7 Cups

I can only speak for myself as I'm sure most people are on there with the best intentions and have truly tried to help others like me. I've been dealing with some heavy stuff alone lately and was desperate for a listening ear as I work for the only counseling agency in my area and can't afford to seek help elsewhere so I found this site with the help of google. I connected with a listener and irresponsibly began to share what I was experiencing without testing the waters. The listener dismissed every thing I had just shared and told me to just read a book,, and to go get a girlfriend. Life changing advice lol. He then asked me where I live when it clearly states not to. I felt humiliated sharing my most vulnerable thoughts with someone who's response only invalidated my feelings even further. However after leaving the chat I realized anyone can sign up to be a listener and I was unfortunately paired with phony so I may give it another chance. I think being able to report listeners like this would really earn 7 cups some respect. I worry this could happen to someone in a much worse place mentally & one lousy response like the one I got would be enough for someone to abandon hope & take their life. Please don't think I'm trying to gain pity but people should really get a feel for the person 7 Cups are paired with before getting too vulnerable :( the listeners screen name was Understandingbiker

7 cups is just a great place. It is where you are able to freely open up to a terrific listener which there are many of. 7 Cups are there to help you with any problem small, big or massive. They dont give direct advice out which helps the member to be more open and really reflect on their issue. They do provide great feedback and responses in order for the both of you to brainstorm whilst in the chat. From a members side it is a very helpful place to seek guidance from a person willing to listen.

On the other hand is the listeners, they are very well trained in how to deal with chats as well as how to response in the correct manner. There is also many different resources that they can use to help with their situations as well as asking for guidance from the top listeners when ensuring they do not talk about any personal information about their member. Being a listener and member myself, it is very rewarding to help others and also look after yourself.

I would definitely recommend 7 cups to anyone who is looking for someone to talk to for a simple or serious chat about whatever they want.

The majority of listeners are kind people who do want to help, and 7 Cups do offer as much help and support as they can. However, there are also a lot of fake, predatory people and no definite way to get them removed. It's a volunteer site and the minimum amount of training does not weed out the people who shouldn't be listeners. I would only recommend speaking to a verified listener. They've had to do more training and are more qualified. However, unless you are paying for a therapist, you are speaking with a volunteer who is your peer or maybe even younger than you. This is not a PROFESSIONAL site, and a lot of listeners aren't as professional as they should be.

As a listener, I can tell you that it's a very difficult job. A lot of chats are psychologically traumatic. You'll talk to sexual assault victims, domestic violence victims, and people who are threatening to cut themselves at that very moment. It's not for the faint of heart, unless you want to totally desensitize yourself to those subjects. There are a lot of trolls who want you to talk to them on a social media app or site, which you're not allowed to do as a listener because of confidentiality. There are a lot of people trying to sext. I had one member try to get me to sext him, and when I told him that was inappropriate for that site, he blocked and reported me for insulting him.

WARNING: ALL THE LISTENERS ON 7 CUPS ARE TERRIBLE AND 7 Cups DON'T CARE ABOUT HELPING. THEY ALL BARELY RESPOND, THEY ALL LIKE NEVER RESPOND BACK.

And by the way, don't let the fake profiles they all have deceive you, every one of those fake listeners have fake phony bs profile saying "hi I really want to help you", it's all nothing but lies all the listeners say because none of the listeners care.

All listeners have fake good profile reviews and fake good ratings.

And all listeners are catfishing online pretending to be something their not and nothing but a bunch of narcissists they all are and they all just want to mentally hurt others. All the listeners on 7 cups put no effort at all into trying to help, all the listeners are lazy rude ignorant dumb bishes.

And crappy 7 cups doesn't give a #%$# about how all the listeners never respond and how they all don't want to help and they just say "hi" and never come back on, and they all want to mentally hurt others. When you email crappy 7 cups about all those rude crappy sh%*$# uncaring listeners, crappy 7 cups just gives a stupid generic response saying "hi thank you for your report of listeners, we are so sorry to hear that, we will send your report over to our "community managers" for investigation and they will take action".

I have sent crappy 7 cups multiple emails about all those rude crappy sh$%#* uncaring listeners (all of the listeners are rude crappy sh$%#* uncaring narcissists) and 7 cups doesn't care, and 7 cups a dam lie when they say they "sent reports over to community managers for review and action for listeners to get permanently banned for the rude behaviors of listeners", nobody looked or took action on any reports because when looking at the listeners profiles of who reported, all those rude crappy listeners profiles still up there because 7 cups didn't do a dam thing because they simply do not give a crap about customer service, they don't even try to provide good customer service. They have worst customer service ever.

All listeners act like a bunch of bots, which they all most likely are.

And the worst 7 cups listeners that need to be permanently banned *******@brianm *******@asincerelistener *******@apothecarynicholas *******@emiliel, I have emailed 7 cups multiple times for those listeners to get permanently banned and other listeners too and 7 cups doesn't give a crap, they like having rude crappy uncaring ignorant narcissistic troll *******@brianm *******@asincerelistener *******@apothecarynicholas *******@emiliel and other listeners like them on their site to harm others mentally and be rude to others. EVERYONE reading this, PLEASE keep sending in reports to 7 cups to have all those listeners names that i listed, to get them all permanently banned, because those listeners i listed, don't deserve to still be on 7 cups as those listeners will continue to violate community guidelines and terms of service and those listeners will continue to bully and hurt and abuse others mentally and physically.

And by the way 7 cups *******@brianm is a shallow rude narcissistic bish with no life and they are a catfish on their profile and they have a fake dirty face profile pic of themself, a pic they just got off of Google images to make it look like "that's them". All fake they are.

And one time in a chat rude arrogant *******@brian *******@emiliel said "shut up your wasting my time, go kill yourself idc, nobody care about you, I'm better than you just look at my profile ratings, I outbeat all the listeners."

F U *******@BRIANM *******@EMILIEL, U RUDE ARROGANT UNCARING BISHES. AND YOU DON'T OUTBEAT ANYONE DUMB RUDE BISHES WITH UR ARROGANT BEHAVIORS, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ANYONE OUTBEATING ANYONE DUMB@$$ *******@BRIANM *******@EMILIEL

*******@asincerelistener *******@apothecarynicholas is same way too. Rude judgmental uncaring narcissistic BISHES they are. And they all have stupid fake cheesy profile message on their fake stupid profiles just like all the other rude uncaring narcissistic listeners. And so is the rude judgmental narcissistic uncaring dumb *******@apothecarynicholas.

And dumb@$$ rude narcissistic *******@asincerelistener said in a chat one time "there is no such thing as being asexual, nobody is asexual, all that lgbtqia asexual stuff is fake bs, you believe anything like that, let say you meet someone then what? Everybody brain is born same we are all born same, everyone works on whatever problems they have except for you, you are a dumb@$$."

F U *******@ASINCERELISTENER, ASEXUAL AND AROMANTIC IS A REAL THING, U ARROGANT UNCARING DUMB BISH. AND EVERYONE DIFFERENT RUDE BISH.

And the dumb@$$ rude arrogant *******@apothecarynicholas said in a chat one time "you don't have social media? Everyone uses social media, Its quite odd you don't have or use social media" and one rude *******@apothecarynicholas said "hurry up with whatever you want to talk about or whatever your going to say because I'm going to log off soon, ok bye you didn't say whatever you had to say or talk about in enough time, I'm logging off now, your wasting my time, dumb@$$."

