November 2023 Community Update!
Dear Community,
Happy Fall!
It is just now starting to cool down here and the leaves are turning. I’m wearing a sweater and drinking a cup of coffee. It feels good to see the season change.
I was just talking with Jon about our bustling community. I sometimes look at it like a village or city and the different parts of the site are represented by buildings or neighborhoods with cobblestone streets and paths that connect them. The group support rooms are over there. If you hop across the stepping stones then you can find the forums. Take a left there to walk past the library that holds the Academy. You get the idea.
You can think of all of the below people walking in and out of the buildings with listeners and members. Activities highlighted take place in the town park under the trees or in different rooms and cafes across the village.
Do you think of 7 Cups in this way? Maybe you have a different visual or imaginal map of the community. If you do, please pm or share them here as I’m trying to better understand how we all visually/map/represent 7 Cups collectively.
H
Our Leadership Spotlight series continues on, having now highlighted 43 leaders since its launch in fall of 2021! This month’s feature is Suryansh! Please swing by the post after you’re done reading here to learn about our passionate highly engaged Group Support Ambassador!
We're always looking for talent to showcase. If tere’s a leader out there doing awesome things, please nominate them via this form!
Do you check your streak? We’re coming up to the streak function’s 100th day and we’re commemorating it with a share-your-high-score post! Share your progress with us and we’ll track our milestones together!
Oh, and one last thing! I'm proud to announce there's now an Ambassador edition of these monthly updates! Check out the very first one to see what our Ambassador team is up to!
Laiba
In academy news, we now have one post you can refer to to find out who leads a specific academy program/project. You can view the post here. Additionally, we now have two added focuses within the academy leadership roles. An ambassador focus dedicated to supporting academy courses and a mentor leader role focusing on academy leadership/team building. Listeners can view the page here.
Our cognitive distortion series has been off to a great start. You can join our tag list by submitting this form. The following distortions have been covered so far:
Lastly, in an attempt to increase the activity and support in the teen listener room, we launched ‘Mission Reviving the Teen Listener Room’. All teen listeners are encouraged to participate in it, more information can be found here.
Obs
In Group Support news, a couple of key items to share:
We introduced Group Support Mentor role. It involves mentoring and guidance through specific areas to support the room supporters, and chatroom moderators and ensure overall quality and support in the group chats. Check here for more information & application!
Next, rolled out Ask Me Anything w/ Group support Ambassador session. The goal is to connect with group chat members, get to know them more and answer any questions they may have related to group chats. Check here for November schedule!
We are working on releasing support & lighthearted sessions for following group chats: Member Community Room (Adults), Depression Support (Adults), Safety discussions (Adults & Teens), Anxiety Support (Teens), Games & quizzes (Teens). We will be sharing the schedule of these sessions.
In the Exploration Garden news, we rolled out a bunch of new updates as well as inviting applications for hosting Exploration Garden sessions. If you are interested in hosting one, check this post for all information!
On the Listener Group Chats front, Chatroom Ambs working on a plan to revive Listener Community Room and get more lighthearted conversations and community events get going in there.
SoulfullyAButterfly
This month, we launched the OCD & Related Behaviors Community to start a community for those seeking support for OCD, Hoarding, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Trichotillomania, Dermatillomania and other BFRBs. We have almost completely covered our forum restructuring efforts and after one year, it is amazing to these new spaces being therapeutic avenues of support.
To further boost our support opportunities and share the collective power of our different features, we have announced the Stress Savvy Challenge to be hosted starting early November. It combines our therapeutic growth paths, forums for learning new things, as well as a closed group chat to build connections while exploring weekly challenge themes with other community users. You can still sign up for this opportunity here.
Lastly, the research opportunity with the researchers at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) is still live. They are conducting a research study to understand the effect of a Systemic Therapy inspired Growth Path or Listener Training on mental well-being. 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.
Evelyne
We have gained a lot of new leaders in this last month to help strengthen our quality team.
@AnnaSilverberg is starting as an Ambassador focused on new listeners! She has lots of experience supporting and we look forward to seeing what she accomplishes. She will also be helping out with AE team.
@audienta is our newest mentor leader focused on outreach! She has worked hard to keep AE running smoothly and always has new ideas! We are excited to have her expertise. Interested in joining? Let her know!
@Acapalepticshadow has also joined as mentor leader! They will be helping with various projects.
@LittleBirdie30 will be joining us as an Ambassador for Care Team! She has worked hard as a team leader assisting with team initiatives. We look forward to having her step up to the next level! Want to send in a care request? Send one here.
SPOT and SP will be folding into one team- we are creating one umbrella team to cover all safety outreach, patrol, and reviving discussions. We will be rolling out updates as they come.
CheeryMango
For the month of October, we have onboarded 7 Forum Supporters and 1 Community Mentor to our communities. You can congratulate them here and find out how you can offer more support to a community of your choice here.
