Underage Members
Members must be 13 to use 7 Cups. Sometimes people who are younger than that do show up. The following is copied from a post @Iara made. (some edits have been made)
For future references some good resources you can give kids and teens below the age of 13 are:
Child Helpline International where you can search for helplines by country
KidsHeath- Information about body changes, feelings, staying safe and other things
Kids Help Phone - Text and phone support for Canadians, as well as many web resources for kids and youth..
Kooth- Free Confidential/Anonymous chat which covers parts of the UK.
ChildLine - (for the UK)supports kids with child abuse, bullying, mental illness, parental separation or divorce, pregnancy and substance misuse.
Kids Helpline - (for Australia)Helps with relationship breakdown, bullying. sexual abuse, homelessness, suicidal thoughts, and drug and alcohol usage.
Boys Town - for depressed (or going through overwhelming situations)kids, teens and young adults.
RAINN (for the USA) which is specifically for sexual abuse.
I hope these help!
Age Groups
Members and Listeners who are 18+ MUST be listed as adults.
Teen Members are those who are 13-17
Teen Listeners are 15-17
Adult listeners who have gone through a process to become an Adult-Teen Listener (ATL) are able to chat with any of the above age groups, otherwise teens chat with teens and adults with adults, most of the forums are open to all users.
If anyone finds themselves within the incorrect age group they should sign out of 7 Cups and contact community@7cups.com with their username and birthdate to have that corrected. (Official Policy is noted here)
If other users encounter people in the wrong age group they can share the above information about how to have it corrected and they may also report, especially if the person does not sign out. Screenshots can be emailed to community@7cups.com or reporting options on the site may be used, such as flagging a forum post, calling in a mod to a chatroom or using the block and report option in a 1-1 chat.
@AffyAvo
Thanks for this list, certainly quite helpful to share. ❤️
Just a reminder for non-ATL (adult teen) listeners who come across teen members (13-17 years old) on the adult side:
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If you have a Member below the age of 18 (13-17) and showing on the adult side of the community. They need to email community@7cups.com to inform them they are on the wrong side with 1-2 social media handles proving their age. As an adult listener, you can take chats with members who are aged 18 or above. Below 18, they are teens and need to receive support from the teen listeners and the teen side of the community.
(as quoted in our chat FAQ document)
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou Thanks for posting this.
Thanks for all of your help.
Thanks for sharing your time with 7cups.
Your an amazing person, please do not forget that.
@calmMango9611 Appreciate the kind words and support, you're pretty amazing yourself for being an encouraging force of kindness and compassion around. <3
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou Your such a nice person. You truly are.
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou I don't fully understand this. It seems to me the information you quoted also applies to ATLs. A member who is under 18 cannot use an adult 7 Cups account at all, not even to chat with an ATL.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlieYes that's true, if a member below 18 is showing on the adult side, they need to update 7 cups with their birthday and be moved to the teen side, in order to receive support from ATLs (18 and over) and teen listeners (15-17 years old).
Maybe explicitly stating that it applies for both ATLs and Adults would be better in that document though? 😮
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou I agree. It would be best if the information is consistent in every place it appears.
To change the subject a little, suppose someone under 18 wants to chat with an adult. They can! But I imagine sometimes they think they have to make an adult account in order to chat with an adult. How do we let teens know they can use a legit teen account to chat with adults if they want to? And how do we let teens know how to find an adult to chat to?
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie Definitely, consistent and updated information is always helpful and appreciated. Might bring this up with a leader soon. :o
Mhm, I think while creating an account here the dialog box asks for the age/ birthday to be fed? I don't remember if it mentions somewhere about separate space for teens and adults, but it would be nice to have this information *visible* while creating the account itself. :o
Maybe as listeners have a training sort to pass before being able to take chats and their account being activated as a listener, members can have a brief overview of the site, general guidelines and similar, more specific on the age group and how to chat with adults for teen members.
Or how we get an email for account verification (as a newbie) to access more resources in the community, an e mail could be sent for important information like this also.
Currently can only think of these. How about you?
I appreciate your insights and looking out for the community always. ❤
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou You're right, it doesn't tell you in advance about the separation between adults and teens.
The Members' Welcome Pack doesn't seem to mention teens at all.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie Oh yes! Brought this up with a leader, and I hope some necessary changes can be made soon. :)
@Sunisshiningandsoareyou Thanks, I will mention this in the OP when I can edit.
@AffyAvo Looks great, always so great at everything hehe, thank*you*.
@AffyAvo There's also Child Helpline International where you can search for helplines by country.
The above link for Kids Help Phone didn't work for me, but Kids Help Phone works.
Kooth says, "We need to know your location as Kooth is only available in certain parts of the UK."
Get Connected is for people with a dual diagnosis of addiction and a mental illness. They operate seven treatment centres in England. I didn't see anything specifically for kids on their website.
Relate provides counselling for children in the UK, but it's not obvious that they provide immediate online support.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie Thanks for posting this for us.
It is very informative.
Thanks for all that you do here at 7cups.
You do an amazing job.
@RarelyCharlie Thanks! Updated! I removed the last 2 you mentioned. I did find referencing to kid's counselling on Relate but all of the phrasing was for parents to set it up and in general it seems like there's a cost to chat.
Thanks for checking everything out, when I first posted I did so quickly as I was looking at other things. I trusted the poster for the information and didn't verify it was all current.
Quick question :)
Even as a member I have a habit of checking profiles. If I run across a post in a forum where someone is saying they're a teen but their account is says adult what do I do?
@mytwistedsoul You can either email community@7cups.com yourself or if you flag it with an explanation someone on the flag team can pass the information on.
I will update the original post when I'm at a computer. I appreciate the updates and other information shared here!
@AffyAvo Thank you! It's nice having that area to explain when things are flagged. That will probably be the fastest way to contact someone
Thank you too Affy for all you do for everyone here!