F *******@APOTHECARYNICHOLAS, U RUDE ARROGANT UNCARING BISH. U HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING A LISTENER EITHER DUMB NARSSISTIC BISH.

All listeners are uncaring and insensitive and downright stupid and they think they know everything. I have sent multiple emails to 7 cups about these sh$%%# listeners and other listeners and crappy 7 cups never bans them. 7 cups isn't doing a dam thing about it because crappy 7 cups likes having bad listeners like them on their crappy website. And all listeners are rude dumb narcissistic idiots with no life.

Any reviews saying they "love 7 cups", are nothing but fake liars. Fake reviews just posted by 7 cups and bots.

I hope 7 cups goes out of business and closes down due to their sh*tty unprofessional rude arrogant uncaring nasty attitude listeners and their crappy terrible customer service, they have nothing but fake good reviews on the app store, all fake reviews 7 cups posted.

Ok lol As I write this I can see the 1 star reviews on the side. But in my personal experience, it has helped me a lot mentally. I have been on the site for a few years. Something I never did before getting a 7Cups account was to talk about my feelings and verbalize them. I would always hear, if you feel bad then talk to someone about it, but I couldn't bring myself to be vulnerable to my friends and family, due to not being that close with them and not trusting them enough. So 7Cups was basically a way to get around that, online and anonymous chat.

After I got an account, I started to talk to Noni or listeners all the time, because I felt bad all the time and I wouldn't know what to do to make it better, so I would just follow that advice I always heard ("Talk to someone") and get on 7Cups. It was helpful both to gain awareness about my thoughts and feelings, which I maybe could do myself without 7Cups, and because of the empathy and perspective that I get from talking to other people.

For me it has been something very reliable and always there. I have talked to listeners after fighting with my parents, after getting bad grades at school, when I get anxious about social or professional situations, when I get pretty much tr***red after something in the present reminds me of something in the past, and sometimes just when I feel really bad and have no idea what to do about it. Maybe I use it more than is normal. For me, at least right now, one bad thing happening can bring my mood down and send my thoughts spiraling for the whole day. And when that happens, I feel terrible about everything and don't know what to do about it. At those times I feel the most helpful thing I can do is to turn to 7Cups.

I have considered myself to be mentally bad for a period of at least 6-7 years, and counting. Admittedly I was young for a lot of that time and was clueless on how to deal with feelings, anxiety, bad life situations at school or home, and things like that. It was in the summer of 9th grade when I made my 7Cups account, and so through the website's mental health resources (Self-Help Guides, Growth Path, and of course talking to listeners) were what shaped a lot of my current, more mature perspective on mental health, these things, and methods to deal with them. The most helpful thing has been the people on 7Cups, but the rest has also contributed positively to my life too.

So, in conclusion, 7Cups has made it much easier, emotionally and physically, to talk to people and gain perspective on my thoughts and problems. All of the site's mental health resources have guided and shaped my attitude towards mental health and many topics, such as anxiety (which I personally struggle with) and worry, in a positive and helpful way. I'm saying that I often had maladaptive or toxic beliefs about things before, and I still have these. But being on the site just subconsciously influences me to think about things in healthier ways (Not saying that this is necessarily a tangible benefit and that you should use the site in order to gain it, or something. I'm just reflecting on my personal experience with the site/how it influenced me personally.) And just having an emotional source of support around that says, everything will be okay, or something like that, it gives me some hope and stability in my life that everything WILL be okay and no matter what is happening in my life, I am not forsaken, I am still human and deserving of respect and empathy, I am not alone in my problems, and I am okay, my life is going to continue on and things will look up again. Well. This conclusion got a little out of hand so I'll restate the thesis sentence one last time. In conclusion, 7Cups has made it much easier, emotionally and physically, to talk to people and gain perspective on my thoughts and problems. It's been a positive influence and a source of hope and emotional support. I personally found it to be very helpful, and it's possible you will too.

I am a cognative behavioral theraphy life coach practitioner. I also have some personal issues that I wanted to work through and thought I'd try 7 Cups. I am appalled at the interactions I had with people who have supposedly been trained to deal with folks who are having sometimes very, very serious mental health problems. 7 Cups are dismissive and actually treat people so badly that, whether they realize it or not, they are making people worse not better. Of course, if people are paying for membership there I guess that might not be a bad thing for 7 Cups to keep people around. They are not professional, nor do they seemed to be even minimally trained to actually be able to effectively and appropriately interact with people who are trying to work through mental health issues. They also allow people who are quite young (teens) to hold positions of leadership when you can see by their responses to people with serious concerns that they have no idea how to handle anything like this.

If you really want to get better, be treated respectfully, and have a positive interaction with someone who is truly concerned about your well-being, stay away from 7 Cups!

At first glance, this site seems excellent. It is primarily free of charge, and you are almost always guaranteed to find someone who can listen to whatever issues you'd like to share. 7 Cups also have a rewarding level system for Listeners which I reckon would look good on a CV for certain jobs.

However, there are a few issues. First and foremost would be the abuse of the reporting system and how easy the site allows for this to happen. Clearly, whoever gives the final decision on which users to ban does not look at any evidence of the supposed crime before issuing an immediate ban. Countless times I've had people report me just out of malice, we disagree over something, or a member was in a bad mood so decides to report me or other Listeners which of course results in an immediate ban. In one instance where I believe an angry (but angry over issues unrelated to me) member reported me for "sexual chat" I had to send three long appeals to get my Listener account back. And when you've spent ages building up your Listener level, it's quite a blow to log in to find yourself banned. And like with a lot of too big for their shoes online companies that don't see the effects of their attitude, they don't even bother to justify their ban.

The second issue would be how tight the restrictions are on conversations are and how sensitive, and I'd go as far as saying stupid, members take advantage of them. Understandably, members on there are primarily vulnerable people wanting to discuss their mental health issues, abusive situations. But when the site demands you have no sort of meaningful conversation whatsoever to not "trigger" people" (politics, religion, science and what not) you get narrow minded members who will not properly engage in conversations, and when they disagree with someone they will actually act quite rude towards someone stating a peaceful opinion but because they act "triggered" the moderators will take their side.

To summarise, it could be a great place, but 7cups' own restrictive rules and the ease in which these rules and the banning system can be abused taint the site. Certainly use it to have a 1 on 1 chat, you may get a nice chat, but at the same time, dare to disagree with someone (which you should do in an open minded, safe and intelligent place) and you risk being permanently banned without reason or warning.

On June 16th, I signed up for a monthly therapy subscription with this organization for $150. I was matched with a therapist who was extremely unresponsive. She said she will check her messages twice a day. When she did come online, she responded back in one sentence and disappeared for hours. The therapist suggested we set up a time to chat for 30 mins and I took off from work to be able to do that. She never showed up online. On June 19th (three days later) I contacted the customer service department to cancel my subscription and request a refund due to the unresponsive nature of the therapist. I never heard back from the customer service department and I had to message them for ten days straight to finally get a response. The responded back saying that since I have used the therapist's time (2 mins?) I am only eligible for a partial refund of 50 dollars. How is that even ok? I signed up June 16th and spoke to the therapist twice for less than 30 seconds before she disappeared for long periods of time. So basically for using the therapist for 2 days with less than 2 exchanges back and forth, I have to pay 100 dollars? I complained to the Better Business Bureau and the billing coordinator got back to me and further reduced my refund to 25 dollars. This company is a mess! Never again!