A big thank you to @tommy for working meticulously to help improve the process of community users begin able to access forum leaders much more easily to:
To ask for a post of yours to be edited, removed or moved to a different community / topic
To bring an outdated thread or post to our attention so that it can be edited or raised with the appropriate project leader (for example, threads including content from an old project or old role which is no longer relevant but may cause confusion if left unedited/visible)
To make any kind of suggestion about a specific community or about the domain as a whole
To request for a new resource to be added to a community resources page
For anything else!
You can bookmark the post here for easy reference.
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.
A friendly reminder for all forum supporters, community mentors and community mentor leaders are asked to fill out the Subcommunity Leadership Check-In Form for the month of Octobertober so we can keep updated on what’s going on in your team and roles and see how we can offer our assistance.
Lastly, if you notice or experience any difficulties while using the forums, please help us to track and report any bugs in this thread. A gentle reminder when reporting bugs or issues, please give as much detail like time and location as to where it was experienced and include screenshots or any error codes so we can properly investigate it. Thank you for your continued support and here’s to what the new month brings.
@GlenM
Thank you for all the updates! I'm happy to see the community developing. I really like the village picture, I think we could represent 7 Cups as a map. I'd be happy to help realize this idea. And I'm also looking forward to working in my new role as an outreach mentor leader.
@audienta thank you for your service! @heather225 is going to make a post on visual representations. I'd love to see your village/map. Thank you!
@audienta
Congratulations, Audi! You know how much I admire you and value the AE team!
@HealingTalk
Thank you, Healing. 💜
@audienta
You are welcome, Audi! 💜
@GlenM
Thank you for yet another monthly update. I look forward to this particular post. I appreciate and admire your point of view on cups and it's treasures.
@trueconfidant123 thank you 🙏 and I really like the word "treasures" <-- it is indeed a rich community of wonderful people!
@GlenM
Undeniably! I'm blessed to be a part of this village.
@GlenM
Yes, I like that image! I visualize something like the Roman Forum at its best, the ultimate meeting place.
Full of beautiful buildings with collonades where people hang out. Some with large spaces for big gatherings, and others with many rooms for private meetings. Dedicated buildings for different teams, Communities, and the Academy.
Always people walking from one place to another. Buzzing streets and piazzas give it a vibrant, enthusiastic atmosphere.
And Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic leader, overlooking the whole scene from the Capitoline Hill (that's you, Glen 😃)
Thank you all for the updates and the continuous improvements, always moving forward, tweaking and adding things here and there to improve them and explore new possibilities.
And thanks a ton to the leaders who stepped up to take more responsibilities, contributing to expanding and making better the many specialized tasks and teams, with the ultimate goal of providing the best possible support to the many people who come to our gorgeous and lively Forum!
@HealingTalk A roman forum is a cool idea! We have many big brains walking around our forum. sharing ideas and evolving things. thankfully many of the ideas can be built and tested, which is kind of a cool iteration on the forum idea. thanks for your kind words and encouragement and always highlighting the work of our leaders. much appreciated!
@GlenM
I am glad that you liked the image!
Yes, always thinking, always trying new things, always improving.
That Forum too was in constant renovation. At some point, it became crowded with buildings for all sorts of purposes that required people to meet, from decision-making to the spiritual. So the same person would go there and each time enter various buildings to meet different people (some would be the same persons playing a different role), for diverse purposes. I have this feeling when I log in to Cups.
Thank you for these monthly spaces to reflect on the Community as a whole!
And thank you for your wise leadership!
@GlenM
Cups needs more things easier so people developmental disabilities intellectual disabilities can be part to ☹️so much things but to confused can’t understand and really want participate things feel like belong ? Think longer here easier understand but not because all change to much all time something new happens 😭Wish more inclusive
@theboymoana this is great feedback. thank you for sharing and letting me know. you are right. things are still too hard to figure out on 7 Cups. we have more work to do :). if you have thoughts on how we can do better, then please private message me or share here. thank you for being a part of our community even though at times it can be difficult to find your way around. i am glad you are here!
@GlenM
thank you being nice and listening to me will send pm with ideas easier for me explain things maybe @FrenchMarbles friend will help me explain things when he back from break helps me lot because know sign language understands !
@theboymoana
Hi there!
You are a very active and beloved member of Cups.
I understand your frustration when you can't find something.
There have been many changes in recent months.
That might feel confusing at times.
You can go to the Support Room at any time, and ask for help to find things.
Or connect with a Listener and ask them to guide you.
Or ask your friends. You have many friends. Or ask me.
We all are learning to use 7 Cups in the new ways.
We all ask for help from others at some point.
Little by little we are learning. Next year will be more easy.
I congratulate you that, despite these issues, you have been very active.
We see you in the rooms and forums all the time.
You are always very kind, and your posts are wonderful.
You are loved here. 💜
@HealingTalk well said!!!
@HealingTalk
thank you 😭😭💛I try really hard do not know anyone notice but try to help and be included in things ! Lately feel like not do so much because struggling with all forum changes and get so frustrated 🥲 really like be part of community to !
@theboymoana
You are making a great effort and doing very well in the forums.
For example, you told an important message in this thread.
