Crisis Chats

We are not trained to handle crisis chats, so what we do is we leave them with the crisis resources link www.7cups.com/crisis and politely end the chat.

It needs to be clarified that we refer all kinds of mentions of suicidal thoughts. You can validate their feelings yes, but with that we request you to refer them to the right resources. You can message something like this to the member-

"I can understand why you may feel hopeless about your situation. Life can certainly be hard at times. You seem to be struggling a lot at the moment, and because I have your best interest in my mind, I'll have to request you to reach out to 7cups.com/crisis because it seems you will be benefited from professional help which 7 Cups doesn't provide, sadly. You're welcome here anytime later, once you feel a little better ❤️"

When you end the chat after providing them the 7cups.com/crisis link, this allows them the space they need to reach out to the help they need. Reaching or not reaching out would be on their choice, but our role is to leave them with the space to take the right action.

What Is a Crisis Chat? 

This is any chat where the user expresses thoughts of self-harming or suicide.

Suicidal Ideation

Passive suicidal thoughts (also known as suicidal ideation) is more appropriate for someone with advanced education and training. As a Listener we are not trained to judge the situation, we are not there, and we do not have the full facts. Please understand that at 7 Cups we want the best for everyone, but need to set clear limits on what is and is not appropriate for a volunteer Listener to handle.

Self-harm ideation and suicidal ideation 

We consider individuals who are not actively self-harming but who are having thoughts or urges to not be in immediate crisis.

It is okay to talk about self-harm ideation with a Listener.

Self harm is a sign of emotional distress. In many cases it is because the individual cannot tolerate the emotions they are experiencing or they are unable to express those feelings. The intention of self-harming is to distract oneself, not to end one's life. At 7 Cups we consider it to be an unhealthy coping mechanism, much like substance abuse. 

As long as the Member only has passive thoughts of self-harming (resisting the urges, wanting to talk about their struggles with self-harming, discussing recovery, or looking for alternatives), we can still continue to chat with them and actively listen to them. Otherwise, they're considered in crisis and with that, we have to refer them to the crisis page which has the appropriate hotlines/resources. Try not to ask if they are passive or actively thinking as that can trigger the escalation itself. 

Suicidal ideation may seem harmless, but it can quickly escalate into a real crisis situation. Volunteer Listeners are not equipped to differentiate or know the signs of when a passive thought becomes active and starts to sound like a possible action. This is why we do not support any discussion or chat of suicidal ideation. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts we encourage you to reach out to a trusted and known human, a crisis line, or a licensed mental health professional.  

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