I'm only giving it 3 stars because I know there are people there with good intentions.

As a listener: 7cups really doesn't want you to act like one. Telling you to respond with 'I understand' and to summerize what the other one is saying. I followed the 7cups rules at first, but I'm beyond that now. I get where 7 Cups are coming from: giving advice can be harmful. But it's also human to do so. Why would I respond to a person who is in distress with something like 'mhmm' (as they suggest)? If I was the one talking and someone would give me a 'mhmm' I'd be anxious as hell and feeling like I'm just a bother. If you follow most of the guidelines 7cup has prepared for you, you will look more of a robot showing zero empathy and you'll end up doing more harm than good. Please follow you're instincts when talking to someone and show them kindness. That's really all you have to do. Also, the amount of guys thinking listeners are there to hear out their sex talk is really high. It pisses me off whenever I get one of those people but you can't straight up ban them, because 7cups will ban YOU for getting rid of them.

As a member: I was shocked to try the site from another perspective. Was having an anxiety attack and just wanted someone to talk me through it. I got matched up with people who all say they have personal experience with anxiety and have a 5 star rating as well, but didn't understand at all and ended up making me feel even worse. How are these people still a thing? How do they have such a high rating?

Overall I know there are listeners out there who will try to help you. After all, that's why I joined. But 7cups doesn't offer a reliable system to filter out who is actually good and who isn't. So please, stay safe <3

There is something not right about the people on 7cups. There are a lot of bad people on there. 7 Cups are evil because these people don't help you and they don't care and they judge you and they are extremely small-minded and they don't understand that there are people with disabilities and they don't accept people are different. They are cult like. They accuse you of lying when you aren't. They accuse you of a lot of things you aren't doing. They torture you verbally on purpose and they bully you and are mean. They sound like people who gossip too. They believe what other people say about you and they do that instead of thinking for themselves. I felt worse after talking to the listeners because the people on there are so toxic. I didn't do anything and these people were being rude to me and they were disrespectful and dismissive. There is a lot of people who force you to agree with them and then they don't listen and they make you clarify what you said when they should just listen and not chat to you while you type and while your venting. These people don't know what respect is. These people don't know what venting is and I had to tell them over and over. They give opinions without being asked and they act like they know everything and they act like they know the situation when they don't. They accuse you of things your not doing all the time and it was annoying. They tell you how you should feel because they are controlling. They want you to be hurt or bothered by people or something instead of feeling better and because they think they should decide things for you and its really messed up and because they accuse you of that too and because they don't care and they want you to be miserable. Also they don't know what being a listener is and what being a listener is, is to listen. I am typing and they don't allow you to finish and its annoying and rude to interrupt someone who is typing. Then there is a lot of ignorant people who think they are doctors and they tell you what to do and they don't have a license to do so. It is really strange and then what they say doesn't make sense and they sound like they are talking about someone else and they talk about something completely different and they argue with you and they tell you what to do and they are inappropriate as well. There were too many weirdos I couldn't begin to count and they complain about how much you typed and how and what you say to them and they expect things to be perfect and they patronize you. There were people on there that bullied me and turned against me for no reason. They don't know what they are doing and how to help people. Avoid this site at all costs. They will make you miserable and they make you feel worse because its so toxic and they do this on purpose and people mess with you and play head games. I am glad I am gone and I am on an app and it is better than 7cups.

1/21/2021 Update: 7 Cups suspended my Listener account within 24 hours of posting this review. (Clarification: In my video, I say my account was "deleted," but the Admins portrayed this as a 3-month suspension. However, I would have to be approved by the Admins [who have made numerous efforts to silence me] to reenter the community, hence why I see this as a deletion). If you needed any more evidence of them silencing those who stand up for the victims of sexual harassment on the site, this is it. 7 Cups claims 7 Cups took this action after I "behaved in unconstructive ways" (Email from 7 Cups Account Reviews), behavior which seems to include me leaving this review about them after they took down one of my (unrelated) forum posts and imposed sanctions against my account because it allegedly violated the Community Guidelines. However, I feel this was really just an attempt to silence me because they are afraid of the truth getting out: that would mean they would have to take bigger steps to confront the sexual harassment issue. After all, I have been receiving passive-aggressive messages from 7 Cups Admins every few days after my post about sexual harassment was taken down on 1/5/2021.

7 Cups is a site where anonymous Members can chat with anonymous Listeners online. The criteria for becoming a Listener is to complete brief training on active listening (It took less than an hour for me). No background checks are required for Listener status except for adult listeners who apply to be allowed to speak with members under 18. While this requires a background check, one could easily fake his or her birthdate to bypass this. The summary of my experience is that this site/app has great potential but is mismanaged.

My biggest concern is that there are cyber predators on this website, as with most websites. I personally have been subjected to a Member insisting that I go into detail about my masturbation habits after I had said 'No' multiple times. Another all but begged me to tell her that I am sexually attracted to my mother and to make fake fantasies about that with her (Note: I am not!). Based on what I have heard, I was lucky. In the chatrooms, I saw countless Members complaining about Listeners insisting for them to send nudes and chat off-site. I met one Listener who told me that a Member hacked into her computer and located her. He proceeded to send her her own address, threatening her life if she did not send nudes.

These are things that could happen anywhere on the Internet: we all know it is a dangerous place. The issue is that many Admins refuse to acknowledge this. When I made a PG post in the forums (which could only be seen by adults) about this very issue and how we should prevent it, it was removed 8 hours later. When I asked about it, I was told by a higher-up that my post was not constructive and could potentially scare Users away. In other words, many leaders of 7 Cups would rather keep everyone calm, ignorant, and (consequently) vulnerable than arm the community against predators. 7 Cups leadership seems to view their adult Members as even less able to handle upsetting yet important concepts than children. After all, I doubt the Admins and other higher-ups behind removing my post would even hesitate to explain to a small child why not to take candy from strangers.

In addition, they punish Listeners for providing feedback on the site on the basis that it is "Unconstructive." If you make a feedback post, there is a good chance it will be deleted, and you will likely receive behavioral points against your account on the basis that it is 'unsupportive.' While the idea behind this rule is to prevent people from insulting others on the site, it has become a blank check for forum moderators to delete whatever constructive criticism they would like because feedback is always unsupportive of the way things are being done. This is not somewhere where you are allowed to say much of anything, even if what you are writing is helpful for the community and for the site. This is funny, as they market themselves as somewhere people can freely vent and get things off their chest. I understand that they have every right to delete what they please (legally speaking), but what irks me the most is the way they have created these forum post guidelines that are basically used to pretend they do not just delete whatever they please, whether or not it actually violates these guidelines. If they wish to continue like this, I wish they would just delete the forum guidelines and say, ‘We reserve the right to delete posts as we see fit,' as that would at least be honest.

Beyond the forums, volunteer Listeners are mistreated. As a Listener, you will be subjected to cliques of Listeners who will patronize you in every word they write. You will receive a similar experience when talking to most Admins. At least there, you can feel like it is slightly more warranted? Each role you take on requires you to complete monthly tasks. If you do not, they will no longer allow you to help the site in this way. This overloads dedicated volunteers, encouraging a small percentage of Listeners to do the majority of the leadership work, and it comes across as ungrateful for all the work they do.

