January 2025 Community Update!

Dear Community,

Wishing you all a wonderful reflection time for 2024 and much hope, clarity, and love for 2025!

I have been very encouraged by many of you. Thank you for your kindness, optimism, and compassion. One real strength in our community is the amount of help available. It can feel a little unnatural to lean on others when we need help, but, over time, we gradually learn that it is okay to lean on others and indeed even good. We know that providing help is rewarding, sometimes even more rewarding than receiving help. 

Life throws a lot of curve balls at us. No doubt, all of us have had some thrown our way in 2024. I hope that people in our community were there to help you. Many of you were there to help me. Going into 2025, let’s try to normalize even further that it is good to ask for help. Life is complicated and challenging. As the proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I’m looking very forward to walking alongside you all in 2025. We have a long ways to go!

Happy New Year!

H

Happy New Year, everyone!

Every January I do some tidying and sprucing up in the forums, and I have started with a renewed contacts post (check it out here). If you’re out in the forums and you notice outdated information in your travels, I encourage you to let CheeryMango, Tommy or the OP (opening poster) know so we can keep our forums current! 

With the new year comes new ambitions, and we love to support our lovely volunteers looking to step up their game to develop their skills and serve the community in the process (win-win!). I have created a space for anyone interested in pursuing leadership opportunities to come share and be supported! Listeners and members alike may take part! It doesn’t matter how big or small. Come share (and you might even find goals buddies) here.

Last month I introduced a brand new intervention called the Transformation Wheel. If you’ve been following along, you know it’s a powerful tool I’ve been using to tackle personal challenges and break free from negative cycles and it’s been transformative. I was feeling an 8/10 on the distress scale and after 4 weeks of exploration and investment, the issue has dropped to a manageable 2/10. But I am just one of a handful of accounts so far. To measure just how effective this tool is, I need more perspectives. I am inviting you to take the wheel!

As a tester, you’ll play a key role in helping strengthen this intervention by giving us feedback on how effective the process was for you and any ideas for improving it.

And as a thank-you, you’ll be rewarded with the Wellness Warrior badge. Be sure to read the enclosed links to understand how the wheel should work for you via this form and sign up!

I look forward to seeing you all thrive - there’s magic in the number 2025. Let’s make it our year for great opportunities, positivity, and success.

Hope

In December, the Internship Program team introduced updated default durations (6 weeks for Community Track, 13 weeks for Student Track) and a simplified, flexible extension policy. These changes provide clearer expectations, encourage timely completion, and offer room for growth through optional extensions read more here. Additionally, 3 more rounds of Academy Polls were posted, covering themes of days of the week, mindfulness, and year in review. If you are interested in participating in or hosting these polls, you can learn more here. 

7 Cups scholarship amount for USA students was updated and the scholarship deadline was extended. The new amount for USA-based students is 750 USD and the deadline is March 15, 2025. You can learn more about the scholarship and apply here. Also, deadlines were extended for our workshop series. You can complete participation in any 4 of our workshop series and earn the certificate by Jan 12, 2025. More info here. 

On the teen side, Mission Revive TL came to an end with 5 participants earning a certificate for their exceptional dedication to supporting the teen listener rooms. Lastly, Quests of Kindness is still available for participation until Jan 12, 2025. Learn more and participate here

Obs

Happy 2025! 2024 was a progressing year for Group Support Chats with many product updates to increase community support. I wish you all a meaningful and flourishing year and Group Support Chats continue to be scaled up to offer support to many more participants in their healing and recovery journey. 

We introduced the Community Birthday Project to celebrate the special day of everyone with the community. If you are comfortable, share yours with us here. Also, we introduced a Weekly Win thread where you can share your weekly wins, victories, accomplishments, or simply a shout-out to someone who inspired or encouraged you during the week. 

As holidays are a difficult time for many, we opened General Support to act as Holiday Support Chat until Jan 05, 2025. If you are someone who going through a hard time this holiday season, join the group support to share and feel comforted and empowered. 

SoulfullyAButterfly

This month, the community showed a great response to our  25 Days of Gratitude, Self-Care and Personal Growth campaign in the Online Therapy community which was filled with posts allowing reflection and growth for everyone participating. 

As always, our annual word-cloud (cup-cloud) activity is now live and you can submit 1 word that wraps up your 2024 year as well as 1 word for 2025. The results will be shared with the community soon.

Thank you for a great quarter and I really look forward to the New Year.

Evelyne

The Care Team had a wonderful holiday and we are so excited to start the New Year with continued love for the community. We are excited for upcoming events, so keep an eye out for them! We have onboarded two new Guides, @radiantUnicorn3506 and @AuroraAstral and are so excited to see all the wonderful work they will accomplish! If you are interested in joining Care Team, you can message @LittleBirdie30 and @SnowTabby for more information. Happy New Year everyone!!

Our Listener Check-in games have been held a couple of times in December with wonderful results, it has shown us that our listeners use the information that they've been given as well as the resources. Anna onboarded @Remina and @AuroraAstral as PAs who have been putting in the work and done so brilliantly.

CheeryMango

As 2024 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for each and every one of you. I’m truly honored to work alongside such incredible listeners, members, and leaders.

This year, especially in Q4, has been filled with amazing events, impactful conversations, and a sense of connection that only this community can create. None of it would have been possible without your energy, enthusiasm, and dedication. You’ve made the forums a safe and welcoming space where everyone can feel heard and supported.

As we look ahead to 2025, I’m excited for all the possibilities and growth that await us. May this new year bring you joy, peace, and success in all your endeavors. Together, I know we’ll continue to build an even stronger, more compassionate community.

Thank you for making 7 Cups such a special place. Here’s to an incredible 2025!