Lack of Support for Health Conditions?
@MissZ tagging you because I know you're fairly active, I doubt you had anything to do with this problem, but I'm hoping you can help with this attitude.
Today I had a listener who felt unable to support me, fine. I asked to be referred. The information there was basically that listeners can't help with medical issues.
7cups can't help with many issues! That doesn't mean that those of us going through these things don't deserve support. Supporting someone with chronic illness isn't vastly different than supporting someone going through a breakup, work stress or any of the other topics that are commonly supported.
@AffyAvo It sounds like the listener was not aware of what active listening entails, and that the focus is always on emotional support. We are not here to give medical advice, to give our opinion, and we don't even need to know a lot about the topic to be able to use basic active listening skills.
I think in our training it is said that we do not support people who are in a medical emergency, and they might have just confused that.
I am sorry to hear that happened to you and I hope you left them an honest review so they can get some feedback and hopefully connect to a mentor and get some help with growth!
@MissZ The problem wasn't with the listener, the listener simply felt uncomfortable and was willing to refer my chat. The problem was with the person in the LSR answering questions when the listener came in to refer.
Ah yes, the problem is that you cannot report the unknown person in the LSR. You would have to convince the listener who felt unable to support you that they should report the person in the LSR.
Personally, I don't get the impression that "the focus is always on emotional support" in reality. Maybe that was the theory, long ago. The focus now seems to be on making suggestions and solving problems. Our Values now puts saving lives first!
I've been thinking that it might be useful to classify listeners as problem solvers, subject experts, emotional supporters, or whatever, so that it's easier for each member to find a listener who has the desired approach.
@AffyAvo
@RarelyCharlie haha even if that were the case, depression, anxiety disorders, general mental illness, drug abuse, bipolar, borderline, OCD, PTSD, perinatal mood disorders (did I miss something? most likely) are all 'medical issues' too. So I would love to know what the person in LSR things are suitable topic categories and which aren't. 