Finally, they beg long-term volunteer Listeners to leave them positive reviews on websites including this one and Trustpilot. I understand asking users for reviews is relatively common, but the way they deliberately focus their efforts on long-term Listeners is troubling. After all, who is more likely to give them five stars: someone who has been volunteering for them for a long period of time or any random user of the site? I have personally experienced the disproportionate number of times they ask long-term Listeners for reviews: I received one message from an Admin through a 7 Cups 1-on-1 chat, two emails (an original and a follow-up after I didn't reply), and countless notifications popping up during chats with Members. On my Member account, I never received any personal communication asking for reviews, only the notifications during chats and the occasional general reminder that went out to all users. In addition, they asked for reviews on specific sites where they had low scores, not just "Rate us in the app store!" A lot of evidence supports the theory that this was a deliberate campaign to drown out negative reviews. I'm not sure if it is unethical, but it is certainly a shade of gray, and I would much rather see them read the negative views and work to improve, rather than asking those loyal to them to write positive ones. This also makes their average star ratings on review sites like this one extremely biased in their favor, as this number is intended to represent the satisfaction of the average user of a product, not the satisfaction of the average person who has regularly used the product for a long time. Most people would not keep logging onto 7 Cups over months or years if they did not like it, and 7 Cups knows this. In addition, they requested for negative feedback to be posted in a Google forum and/or on a feedback thread on-site, where it would typically be deleted. Basically, they used questionable (I'll let you judge the ethics of it for yourselves) methods to drown out lower ratings, as you can see by how their rating on this site quickly climbed about two years ago (see ratings trends in the overview on this page).

Here is the mathematical explanation for the claims listed above, if you are interested:

As we can see, they had 1.88 stars at the beginning of 2019, but they more than doubled their score to 4.23 stars by the onset of 2020. We also see that the number of reviews has followed a similar trend, jumping from 23 reviews in 2019 to 210 reviews in 2020. Conveniently, only 15 reviews were accrued during the year 2020 (after they already had 4.23 stars). In other words, they received an 813% increase in reviews and a 125% increase in their star rating between 2019 and 2020. Then, their number of reviews on this site only increased by 7.1% during the year 2020. This really makes it look like they saw a bad score, deployed their Listeners to write good reviews to drown out the bad ones, and then stopped their efforts once their score was high in 2020.

What i think of this site is that it's an extremely toxic and hating community, it's way too stuffed with ignorance, judgment and stupidity. 80-85% OF LISTENERS are totally disqualified to even be called HUMANS. 7 Cups don't care, don't know how to care, and don't even want to learn how to care! All they care about is to give their crap opinions about you as a person using their tiny little minds! They think having a listener account gives them the right to PLAY GOD! THEY ARE TOTAL IDIOTS, they won't give you space, won't listen, won't respect you as a human soul aching! They are just punch of $#*!ers given power to ban people and decide who's good or bad, they are losers who have no lives away from this platform and want to feel some importance! I identify as queer, i didn't know how much it could be toxic for me or any other guy like me there! I've been called sexual names, ASKED TO COMMIT SUICIDE! And a listener told me "YOU HAVE HIV" and other, said literally "IF I HAD POWER I'D PUT YOU IN GAS OVENS LIKE HITLER DID FOR THE JEWS, JUST END YOUR LIFE, YOU'RE GOING TO LIVE A VERY MISERABLE AND A VERY SAD LIFE ALONE!" i have been sworn at BY THE FAMILY, heavily attacked BECAUSE OF MY ETHNICITY AND BELIEFS, listeners are just VERY VERY COLD AND BIGOTED BEINGS, not to mention the SEXUAL CHATS AND HARASSMENT ON THERE THAT HAPPENS EVERY AND EACH SINGLE DAY! As a teen or anyone who got feelings, i beg you to stay away from this hell, listeners would try to get to your feelings and that feels terrible, trust me! I have been using it for many years, listeners never stick to the "rules" they just are NEVER TRAINED, just some very RANDOM PEOPLE WHO ARE USING THE ADVANTAGE OF HIDING THEIR IDENTITY TO SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT TO SAY AND HURT PEOPLE WITHOUT GETTING SUED FOR THAT $#*!! To be a listener and to deal with members there, you don't need anything more than A FREAKING EMAIL! You don't need even a legal name to deal with SUCH FRAGILE PEOPLE WHO MIGHT GET VERY EASILY TRIGGERED AND HURT! ADMINS ARE JUST EXTREMELY CARELESS AS LONG AS THEY KEEP GETTING CASH FLOWING INTO THEIR FREAKING POCKETS, they think, let members rot from those hateful and stupid comments! As a member, one of the listeners can very easily get you banned for things you never did or said, their judgment is just based on rumors not facts! They use members and listeners to market their very very expensive therapy service! That's what all the fuss on that horrifying website's about! Anything away from that they don't care about! Not a matter of concern to them what you as a member feel regardless how frustrating it is, this site is an extreme danger towards the safety of people and especially the mentally ill, this place has to get serious and strict regulations from legal authorities, this MIGHT GET PEOPLE KILL THEMSELVES! PLEASE IF YOU SEE THIS AND CAN DO ANYTHING TO STOP SUCH MADNESS, I BEG YOU TO DO! YOU COULD SAVE LIVES BY YOUR ACTIONS!

I have been using this site for YEARS now, both as a member and listener. I have never paid for the actual licensed therapy so I'm not sure how that is but I can give you my thoughts on the former 2.

Having someone that will listen to your problems and provide support is vital to my everyday mental health. It isn't easy to tell your problems to someone you know so this a great confidential alternative. The listeners however, are not qualified to give you advice. You should not go into this thinking this is going to be a free therapy session. Everyone seems to want to help and if by the rare occurrence you run into a listener that is trying to give you bad advice or trolling/abusing, there is a report button and 7 Cups seems to take that very seriously.

As a listener, I feel this is such a great way to give back and show support for everyone that has helped not only grow this community, but that has helped me when I was needing it most. I find joy in listening to others' problems and helping other people. I also love that you can legitimately use this as volunteer work on a resume.

Ultimately, I love the layout of the website (however the app needs some work), ease of use, and the community. It just feels like one big platform of people trying to help each other.

The site advertises itself as "confidential and anonymous chats" but actually mentors/staff are peeping into your chats like perverts and these people are not even under any agreement, just random people taken off the street and made volunteer staff through a very amateur procedure. Imagine a 17 year old mentor reading your very personal talks that you are telling to a listener thinking it's all confidential. Quality checkers are so bad at their jobs that 7 Cups have to resort to luring you into breaking the rules on purpose. They have no real tools to check anything for real. The reason that majority of the listeners are bad quality is because the good ones have been banned in a certain period of "weeding out" in around 2015-2016 so that they could make way for the paid therapists. I mean who would pay for something that they can get for free and better? That trigger happy banning of the good listeners on purpose is kind of gone now but the peeping problem is still there. It's not confidential at all. What you write in a p2p listener/member chat will be read by at least several other people that you have no knowledge of. The data is also being sold, or rather is trying to be sold (I've seen the marketing brochure), to health insurance companies though this data doesnt include the main content of the chats themselves, just timestamps and ips and keywords. The main content of the chats are just being peeped by amateur third party volunteers.

