What if I'm nervous during a chat?

It's normal for your chat to feel scary, but it gets much easier with time and practice.

Here are some tips from the listener community:  

• "It'll all be okay. You're going to make some mistakes, maybe need to take a step back, maybe feel like you didn't do your best. As long as you honestly care for your members and follow the rules, everything is going to be just fine." 
• "If you're taking General Requests, don't be surprised to go through multiple people before you actually get a response. When the member doesn't respond we call these ghost chats, they're pretty common." 
• "The biggest thing I learned taking my first chat was that I needed to relax and give the person space to talk. I initially felt really compelled to type something after every text they wrote, to try to guess what they might be thinking or feeling. It worked better when I gave the chat space to breathe and let the person say more before I replied."  
• "Remember we are all human, and that even though this work is very fulfilling, we need to also take care of ourselves too. We are all proud of you for volunteering here, and we want to see you do your utmost best, so if you need support never be scared to reach out."