September 2025 Community Update!

Dear Community,

It is already September! The fall always goes so quickly for me. I blink and the holidays are here.

We think - and hope! - that we finally squashed the android bug. That was a particularly stubborn one. Thanks again for all of the help on that front.

I mentioned last month that Noni would be back in action soon. As often happens in tech, we experienced some delays. I’m now nearly certain that she’ll be live early next week. This next version is very strong.

We have also been working on a number of new training initiatives that I’ll be able to share soon.

Thank you all for all that you do! I’m grateful for each and every one of you!

H

Happy September, everyone! Lots of different stuff from me this past month:

Some folks have asked why we enforce zero tolerance when it comes to offsite contact. We define offsite contact as asking for or sharing personal contact information with anyone you meet on 7 Cups. I have outlined why it’s critical not to in this post.

Earlier this month I pitched the idea of a Cupsversary team designed to share and celebrate the anniversaries of our Cups family members. Check out this thread of Cupsversary cheer, and if you’d like to help post these, we’re looking for a leader and team members! This could potentially be an appreciation program to step in for the discontinued PAT, so if you want to see this initiative flourish, let me know!

Do you want to learn about 7 Cups leadership and if it's for you? The Rising Star Program is an outreach effort designed to educate you about various roles and help you find your path to making a deeper impact on our community. Check out the details here and how you sign yourself up or nominate someone else you feel has potential to be a leader (HERE).

Speaking of leadership, read about how volunteering as a leader can benefit you personally and professionally. “But I’m a member. Do I count?” Yes, you do! Read up on the innate power you hold to be awesome and support our community here!

Hope

In August, the Carnegie Mellon University Human-Computer Interaction Institute continued its listener training study and recruited more participants. Thank you to everyone who expressed interest. Updates on submitted forms will be shared by the end of this week. Please note that the researchers specify the criteria for participants and have the final say on who is included.

On the Academy side, our Content Development and Marketing program is on a temporary hold so we can focus on supporting current trainees and making needed improvements. The main CDM post will be updated once the program resumes.

In leadership news, we welcomed new mentors to the Academy team and invite you to join us in congratulating them. Otherwise, it has been steady maintenance this month with several highlights to celebrate, including:

• Teen Awards

• Academy Awards

• Mentor Review Highlights

• Tulips

Obs

In August, we introduced the Light and Lift initiative to support members experiencing depression. The goal is to make the Depression support chat active and engaging so that everyone joining in feels empowered to share and be heard, and feels comfortable and encouraged. The start is slow, but we do need more help and support. If you are interested in supporting this initiative or know someone who probably likes to, please step up and join the Comfort Bringers team. 

On the Vibe Check initiative, thanks to our Vibe Setters for their thoughtful and compassionate contributions to keep the momentum going, and in August almost gave 97 hours of vibe setting in Member Community Chat. We are grateful to them, and we will continue to build the community there. If you like to be part of the Vibe Setting team, please do apply here! 

In the Verified Listener Program news, a huge shout-out to the Verifier Team for successfully processing 106 verification applications. 106 isn't just any number, but a testament to the team’s commitment to growth and excellence in the listener quality. We appreciate all listeners who took their time to step up and join the Verified Listener community to listen and help others in need, and spread kindness. 

On the leadership front, 7 room supporters and 3 chatroom moderators joined the Group Support team, while 3 verifiers joined the Listener Verification team. Grateful to all of them for their interest and willingness to support the teams and community mission to scale the compassion for everyone. 

SoulfullyAButterfly

This month, we have continued to work on Android app updates and the dev team fixed some key challenges which users were facing. We thank everyone who was involved in the testing and reporting process.

To continue to uplift helpful content, we will be announcing a submission form for featured feed and alert based requests and will be featuring different areas of our communities and site to support everyone's great work. 

In addition, we have posted some reminders about helpful usage of AI - 7 Cups believes in human + AI collaboration and is keen to have our users use AI as a support tool rather than a substitute. 

Speaking of AI, we are excited to release the latest version of Noni soon and appreciate everyone’s patience while the team works on updates.