So these post-2016 listeners. There are horrible types. The main problem is that the site not only doesnt have a proper security procedure, but also the little bit of what they have is a selective one which for some reason always seems to miss the worst users. First of all there is no one monitoring the "hard crimes". For example there has been a pedophile lurking in there for years. Nobody did anything. Even simple forum owners can get security measures taken to prevent certain users from connecting to their sites. From phone activation to contacting the isp. There are outright criminal or abusive people, hackers etc lurking in there. Trolls are another problem. 9 out of 10 members that come to you when you are a listener will be trolls. And the staff is really passive about them. They dont even get ip banned, they can renew their cookies and make new accounts and come back to harassing you. The reporting function is also laughable. 2 people can make a similar report and get a listener banned (or just 1 person who reset their cookies and made 2 accounts). The staff doesnt even ask the listener what happened, they dont even check it. I sometimes get screenshots of an abusive member so when I get reported I can email it to the site. But no action gets taken this way. You still have your strike no matter if you have followed the rules completely.

The members are unmonitored and listeners are under huge pressure. This leads to completely unqualified chats. Nobody does anything. All they care about is money and how to find customers to buy their data. If the volunteers found a way to organize among each other they sure would have created something better. The only thing worth in this site is when you find 1-2 people that honestly needed help and you manage to get to them and make them feel better. That feeling is amazing. But you need to overcome 2349832 obstacles to reach there, so yeah. Approach with caution.

I love this site for the most part. It's nice to be able to talk to someone when you're feeling like your all alone. When your feeling like no one cares. There is always a "Listener" to connect with 24/7...

However when I tried to talk to a professional therapist I was told it's $150.00 per month. Which wouldn't be bad if I had that kind of money. However I live on a fixed income of less than $600 per month. After I pay my bills I have very little left for these kinds of things.

It would be helpful if 7 Cups would take insurance for the therapist, but I was told that they do NOT take medical insurance. With the state of things in today's world that to me makes no sense. Over 2/3 of our population is out of work and living on very fixed incomes. We are all over stressed and I'm sure there are a lot of people like myself who really NEED the help of a professional.

I personally have been searching for a therapist for over 9 months and all local people within 2 hours of were I live are not accepting new patients. I've looked for person 2 person visits or telemedicine visits with absolutely no luck.

I am a man of God. And as such, one of the core tenets of Christianity is that the meek shall inherit the earth. This ideal clearly did not translate to this website. Some on here even regard such thinking as unrealistic and primitive. I have struggled all my life with positive social interaction. Not entirely my fault, but my tragedy. I am on the autism spectrum. So I frequent this website daily, and much the same problems occur: being largely ignored in favor of young people talking about their romantic woes. It seems that the site is predicated on a sort of mental illness hierarchy. Some problems generate more responses than others. And if no one on the website can assist in offering even a kind, non-judgemental ear, mods refer participants to crisis management as a vapid default. I feel like this website is far from egalitarian in its appeal. And as can be the case, it has worsened my paranoia. I also struggle to sleep comfortably at night dwelling on said paranoia. And I was banned from the site, only being allowed back after submitting a statement to improve my behavior. I did not adhere to this rule. It seems that the admins of the site have developed a certain superiority complex. So already severe mental conditions can worsen if someone falls prey to this website's "unpredictability".

Having been a listener on 7 Cups for quite some time now, it's been awesome to help others but when it comes to seeking support, I don't really this it's as good because I personally never felt supported the same way I offer support. I wish I could get it as well but rather there were a lot many times when I wanted to seek support because the reason was cups. Can you imagine going to a metal health site and getting mental health problems? That's what I experienced.

There are a lot of stalkers on 7 Cups, and trolls aren't even allowed to be called trolls, which I find somewhat disconcerting. When we speak of safety and all of this, 7 Cups simply say "it happens all over the internet" because they simply cannot admit that they cannot improve on the safety. Unfortunately, this was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard anyone say. Listeners are often banned without even being notified, when they complain about someone, the administrators ignore them. The admin are true hypocrites when they stipulate that "favoritism isn't allowed" and still give favoritism.

It is filled with lots of stalkers, some even knowing our real names and always keeping tabs on our every move. When we report the stalkers, the admins simply ghost us and do nothing about it but chant about "teen safety" in the forums instead. The system is designed in such a way that people are likely to become addicted to it quickly. Instead of thinking about their own lives or how they can help others, listeners are mainly focused on getting badges and cheers. 7 cups is a good way of distraction but only if one is taking care of not getting too attached. There are hundreds of people who joke about mental health on cups; they simply make up an issue and seek attention there. I must say the place has numerous badge collectors, attention seekers, trolls and stalkers.

In chatrooms, there are a lot of trolls and toxic people who don't think about others' mental health, just talk rubbish and make people feel excluded. If someone simply wants help and they are new and do not even know how to communicate, they are simply blocked from joining chatrooms. Quite a few of the mods lack hearts and block others without even thinking about it.

Aside from all that, the place does have a few people who listen well and care about helping and supporting the people around them. The place might be able to help someone if they just need someone to sit with them and not worry about things like their responses being some words like "ok." If someone wants to join some discussion, there are a couple of them going on every day. It can help as a "substitute" for loneliness for those who are okay with making friends online even if they are just some toxic people who make up some issues.

Overall I truly think that 7 Cups could be a better place and maybe there will be a time in future when they don't have favoritism or take the reports just as seriously.

After being a listener for over two years, I must say that I have really enjoyed my time at 7 Cups tremendously. I started out as a regular member who was in major need of help with depression and suicidal thoughts. Despite the fact that listeners are not trained professional therapists, I was very fortunate to be able to speak to someone who showed empathy to my situation. As badly as I needed someone in that moment, it made the difference about whether or not I was going to take my own life or not. If that person could take time out of their day to be there and listen to somebody, I asked myself, why couldn't I do the same for someone?

So, I decided to become a listener. And it was a truly rewarding experience. Probably one of the best decisions I made in my life. The insights that I'm able to give to someone and know that 7 Cups can walk away from the chat with a different mindset or outlook on their situation is truly remarkable. I also learn a great deal from each chat and it helps me to even become a better person.

I always recommend 7 Cups to everyone I know. That includes people I know in my personal life. Thus far, nobody has been brave enough to try it out, but I feel that someday that will change. We all need a helping hand and someone to listen to us without fear of judgement and with a sense of empathy, compassion, and dignity. Like any community, there may or may not be room for improvement, but overall, I think 7 Cups is the best alternative therapy you can get. And even if you do need to talk to a professional, they have you covered in so many ways with so many trained people willing to help. I would tell the next person reading this, if you haven't already given 7 Cups a try, at least try it once. You may see a big difference after your first chat as I did.

I was a listener on 7cups since Jan 2016. In June 2020 when I used my 7cups profile link on my counseling website to demonstrate my credibility as a listener, my account was shut down. I don't know why this was done, I asked the team several times to explain to me what the issue was and that I was willing to rectify it. 7 Cups kept saying 'violated terms of service.' No warning, no proof, nothing. Guidelines regarding terms of service are updated repeatedly and I don't know what specific term I failed to abide by. They had no intention to explain and help me see that, nor did they intend any sort of negotiation. The fact that I had sexual abuse survivors, complex PTSD survivors, grief-struck people and others with a host of different issues counting on me didn't seem to have any influence on their decision. I had this account for years and had forged many connections. Unfortunately, I never shared my contact with any of these members, and neither did they, to stick to guidelines, so 7cups was our only way to connect. I had 130 ratings and 60 reviews all amounting to an average of a full five-stars. Did any of this matter? No. They were more afraid of losing a potential customer to someone from a developing country charging cheaper rates. Crass capitalism. Disappointed. The irony of 7cups sending me a happy birthday e-mail isn't lost on me. I wrote to them for a whole year asking to work things out, but they never responded. So, now it is my duty to make others aware. Better to offer no help to a person in distress than to offer some help and then abruptly take it all away. False hope compounds disturbance.

