Back 7 Cups: Part I of Making 7 Cups Sustainable

@GlenM

As a relatively new user of the site, and a person facing hardship, I was glad to find it in spite of the lots of technical glitches that I found when starting. Adding a premium makes me think of what is happening with dating sites: the free version is practically unusable, full of hackers and scammers. Only an elite would have access to the premium, probably those that will end up using this as a social media and not with the objective with which it was created. How about some screening of the users? Or some kind of referral system? We need to keep on thinking of ways to keep this place up and running, addressing the problems of those who need it most...

Hope to hear more details on this as they are available.

I know we provide a free and volunteering service as listeners helping people, but a lot of listeners get offered money for their help and the people are often very insistent on giving it. I was wondering if maybe we could direct people like that to donate to 7Cups if they really want to help out.

This is a great idea, we should make 7 cups more sustainable and user friendly.

@GlenM Just wanted to praise the general approach: try various ideas, test them in the real world, keep those that work, abandon those that do not. We do not know yet if freemium or crowdsourcing will work or not, but since they works in some other situations, they is certainly worth trying, as long as the soul of 7 Cups remains intact.

Disability support is definitely lacking. I won't be recommending 7Cups until there is a chatroom open and mods who are themselves disabled. These people should be ready to focus the chats to help others feel welcome and supported in their disability. Also when I tag someone as needing EMERGENCY help like RIGHT NOW, nothing happens. So I'm not ready to pay, back or recommend until I see improvements. Again those who are disabled get the short end of the stick. DISAPPOINTED!

Additional Way of Supporting 7 Cups! (Suggestion)

The business / startup side of me finds this thread to be inspiring and exciting! I like the sustainability aspect of 7 Cups, I believe its mission statement and its impact is well worth funding. It's not perfect for sure, but I'd prefer this over the alternative of not having a free mental health resource :D

Ok so here's my pitch to you @GlenM and the 7 Cups team on an additional method of backing 7 Cups

Goal Setting and Advanced Mental Health Tracking

For members who want to do more to give back but don't have the monetary means to do so.

The concept here is to show 7 Cups as a viable alternative for long-term mental health care. I saw the publication showing 7 Cups being seen as helpful in the short term, so this would be a great next step. By showing that 7 Cups can create a lasting impact in people's lives and their mental health, 7 Cups can better position itself to companies and universities. Having a clear benefit and ROI makes a persuasive argument!

I think setting personal expectations and clear goals can really help shift the way members treat their time on 7 Cups (as members). The goal of therapy is to be well enough to no longer need to come to therapy after all. By having goals and working towards achieving these goals, members are able to track their progress. By sharing this information (anonymized of course) with 7 Cups, they are able to give back in ways that's not only monetary.

There's two reasons I suggest this: one business the other personal.

1) Persuading companies to advertise/suggest 7 Cups to their employees allows many middle-age working individuals to learn more about this site and about mental health. I read on a forum post a while back that middle-aged men are the most likely to take their own lives. That hit me again when I read this article by the Guardian on how socially isolated middle age men are. Having more outreach to this demographic would be great.

Quote: Loneliness in older men is a real issue, and many men in their 30s already sho signs of heading that way. Compared with women, the men who see me for psychotherapy are emotionally isolated. I'm sometimes the only person they've opened up to.- Professor Damien Ridge at the University of Westminster

2) Middle aged working individuals have more income are able to do something like backing 7 Cups monthly. Speaking as a college student, I don't have the means to donate. Most of my money goes towards rent, and what money I have left goes towards paying off student loans. I'd love to help and I put in whatever time I can in being a listener, it's just that financial sponsorships are harder. I feel like there are many in my position who would be more than happy to help (members and listeners alike). We have time and enthusiasm just no money. Don't forget about us!

Please let me know if you have any questions! I'd love to explain more or help however I can :)

Couple of points that have come up now this has launched

1) - why does no where on the donation page does it state that the listeners are volunteers and are not paid - i feel the page is deceptive and makes it look like donations are going directly to listeners so that they can offer the support that we do

2) - Can we access 7 cups financial reports any where? Including like many companies the salaries of those at the top and dividends and share holders

3) - What happens if this system makes a profit - where do those funds go?

