Sub-community merges ahead!
Hi everyone! I hope the holiday season is going well for you. As you may know, the sub-community and forum team has been working on improving support in our sub-communities and forums part of which is merging forum/sub-communities that make sense together and need extra support. You can read the original post here. We have successfully merged two sub-communities and one forum category. Now we move on to the next category merges.
The following forum categories/sub-communities will be merged.
❆ Chemocare Forum Category moving to Family & Caregiver Support
❆ Veterans Sub-Community moving to Family & Caregivers and Career and Transition Support forums in Student Support
❆ Schizophrenia Forum Category moving to Bipolar Support [Bipolar Support to be renamed for inclusiveness, clarity and a better structure]
*All categories are hyperlinked
Once the merge has been completed, it will be announced in the merged sub-community and you will see it listed under the sub-community announcement hub.
[Edited by Tazzie to include the update about name change.]
@Hope Thank you for the great update! Keep up the fantastic job. :)
@Hope Thank you for the information my friend 
@Hope I'm a bit confused by moving Schizophrenia and Psychotic disorders into Bipolar Support. Is bipolar support being renamed? I have directed people looking for a place to post when it comes to psychosis support/info before and bipolar support wouldn't be the place I would think to look myself.
@AffyAvo I agree that this one really doesn't make sense, although technically bipolar can cause pyschosis as well.
@AffyAvo
Hello Affy! I hear your concerns and I understand why Bipolar Support wouldn't be the first place we would think of. We are planning to get it renamed in order for our community to have better clarity of all the forums and support available there. Thank you!
@Tazzie Thanks!
@AffyAvo, @Tazzie, and all -
I was going to comment on this too. I am glad you commented on the "adding Schizophrenia forums to the Bipolar Support sub-comm" because it gives me more courage to add my thoughts here too. In my opinion, it would be easier to find things (or to suggest for a member to go to a specific section (as a listener) if they are more individualized, more specific. Does that make it harder for the leadership of the sub-comm somehow?
I remember something similar happened in the Trauma Support sub-comm. But now I so rarely go there. It seems we had a 'big enough' problem within the discussions with *just* Bipolar discussions. People disagreeing on what is mania or what is hypomania etc etc. I am not trying to just toss out people who need Schizophrenia support (really I am not) ... I guess I just don't understand why it "goes with" Bipolar Disorder. Thank you for reading, even if my opinion is not considered and the change will occur anyway. ~ Platy (and yes I am a (L) too)
@cyanPlatypus6370
Hello Platy! Thank you for your valuable feedback. We as an ambassador team will ensure that support is provided for all areas within the Bipolar Support Community and that no one feels isolated by any means. The Sub-Community will be renamed to be inclusive of all topics and support areas.
As for the leadership team, I will be recruiting more leaders in the upcoming weeks and will do everything in my capacity for the Sub-Community to run as smoothly as possible.
Thank you!
@Hope
Thanks for the info
@Hope
Thanks for the update, looking forward to seeing the new changes in action!
@Hope thanks for the information. I keep rereading the 2nd one and am not sure of the connection between Veterans and Student Support. I realise they are being connected through Family & Carers there but just worried it might be too broad and some people miss out.
@caringPanda45
Hello! There are plans of renaming Student Support to be inclusive of jobs/careers and we have some forum posts in Veterans that can best fit within our Career support/Transition support forums.
Our team will ensure that support is provided across all areas within the Sub-Communities after merges as well. Thank you!
@Tazzie, hi again :) After the fiasco of early November 2019, will there be other/more discussions set up? Weekly would be great - and scheduled like one or two would be fine also. NOTE: SCHEDULED - aka NOT Pop-Up. Or at least added into the Community Calendar. Or tell us where to check for them. (That last part - for me anyway - would be helpful across the entire 7cups world! 
) ~ Platy
I'm already confused where to go as it is.
@Hope
Thank you to yourself and all others involved in moving these forums/threads, which seems to have an objective of making things easier to find for all users of the site. This can't be an easy task, and do commend you all for working on this project.
Like others in this thread, slightly concerned about this proposed change:-
❆ Schizophrenia Forum Category moving to Bipolar Support [Bipolar Support to be renamed for inclusiveness, clarity and a better structure]
Have seen you are showing understanding that they are seperate topics, and working towards renaming the community to show this. A concern would be that a lot of diagnosis' in mental health can have episodes of psychosis or struggles related to this which users may want to gain support for, along with the two mentioned of schizophrenia and bi polar,
Not sure if many are aware, but PMS (premenstral syndrome) can also have similar effects for certain individuals, sometimes leading to breif psychosis. Would there be space in these newly named forums for topics like that? Not sure have seen similar things discussed here.
Do wish you all luck with this project, and thank you for discussing proposed changes within the community.
@friendlySea8328 - 1st thank you for writing!
2nd your very last sentence? about letting us know what's happening or about to happen - that one. I'm sorry @Tazzie and @7cupsCommunity, but I highly disagree. It feels to me more like 1. leaders have a meeting and debate and then choose the course of action and then 2. the leaders *inform* the rest of us (M) and (L) alike: so we decided to change this and this.
I do not want to be a leader in that sense but I wish I could be like the one student rep on the board of directors (example is from my college). I feel like the (M) need a voice in changes too. Or the (L)isteners, at least! Others? Opinions? ~ Platy
@cyanPlatypus6370
Hi Platy
I do hear what you are expressing here. You feel that the leaders have meetings to discuss, and these threads are just to inform, rather than discuss the proposed changes. I hear you have disagreed with a viewpoint I made, and I respect that. Very glad to have encountered someone so passionate about the community here to voice that they have disagreed.
Has a member/listener leader panel been suggested, as representatives of the whole community?
Thank you for taking time to reply to a post I had made, and for being so caring to others to express how you are feeling about these changes
@friendlySea8328 - Hi Sea, I'm not sure how to respond to this actually, but I will try. I'm not sure if a suggestion as you've said (adding a (M) or two, and or a (L) or three to each sub-comm leadership) has been made before or not. Since I was here before sub-communities existed ... I'm not sure that this has been suggested or tried. Maybe for some sub-comm and not others? Maybe someone like @Tazzie would know more. @Kate - miss you! As well, @Laura - missing you too! (Platy waves to Coco )
BOLD print ... Thank you for accepting my disagreement with grace and kind words. Really, that means a lot to me! So, many thanks. And Happy New Year! ~ Platy