I will review this website from two points of view. It is not safe! Neither for teenagers nor for vulnerable adults (I belong to the second category); even if you're merely a volunteer there is no guarantee that your human rights will be protected. If you're a survivor of sexual abuse or major trauma in life, you will get re-traumatized here with a probability of 100%.

========== IF YOU'RE A MEMBER ==========

1) The site is full of SEXUAL PREDATORS & PEDOPHILES. For your own sake, stay away and don't trust anyone there! And keep your children away from this place! I have been hurt sexually on that site numerous times, sometimes by the very same person who did it before and later came under a different username using VPN. The site owners don't do anything to ensure safety, outside of the vague reminders of "never going offsite" and "keeping your boundaries". The blocking/banning is a reactive, not a preventive measure, so it accomplishes nothing. The safety patrol is also reactive. The admins do nothing and the owners' policy is to hide their heads in the sand like ostriches. 7 Cups don't want us to know the truth about how real teenagers were hurt on 7cups ( see the article here: http://news.butlerbusinessmatters.com/article/20181027/NEWS20/710269872/0/focus2...⇄ The grooming can happen either by adults pretending to be teenagers and lurking in the member teen side chat ( since no one actually controls the real age of whoever subscribes to the services...) or by adults pretending to be caring listeners for survivors of trauma. The survivors then slowly develop trust to that person and once they swallow the bait, getting them offsite becomes very easy.

As a person who lives with Dissociative Identity Disorder, I have to admit there is a whole niche of sexual predators who specialize precisely on this disorder and attack victims on this site. So double warning if you have DID or OSDD!

At some point, I decided to be a "bait" for one specific BDSM predator who kept returning to the site again and again under generic nicknames and just crafted new chat scenarios simply because I badly wanted him to be banned and reported. The admins banned him again and again but guess what? He still is there somewhere. No further measures are taken against this.

2) Leaving the predators aside, if only you knew how bad the quality of listeners on 7cups is. Quality mentoring or training doesn't actually teach people professional ethics (and it is one of the main areas to be taught, seriously!), and you end up with people who may be genuinely trying to support you but end up hurting you because they don't know about how to keep their own interest/emotions away from the chat. These people may swear that they care for you but end up traumatizing you severely when they don't agree with your choices in life because they don't understand the concept of giving people agency and freedom of choice. Some listeners, on the contrary, have no desire whatsoever to support you at all and are interested in merely giving advice ( which is harmful and is warned against in the entrance training but seldom followed by actual users). It's a perfect platform for those who want to taste the sweet fruit of having authority... without doing the actual work to deserve this right for being an authority.

3) Some listeners come on the site just to troll you and cause you pain on purpose. Be prepared that nothing protects you from being told to commit suicide by a random person who you just vented to. It happened to me a few times.

4) There are listeners who block you for the sake of keeping their review score clean & 5-star. As soon as they sense that you're not content about something, you're blocked and left with one more wound.

5) There is little to no professional monitoring of the whole 7cups environment. If anything, this is more of a survivor hangout place than an actual emotional support website. The whole culture is based on urging members to also offer their support to the world, which is not a bad thing in general but only if the people who are members are fully aware that the listeners may not be healed at all and their experience/advice comes from the point of suffering and should be taken with a grain of salt. Nothing this site offers can substitute a real-life support circle, and this peer support also drains members' energy resources and time that could be spent on other ways of self-care. If there was actual ACTIVE moderation from real healthcare workers (not just one therapist assigned to one sub-community) this site would have a much healthier culture.

======== IF YOU'RE A LISTENER =========

1) Your voice as a volunteer is not heard and means nothing. You have absolutely no influence on how the site is run (even if you're in the leadership/mentor role), and if you express your concerns to admins OR post something in the forums to raise awareness of, for example, safety issues and SEXUAL ABUSE HAPPENING on the site, be prepared to be banned without a warning. Just because you spoke up. So this means that if you remain a listener on 7cups, you give your silent approval of the things that happen there (see the section above). This causes lots of ethicals dilemmas. I solved mine by willingly removing myself from that place and searching for other volunteering options elsewhere.

2) This site uses your time and human compassion to get profit. This is not a charity. The money goes to the owners. As a listener, you're being exploited and your time & effort is being converted into $$$ for someone else.

3) Some members are scammers. While listeners are encouraged to believe the members and it's, in general, a good idea, I haven't seen another place with such an abundance of scammers lurking. They steal your time and, in my case, also money.

4) Nothing protects you from being badmouthed and framed and banned without any evidence or investigation. There is gonna be no proof and no way to defend yourself against false accusations. Because the site system doesn't include any safety mechanisms, the whole process of monitoring quality is based on rumors, telltales and triangulation. A funny thing is that the site claims that they don't tolerate this kind of behavior on their grounds, while in reality, it's at its core.

5) Lots of times I was attacked by members and told to go commit suicide, despite being a major and very experienced listener there. "Become an online volunteer listener. You have the power to change lives." A-ha, sure. Think of what the effect of hearing such words can have on the people who themselves are on the recovery journey?

6) There are millions of ways in which you, as a person with a desire to change the world for the better, can contribute. Local charities. Writing letters to depressed people. Volunteering at a pet shelter. Joining a recovery group. Visiting children from poor families as a support worker & mentor, with monthly supervision. This site is not the only place out there that you can use to show the world how much you care. And not the only place where you can get an internship. It's just the most marketed one.

Best regards & really, REALLY, stay away!
Tali.

7 Cups is a fairly excellent site, in my opinion. I can't afford the proper therapy side of things (which the site does also offer, for a fee of $150 a month), but it's so amazing to have a space where I can get emotional support and care in non-crisis situations. It is worth noting this site isn't for full-on crises--those are best handled by services like Crisis Textline, which I also highly recommend, but that's besides the point. I struggle with anxiety and stress quite often, and it helps me out so much to have other people to lean on and know I'm not alone. Sure, I also reach out to friends and loved ones when I feel down or journal, but sometimes you need someone a little more distant from your personal circle who still cares. This site is a wonderful resource for that. Additionally, if accessing the website from a computer, you can also access self-help guides, in addition to the growth path, which consists of various mindfulness exercises and the like to help ground you. I quite adore the growth path, and it's worth noting if you upgrade to a premium membership, you can also tailor the growth path to meet any needs you may be struggling with, like anxiety or sleep troubles. But I don't use premium, so my growth path is just the general one which is still immensely helpful. There's also the support forums which are just a terrific spot to find people going through the struggles you are and giving one another care.

The listeners can be a little hit or miss, but in my experience the majority of listeners are so very helpful and caring. I truly felt heard and understood. It's such a relief to get whatever weight is on my shoulders off them. It gets so much easier to breathe. When I use 7 Cups consistently, I tend to feel my best emotionally.

I adore 7 Cups for the most part, but there are some cons. I don't want to blindly praise the site as if it's perfect. First, the group chats are pretty frustrating at times. It feels like people clog up the support chat with mindless, lighthearted chatter. When I feel down and need a few shoulders to lean on, it's far from helpful. I also dislike that the app seems to lack the self-help guides. Also I do wish 7 Cups didn't immediately charge your card to get the therapy, but I understand why they do that. (Though that's exactly why I haven't gone through with it yet.) Additionally, while you can use this site to seek support in non-crisis situations and whatnot, you can't use it in crisis. I understand why the site enforces this, but I also think it's a real shame, especially for folks who might be too scared to reach out to Crisis Textline or the National Suicide Hotline. However, since the listeners and volunteers on 7 Cups are only trained in active listening and such, and not suicide counseling, etc., it makes sense why crisis situations aren't allowed on the site.

