Discussion 01: Introduction to Group Support
Before we dive into the Group Leadership & Development aspects, it is important to know what 7Cups Group Support.
As per Merriam Webster Dictionary, Group is a number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship. While group dynamics are the attitudinal and behavioral characteristics of a group. It is focused on how groups form, their structure and process, and how they operate. More specifically, why and how groups develop.
This is what you will notice in the 7 Cups Group Support. 7Cups started with providing support 1-1s. But as we grew up, we realized that 1-1s are not enough. There is a need for group interaction as well. To meet the community's needs and demands, we added group support. We created and used chat rooms to structure a safe environment to facilitate group support. We have dedicated chat rooms for both listeners and members to provide support as per their needs.
Currently, we have more than 150+ chat rooms to serve different purposes and needs of both members and listeners community for both adults and teens. Amazing! Right?
We are a vast community and we recognize our diversified members and their needs and demands. And, these chat rooms became safe spaces to connect, interact, engage, learn, share, and grow collectively. These rooms are not only used for support reasons but also to brainstorm and problem solves, celebrate small and big achievements, and gain a sense of belonging to this community.
Moving forward, we identified the needs of moderating these rooms, so we introduced the chat room moderator role, figured out we need facilitators to lead different sessions in the chat rooms, so added Support Session Leader and On-spot Host as the recent addition to it. We figured out the safety issues in the chat rooms, and we badge locked the rooms. So as we learned more about the needs and demands, we kept iterating and evolving group support for better experiences and support for everyone. We are on a journey to build the best group support. And, we will continue to progress …
Discussion: Share 3 highs and 3 lows you experienced in the group support chatroom!
Activity: Respond to at least two of your fellow trainees' comments with thoughts on their share.
After fulfilling the requirements of this post, please check out the next discussion here! Ensure to implement the learning from these discussions in the chat rooms to build and support the group. You must take part in the brainstorming/activities given in all of these discussions to successfully complete the program.
@ASilentObserver
✨Share 3 highs and 3 lows you experienced in the group support chatroom: ✨
Highs:
1) Feeling the energy busy rooms would give me as I watched people eagerly and enthusiastically participate and share with each other.
2) Getting to know people's personalities through their tone and what they'd say in chats. It's a whole new type of listening for me, and I enjoy the challenge.
3) Feeling like the effort I put into holding space and supporting people is genuinely helping.
Lows:
1) Hosting a pop up that the majority of the room left as soon as i started it.
2) Frustration having to watch invalidation and toxic positivity and not being able to say anything about it.
3) Blatant troll accounts trying to hijack support rooms with vulnerable people trying to share.
The good has TOTALLY outweighed the bad....by far ❤️
@MindfulListener82 Invalidation and toxic positivity is one big thing that happens a lot. Listeners or even members sometimes think they're trying to help but not meaning what they say can be more harmful than helpful. Thanks for sharing your views <3
@MindfulListener82 Sending you hugs if accepted. I get feeling in a position where you want to say something but cannot do anything. Keep up your awesome journey. ❤️
3 Highs:
- The way everyone just connects with each other and support each other never gets old
- I love seeing people come into chats feeling down and leaving feeling better. The thought of someone benefitting from that uplifiting environment is just so gratifying
- I enjoy being in TL and chatting with my fellow listeners about anything: movies, math, food, chocolate... it just makes me happy to belong to somewhere and know that we're all in this together.
3 Lows:
- There are times when supporting some people can be overwhelming and emotionally draining
- There are also times where people were being rude or intentionally hurting someone with their language, which is never fun to deal with
- Another thing would be that the chatrooms are sometimes super quiet and you're in there wanting to talk to someone but there simply is no one online. So yeah, it can be lonely at times, not always, just sometimes.
@xinyii11 sending you hugs as well and wishing you many more great moments in your listener journey ❤️
Highs: Community is very friendly, There are usually a lot of people to talk to, Member rooms are always busy.
Lows: The rooms are usually only busy when I should be asleep (Australian time), Sometimes fights can break out, sometimes chat support is lacking when I am taking a tricky chat.
@TrickyRicky
i hear ya Ricky. There should be like a virtual bell we can ring in listener support to notify someone needs help.