About the difficulties in the forums from so many changes.
You told your message in the right place.
If you wish, you can write a list of things that are difficult or you can't find.
And post the list in the "Forum Functionality Thread".
That is a place to tell problems with the Forums, ask for solutions and propose changes.
You can find that Thread by clicking HERE.
Anytime you see something in the forums that causes you problems, you can tell there.
And for immediate help, you can go to the Support Room and tell "I can't find this" "I can't do this" "How can I do it?"
And someone will help you do what you want.
Good luck!
I look forward to seeing your wonderful posts all around the forums! 💜
I love 7cups 😻💕
@generousFig1948 me too! 💗 thank you for being a part of what we are doing and for your encouragement :)
@GlenM
Happy Fall Ya'll! 😊 🍂 ❤️ Thank you everyone for the updates, for all of the work front and center as well as for all of the work required in the back of the house to keep us all going!
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
Hi Glen! 😊 ❤️ Oh my gosh! 😳 I thought it was only me that does this! It makes me feel great that I am not the only one that thinks of 7 cups in a unique way, that visually maps the site, that see's something in my "minds eye". Thank you for letting me know that I am not alone in those thoughts, representations.
Sure, I'd be happy to share with you as well what it is that I see! I imagine everyone see's it differently and the best way for their mind to make better sense of things as well as to increase the humanistic approach to being here.
I guess for me, one representation is looking down at the site from an above view as if it's a blue print on paper. This would be a bit static, held in place. Here comes the fun part....once I log into the site and am actively engaging, roaming around (what I call "taking the tour") areas can shift and change and it's as if different rooms/areas are on hydraulics. Some things move, shift based on what and where my current focus is.
I see 7 cups as a very large building. The front is for the driveway for people to enter. An asphalt driveway (very long and a bit winding to make it cute), green grass, flowers and pretty trees. The sun is always shining there and it's quite welcoming with a great deal of curb appeal. The front glass doors and windows are always clean.
The building is essentially a big square to me. It's a bit more industrial, but with everything freshly painted and clean. There are areas, rooms, offices, hallways to get from place to place. When I walk the hallways to get from place to place, I am always alone. It's not a bad thing to be alone and there is always a window at the end of every hallway that lets the sun in. I imagine maybe that's because I haven't entered any rooms yet, don't know who is there, don't know what is going on.
Sometimes, in the past, when leaving a room, I actually say "okay, gonna' go slide next door to xyz room and see what is going on" or when I leave a room I will say that I'm "heading out to roam around the platform and take the tour".
The fun part happens when we take areas and make them our own. I, along with another, have built a wonderful tree house out back. Also a pond was created with the help from another on the side of the property.
My pm's with another can be quite magical from time to time! 😊 My pm's have many options and I see my pm's as almost like an old school "Rolodex". I can adjust, change the room and setting based on the needs of others. I spin the side and the decor changes based on who it is that is with me and needs me.
I have made a year round Christmas room for another. The tree stays and is never taken down. When they enter the room, the Christmas lights on the tree automatically turn on for them and the room begins to glow to welcome them. Once able to greet them, we have chatted while I put wood in the fireplace to warm up the room. Hot chocolate, sitting by the fire and warm quilts always available.
I have made a room that was conducive for birdies. They had a difficult time when someone was...ahem....overly focusing on them in a public room and in a highly negative way. To distract them from the negativity and for us both to ignore bad behaviors, we had a wonderful time building a bird house together.
After that, we hung the bird house in our pm room, on a tree that lives there and bird seed is always there in a bowl that stays on the coffee table in front of the couch. They can go inside the bird house and we can chat while I'm sitting on the sofa and they can come outside of the birdhouse and chat too based on how they are feeling.
For another, my pm's are where all of the snacks are hidden around here. The snacks are safe and as are they. Nice area for them to relax, decompress. Their snacks are our snacks and they are willing to share with me. They know if I give a cupcake or a cookie to someone else here on the platform, it never came from their stash! I would never break their trust.
For me, this is a way to help deeply connect with another if that is how they would like to as well as to *have fun and keep your tank full* ❤️ I love taking a humanistic approach to us here on the platform. We are not just words on a screen. We are all human beings with a heart, a soul and a pulse.
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@SparkyGizmo this is beautiful! love this part: "We are not just words on a screen. We are all human beings with a heart, a soul and a pulse." I think the visualization of the community helps add dimension to things.
Also, very cool that you have a treehouse in the back of the building. I imagine a lot of people do. I did a drawing exercise with a client once and they drew this big beautiful house and also a mailbox with the flag up. I asked them what does the mail in mailbox say. They said it says I'm in the back of the house in my treehouse. I thought that was clever. We all need our own spaces!
And very interesting that you see the blueprint and the mechanics of it or hydraulics as you say. In one way, it seems like it feels pretty industrial - almost like an office park building - that all of us have gone around and warmed up to make it more comfortable. And there are also dedicated areas where people can rest up, get some snacks, and enjoy Christmas.
Thank you for sharing!
@GlenM
❤️❤️❤️