4) - What happens if someone is gifted more than one leaf? is the 2nd one denied? are they asked to pick someone else?

5) - Is there a way to refuse a gift if we dont wish to be included in this?

6)- Is there a way for people who have donated to share things like guides with those who havent?

7) - the badges showing in chatrooms is already creating a 2 tier system after 20 mins is there an option for the badge not to show? especially in the newer rooms like the welcome room as this may pressure others to donate as soon as they become a listener if they see everyone in there with one

8)- i think calling these donations when this is a for-profit company is highly deceptive and needs to be changed immediately

9)- the fact that many listeners and members still understand this to be a charity or a not for profit company when there is no where (apart from these forum posts) that specifically states that this is a for profit company

10)- are listeners who are professionals in their field going to be added to the paid professionals section?

11) - is there a suggestion of bringing back the donation system for direct to listeners donations?

i think this is a good starter i will get back to you if i have any more questions/opinions lol

How much funding is needed to "sustain" the site? What about money raised past this point? Where does that extra money go? Is sustainable being used in place of profitable? I feel this should really read, "Help make 7 cups more profitable" What am I missing?

Also why are you not naming this "major university"?

I saw this post a couple weeks ago, when I was extremely new to the site and I didn't comment then because I hadn't used anything besides the growth path at that point. I saw a post this morning referencing this post so I briefly read through the first post again - but I have not read additional posts that came after that, so admittedly I am not up-to-date on where this discussion is currently at.

That said, I wanted to give my opinion on subscription-based services and I hope that it hasn't already been covered. I quit my job 4 years ago to go back to school. I have been living on student financial aid and loans for the last 3 of those years, and if all goes well with my grad school application, I will continue to live modestly for the next several years as well, and then for a few years after that while I repay my loans. In fact, in my case, by the time my loans are paid off I will be nearing retirement age given how old I am now.

The first thing I did when I decided to go to university was eliminate all unnecessary expenses. To that end, I cut the cord and cancelled my cable service. I just use an antenna now to bring in HD TV from the local channels, and I stream everything else. I haven't bought new clothes or shoes for myself in a couple years, but I do save my credit card points and purchase gift cards to stores so that I can get "luxury items" like bath and body works lotions and soaps. I also participate in programs like Bing search (for free Xbox gift cards), and Viggle (for free movies and TV series). I cannot afford to take on any additional subscriptions or monthly membership fees.

Right now, I consider 7 cups of tea to be a part of my daily mental health routine. I am very sick if left to my own devices and I rely on free self-help programs like this for socialization, maintaining a positive focus and more recently I've begun to feel a slight sense of belonging to a community, which is something I haven't felt in many years. Sadly, if I had to pay to use this site, or any of its features, I would be forced to leave. I imagine I'm not the only one, as many of your users are teenagers, or college students who don't have a lot of income either.

I apologize if these issues were already addressed by someone else, but I believe fewer people will reach out and get the help that they need if you start charging for certain services. I used to use Blah Therapy and play games on the forums just like I do here. The difference with that site is that there is no listener/member follow-up, and the chatting is completely anonymous. Their listeners also are not trained, nor rated, that's one of the reasons I felt more comfortable as a listener over there. You can, however, pay a fee to consult with a licensed mental health professional. Have you considered that as a money making opportunity? Cyber/Skype based therapy sessions with licensed professionals who agree to volunteer their time so that the site can make money from an extremely small fee that is charged to a consumer that would rather speak with a therapist than a listener?

That way the rest of the site is free to those who need it for the self-help options, and those who want, and can afford, something above and beyond can choose to pay for it at a discounted price. You could also sell branded merchandise... although, I wouldn't buy it because it would be considered a luxury item, a non-necessity. Unless you put a cat on it. In that case, I'd seriously have to contemplate buying it. Anyway, those are my two cents, and then some.