Overall, 7 Cups is such a great resource for emotional support and self-help. I think used in conjunction with using the appropriate crisis resources when in crisis, it's a fantastic means of keeping yourself resilient and afloat in rough times.

As a member of this site, you have to realize that this is not a substitute for therapy. It is a site that allows a human to interact with another human over the internet. Both are strangers, and for some reason I felt like I could "bare my soul" and not worry about judgment. The listeners are mostly very supportive and do what 7 Cups are supposed to do - "listen." Every once in a while you run into someone who wants to throw a bunch of non-helpful cliches in your general direction, which isn't helpful. These people are definitely not therapists, so if you're looking for solid advice, that's not what the site is for, and it's clear. It's a way to get stuff that's rolling around inside your head out there and discussed. I can talk about things that are bothering me, and somehow I feel lighter after having typed them into the interwebs. I appreciate the volunteers out there willing to listen to me whine and complain, and they at least seem like they don't mind! For me, that's awesome. And my husband doesn't have to listen to any of it, which is awesome for him.

I read a couple other reviews on this site that say they think the site is all about profit, but I don't feel pressured into paying for the therapy services advertised. I will say that I don't find a lot of value in the group chat rooms. Seems like those who moderate in those rooms should have some sort of guided topics or something, so that there is relevant discussion in the rooms when you visit. Every time I've gone in those chat rooms, it's a string of hello/hi/hey and not much else. I love the question and answer section, where there are multiple responses to questions on topics of interest to me. And some of the forums are fun to join, in that you can "check in" daily or weekly with a question of the week, or something of that nature.

And I'll say it one last time, because it bears repeating - the free features of this site are not meant to be therapy - in any way, shape or form. It is a social site that offers a little relief when you need someone to hear what you have to say in that moment. If you really think about it, there are very few free sites that allow interaction between two humans. In a world where there are so many people alone, let's try to be positive about a website that is offering that option to those who really do need that kind of venue.

I signed up with this website for support regarding relationship. I was going through a very rough time and was feeling sad, lost and lonely. Inhave struggles with anxiety and depression in my life so I just needed someone to talk to.

The first few times when I tried to connect to listeners nobody answered. After trying 4-5 different people, and leaving messages, that never received a response, I downloaded the app on my phone and finally connected to someone. I couldn't see the gender of this person on the app so I asked and the answer was that it is a woman. When I started talking 90% of the answers were "hmmmm". Most times the comments were not even related to what I was saying, 7 Cups were just random cliches or just out of line. Then the person lost interest amidst of us talking and rushed out of the chat. I was baffled. Coming across this listener's profile later, I saw that it was actually a guy from India! He asked some personal questions too, which they are not supposed to do- age, location etc.

Next one was worse. I got connected to him through a bot again. This person was from Texas and was illiterate. The description on his profile was "I like cars" and he could not form a full sentence. There was something like "oh, hey yo how r u?" Fairly quickly it became obvious that this person was not mentally, emotionally, or grammatically, capable of having any kind of meaningful conversation, let alone emotionally engage or actively listen. I don't think this person knew what that even meant. After the cheerful greeting he said he has to go but will be back in a minute, he just had something to do. He did come back maybe 15 minutes later- I am really glad that I didn't hold my breath. After 1-2 lines sent from me, he became really erratic and weird. Next thing he said was "I am not really comfortable continuing this conversation". I almost choked. What? First there were literally 3-4 lines on the screen, second I was in no way rude or inappropriate! All I said is that I want to talk about my relationship and that was even listed on his profile!

I was already feeling worse than before I started this. Then along came Dan. I am still pushing forward becasue I am determined to find at least one normal listener. According to Dan's profile, that was 3-4 pages long, he required you to write the word POPCORN, when he accepted your chat! First of all when you are feeling down or lonely or depressed or amidst a panic attack the last thing you want to do is read Dan's novella about his personal likes and dislikes and bolded letters about him only talking to people with English as first language or some ignorant comment along these lines. Because this site is supposed to be about helping you with your issues, not Dan with his. Dan and I talked roughly 10 seconds before I blocked him, tired of patronizing and meaningless comments that have nothing to do with what I am saying.

I pushed forward with no hope. Last person was fairly intelligent- FINALLY! So I did my venting and actually felt a little better- not because he said anything helpful, no. He kept asking me questions about things I already told him time and again and could not get the two people in my story straight the entire time we talked. It was obvious that he was having numerous chats at the same time and not paying attention to anything I have said. Regardless, he was nice, most of the time at least, aside from the time where he snapped at me about something but i ignored it, and obviously with higher IQ than the others. Bots are constantly monitoring and sometimes it felt they are intervining and typing instead of the listener. This person obviously had his own issues and declared himself "not normal" but at that point I didn't care if he said he will be jumping from space. Bots also send automated messages to remind you your chat is monitored. The sad thing was this one didn't even say goodbye, he just logged off. I thought that was fitting the overall lack of care, concern, manners, compassion and just overall bad attitude that I got from dealing with the so called "listeners" on that website.

Bottom line- if you need help, please pay for a real therapist and not on this website. Even if you just need to talk to someone, still avoid this website. Mental health is not a joke and not a game. These people are not trained or even capable of providing support of any kind. They are just volunteers, the majority of whom according to the last listener think they are on a dating website. This website is owned by a someone who lacks the skills to turn a great idea into a real helpful tool for all the people who struggle with mental health issues.

My personal experience after using the site during the last couple of weeks has been very positive. (I will detail that below.) However, I was struck by how it seems that everything is built on the labor of untrained, anonymous volunteers - and the potential for abuse built into that model. As many of the negative reviews here outline, the site seems plagued by a profit model that prioritizes engagement over safety. If this were a site about another topic, it wouldn't be such a concern. But it renders its users, those struggling with difficult emotional situations and mental health issues, extremely vulnerable to predation or dangerous interference when 7 Cups open up about their problems.

I'm lucky that I am an adult with an understanding of what to watch out for and how such websites work. If I were younger, more naive or vulnerable, I see how I could easily get into a damaging situation through 7cups.

All that said - I have found the resources there to be extremely helpful for me. The first listener I was paired with has been kind and compassionate and given me some tools to cope with a difficult emotional situation. She and I have been communicating regularly and it's help my healing process. I have also found it uplifting to be a part of group chats where I can show the same compassion with others. There are many kind and good people volunteering their time there to help others.

Nevertheless, it is pretty clear that the site exists to extract data from vulnerable people and push them to use the for-profit text therapy on offer. The blurring of the profit driven side with the community building side strikes me as unethical. Also, the heartfelt negative reviews from others here confirms my worst suspicions about the motivations and outlooks of the site owners/administrators.

Overall, I think you can benefit from using the site, but approach it with caution. I hope that that they take the advice of the long term volunteers and but safeguards in place.

7 Cups is a community that has made mental health support and awareness accessible globally - for free via trained volunteer listeners as well as through affordable therapy options. Based on the powerful approach of how something as 'simple' as active listening can help support others, you are welcome to Browse Listeners to vent to and attain emotional support. Apart from this feature, the site offers several moderated group support rooms, wherein various guided discussions as well as sharing circles take place. The site also has around 40 topic based subcommunities with great forum support. An Expert Mental Health News and Advice section also offers insight into tips and information from professionals. With other features like growth paths and community events, this site has lots to explore!