3 highs and 3 lows I experienced in group chats:
Highs:
1. Fast paced discussions
2. Able to support multiple people in a group setting
3. Forming deeper connections in the community
Lows:
1. Potentially overwhelming for some Listeners or Members
2. People might feel left out.
3. People not receiving the right support they need
In group settings this is something I've noticed. It's great because you can have discussions that move along and you can get a lot of feedback and input! It's a lot of fun sometimes, however it can also be really overwhelming for people to do, and might be harder to receive the support you need. However, some people get the best support in a group setting where they can receive extra care and that's really important because everyone is unique and has unique needs. It's also really nice to get involved for the community, it's just important to ensure no one gets left out because that's potentially an issue in group chat settings. It has its pros and cons but it's ultimately beneficial and if implemented correctly can be life changing for the better :)
@MxSkeleton
i totally know what you mean. The fast paced supportive environment of the group chats are awesome but there’s always that worry someone might accidentally get overlooked and it is hard or come back from that. I will say for those reasons I prefer co hosting with someone if possible 😋
@MxSkeleton
@ASilentObserver
i love that everyone has a different perspective. While the fast paced chat is a high for you, it’s one of my biggest challenges! Lol. I’m learning though.
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: Share 3 highs and 3 lows you experienced in the group support chatroom!
3 Highs:
1. Basically everyone is super supportive.
2. More support than 1-1 chats.
3. Everyone tries to listen to everyone.
3 Lows:
1. I heard about another listener asking a member for their personal information.
2. It can be hard to keep up when everyone's talking at once.
3. Using the support rooms for their not intended purpose.
@MoonChild1206
@ASilentObserver
i agree on your number 3 on the lows. I don’t like when people don’t use the chat room for it’s intended purpose.
3 highs ,
1) feeling welcomed by other people in the rooms and having a sense of being a valued , known part of a community and seeing others rally around others when they need support.
2) being able to observe or share experience or knowledge that helps enrich the discussion or gain new perspectives in group chat.
3) beginning to feel confident in a busy room, despite not always knowing what to say
3 lows
1) being ignored and not knowing how to engage people
2)seeing people get ignored or missed out and not doing well at reaching out to them - missing the moment
3) seeing people being intolerant or mean to each other in rooms
Share 3 highs and 3 lows you experienced in the group support chatroom
Highs :
I am rather shy and introverted and used to believe that group discussions are not for me , but I was surprised by how welcoming everyone was and it is not so difficult after all
Meeting people from somewhat similar backgrounds who have dealt with almost identical problems and getting to hear their journey
learning from more experienced listeners and mods , on how to navigate around the site , using different resources to improve as a listener
Low :
feeling like i am not participating enough ; not in tune with the discussion in member support rooms sometimes
i am yet to take some steps like hosting sharing circles ; i hope to not keep putting that off
watching an argument between two people , sometimes forgetting the rules and perhaps over sharing
@ASilentObserver
3 Highs:
1. In my first group chat, I got a chance to see how people were supporting and listenting to each other. I felt like that was the best experience of my life.
2. I got a chance to host a group support chat, and it was very fun because I got a chance to use my leadership skills.
3. I met some great community moderaters and room supporters, and they showed me the ropes on
to give support to the group.
3 Lows:
1. While I was in a sharing circle, one thing that was shared from a member was a triggering story. The member forgot to put a trigger warning and it made me feel emotionally distressed.
2. When I hosted a sharing circle, I did not support the group enough.
3. There wasnt a host for a sharing circle, and I couldnt host. So no one was able to share, listen, or support each other the way they wanted to because it wasnt really organized.
@Desmynn6789
I'm sorry to hear you had such an experience. Meeting such a triggering situation must have been hard. I'm sure everyone also appreciated you when hosting the sharing circle because you are also learning from it 😊
However, I'm glad you decided to participate in group chats and host sessions! It's really wonderful how everyone is so supportive and you also got the opportunities to meet wonderful people there!
@ASilentObserver
@blissfulForest7074
I can relate to that! The chatrooms are a great way to connect to other people and share stories
And I see that listening to some of them exhausted you as well. Feel free to take a break if you ever need to :)
@blissfulForest7074 i can surely relate to both your good and bad experiences , the groups are a great place when everybody is being supportive but unfortunately sometimes they can be chaotic , also listening to painful experiences and not getting to do anything about it can surely make us feel down
hope that you are managing it well now <3 (:
