To celebrate the big launch of the 7 Cups video and audio therapy, the community admin team organized content around 25 days of Gratitude, Self-Care and Personal Growth which was a great way to reflect via therapeutic strategies. You can find this content here.

Keeping up with the end of the year celebrations, our annual 7 Cups Word Cup activity is also live now. We look forward to your reflections via words for 2023 as well as 2024. 

Lastly, our research opportunities still open include the IPU based study based on systemic therapy. Systemic therapy focuses on relationships between people and the patterns of interaction within the systems that impact the well-being of the individuals within the system. If you are interested in trying this therapeutic opportunity, you can find more information and sign up here. The window for signing up for this study is closing soon! All members and listeners can now apply regardless of the date they signed up at 7 Cups. 

I wish you all a great time reflecting back on the great year 2023 has been and am excited to explore 2024 and what it brings for us.

Evelyne

We have had a successful month in Quality land. The Listener Coaching Team month we've got @KindnessMatters2020 as our new Mentor Leader and @Bluerivercares as our Project agent. They’re both are doing exceptionally great on their new roles.

@AuWolf led the new safety initiatives for Safety Team. They posted the first Safety forum Discussion last week here. They also hosted the first room Safety Discussion on Tuesday.  8 people participate in the scavenger hunt that ended the 22nd. 

Care Team had @ArcadianSage as our newest Guide and they are currently working on onboarding @chillingRain as our newest PA. 

CheeryMango

Dear Community,

As we bid farewell to 2023, I’m thrilled to wrap up the year with you all! This month, we celebrated the holiday spirit with a fantastic series of festive activities on the site, bringing joy and connection to our community. You can participate in all of the events we hosted here. 

In addition to the holiday festivities, we've been hard at work onboarding new forum leaders to our communities. Their dedication is vital in fostering engaging and supportive spaces for our members.

@Tommy and I extend our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for your unwavering support and contributions throughout the year. Your efforts have truly made our communities thrive. If you too would like to offer support to the communities, find out how you can offer more support to a community of your choice here.

We are currently looking for new additions to join our Communities Leadership Team as Project Agents. There are currently four focuses available for you to choose from: Events, Engagement, Community Building and Leadership. The application form and full details of what we are looking for can be found here. 

Thank you: @tranquilBlossom79 @Mya000 @pandanfe @AutisticYouth @OllieRNLI999 @BlueRivercares @dreamIcicle8467 @Bunnylovesyou @CompassionateArrow @Lovemymoonflowers @amiablePeace77 @EmmaE @Ninziesss @MistyMagic @PoliteOcean @EmotionsListener @RumpleSteeleSkin @VerseArt @FaithfulZareia @audienta @HealingTalk @MistyMagic @purplelady568 @SunShineAlwaysGrateful @MeaningfulSilence @AffyAvo @HopieRemi @MeaningfulSilence @Barltik2065 @KateDoskocilova @KristenHR @EmotionsListener @BlueRivercares @Clio9876 @Jem7Cups @HachiBee @bestVase7265 @SomebodySpicy13 @YourCaringConfidant @Optimisticempath @Mya000 @heathermarie95 @HachiBee @Bubbles2025 @helpfulstrawberry312 @calmKermit7178 @WorkingitThrough2 @PeacePink @starryCandy6123 @Comphi @ASilentBunny @Snor1ax @YourCaringConfidant @Clarezg  @Kristynsmama @CyclingThroughLife @ComradeRuhi @Ralien @SomebodySpicy13 @BlissfulBue @chyni @El2002snow @EmpathysGarden @Mya000 @SparkyGizmo @Sunisshiningandsoareyou

As we eagerly step into 2024, we look forward to the innovative ideas and leadership our communities will bring. Together, let's make the upcoming year even more remarkable!