I stumbled upon 7 Cups when I was trying to research the idea of volunteering and supporting others online. As a mental health advocate and psychology student, I can say that 7 Cups has fulfilled my needs to practice what I love! As a youth leader, I am amazed by the leadership opportunities, teamwork, and collaboration on the site - seeing an international community of listeners as well as members leading initiatives that lead to lots of change has been super inspiring.

One thing I would say about 7 Cups is that it is tailored for endless growth opportunities. I found myself enjoying being an Intern, being supported and encouraged to research something creative, graduating with honors and then apart from helping as a listener, I was able to join so many diverse leadership opportunities! From listener growth and peer support to member support initiatives - this site continues to be a community where you can have your voice heard and supported.

Listener quality, site safety, and content factors are some that are consistently developed and the community has a very transparent way of sharing what is going on - I like feedback personally, and I like how 7 Cups has been growing based on feedback - directly from its users and volunteers!

I used the app & site for nearly 3 years as a member and volunteer teen listener. 7Cups CEO, Admin, partners (LA county department of mental health) and their advisory board all refuse to address the issue of teen safety publicly. Especially regarding the topic that some it's teen users have been sexually abused and groomed by adults on the 7Cups platform. Some of the predators have even been adults who had official approval to work with teens on the site. 7Cups refuses to state that this happens on its platform, leaving teens unaware of the real dangers that exist while accessing the site. Teens tell listeners their inner most secrets, thoughts, and feelingslisteners with bad intentions know how to manipulate teens on the site. 7Cups admin will ban you and remove you from the site if you even try to talk about teen safety issues like this because 7 Cups don't want people to know that it actually happens on their platform. Adults make catfishing accounts and pretend to be teens to find more victims. 7Cups pretends like they can stop this from happening but they can't. The company only does the bare minimum to limit their legal liability and at the same time appear to be safe in order to attract investors. The CEO doesn't care that teens are left in the dark about issues that affect their personal safety while using the service. They don't even protect their teen volunteers. I would not encourage people to use this service

I have literally been using this platform since I was 15 years old. 7 cups is so amazing at creating opportunities and options for people of every kind to receive help in the form of compassionate conversation all the way to quality professional therapy.The least I could do after 5 years of them always being there for me is to leave review for this remarkable company. 7 Cups offer resources that can fit into every budget, even if you don't have a dime to your name! You can speak with listeners worldwide for therapy and just needed conversation. They have so many listeners, you can tune into the platform at pretty much anytime of the day or night and receive help. They put no pressure on you to pay anything or meet any expectations as far as receiving services. You can log in at any moment and join a multitude of chatrooms, social groups, and private conversations for a long or as little as you need to. You can speak to 1000 listeners in a night if you wanted to and there would be no obligation or objection to you doing that. They have genre's of therapy and listeners for every mental stress, disorder, and every stressful life event possible. They have categories specialized for lgbtq, marriage issues, every disorder imaginable, every living situation imaginable, they take into consideration the full spectrum of potential issues or things a person may be dealing with. Everyone on their platform is so helpful, informative, and compassionate. They are truly amazing and I am so grateful for finding them at such a young age. I'm 21 now soon turning 22 btw! Thank you 7 Cups for always being there for me during my lowest times. Thank you for never shutting down your website and always finding new ways to innovate and grow your platform for people like me who just simply needed a safe space to be. We appreciate you!

I've been a user of 7 Cups for 5 years. Both as member and listener. The platform was great until 2016-2017 when 7 Cups have made changes due to that, some great people left.
7 Cups is free and anyone can use it but it also attracts trolls and abusers, 7 Cups doesn't do enough efforts to stop them apart from intuitives for volunteers to help them with that issue. It's easy for anyone to make accounts, can be members or listeners accounts, and start abusing vulnerable members.
The platform is operated by multiple teams Tech, community etc. The community has very few members who are paid administrators, but 90% of the work is done by volunteers. The main purpose of all leadership roles ( both administrative paid jobs and voluntary roles) is to maintain the concept of " community". Being apart of support community can be helpful but in long run it's addictive. While many people find it helpful, 7 Cups also find it helpful because that what makes the volunteers make most of the work for 7cups (with enthusiasm and excitement) for free because they believe they are making valuable contributions to a community they belong to. It's anonymous and if you delete your account, all what you have done for the platform is forgotten specifically if you were someone who believes in 7 Cups. Your work remains at 7Cups and they will use it, but none knows who you are. 7 Cups has become as it is now by the efforts of volunteers.
7 Cups certainly uses aggregated data from the chats transcripts to conduct research and studies as stated in 7 Cups privacy policy.
All over those 5 years, there has not been any changes to improve listeners quality which is weird, the only thing that worries 7 Cups owners was making sure more users come to 7cups. For that they launched 7 Cups in many different languages and, of course, those who make the translations are volunteers.
If you want to be a listener and volunteer your time to help someone in need then do it. If you want to take leadership roles on 7Cups, know you're a volunteer and 7 Cups is for-profit organisation. It is not charity.
There are many listeners who sincerely want to help others. If you want to reach out to 7 Cups, do it but be careful.
Unfortunately, 7 Cups is getting worse every day and more good listeners are constantly leaving and many trolls coming. It gets harder to find good listeners.

I have problems with my sleep. I've been to a therapist already and searched for anything possible solution, method, tips to make it work. I went there to just talk and be heard, not to be given solutions. Listener keeps bombarding me with solutions and I say I have tried everything and she is like why don't you take a warm bath and I say I am kind of tired being given suggestions because I've already tried everything.

She asks if I am here to only compain then. At this point I just wanna end the chat so I tell her that's it and leave the chat. She reports me and I get banned? For what idk I didn't harass her

I make a new acc and send her a message telling her it was kinda petty to do it as I needed my acc and that I hope she won't ban this one as well. I was so frustrated, Get banned for the second time

Soo, a listener with good reviews and power on the site is able to ban me for saying I do not feel helped, although ban is for inappropriate behavior and there needs to be a warning for the member to stop, while I immediately left her alone.

Basically she only cares to get revenge because I said I do not feel heard. She didn't care once or twice about how I'd feel when she banned my acc for nothing
Listener's name is LetsCherishLife

I already sent an email to the management to get my acc back and got no respone
And she was supposed to be one of the good
Imagine how the rest of them are going to be

I have a lot I could say. For one, the people who are supporting you in the teen section don't know what 7 Cups are doing. They read a little something that takes them 30 minutes then a little quiz and they're considered trained and are encouraged to tell you that they are trained. This can be harmful when the people who are reaching out, reach out with issues such as self-harm, bipolar disorder, depression, grief, and so forth which can not be fully taught in 30 minutes. There seems to be little to no moderation on 7 cups as there will be people reaching out with the name "lookingforasexygirl000" all the time and there seems to be little moderation with listeners too as I have had one harass me talking about how depressed teens are these days and how selfish it is, many people ignore me within the first messages, or just come off rude in general. Listeners are encouraged to follow up with the person they are supporting and continue to be their support into the future which can be a lot of responsibility and stress, especially for the teen listeners. On top of this, when looking up the site, it is advertised as "free therapy" which is a huge label to put on people who only read a paper for 30 minutes and took a quiz. The wait is also super long