Okay, I'm making this post, and it's 1-person anecdotal but I think that's enough. I believe I last checked out the site in 2020 but it might be older info than that, but I'm still sharing this. I invite people to correct me if I'm wrong and there has been some kind of massive overhaul of the very core and culture of the site.
7cupsoftea (7cups.com) is not a reliable website, the volunteers on it are not adequately trained or supervised, and I don't advise it. It is unsafe for listeners and members (people seeking help) alike.
7cups offers ways to contact therapists, and I've never used that feature, so I can't comment.
I used to volunteer at 7cups, both as a teen and as an adult. Training can be completed in one day. There is (last I checked) no supervision period. Listeners are encouraged to keep checking in with people they've spoken to previously, which sounds like a good support model, until you're 17-19 years old and feel responsible for a situation you are not equipped to manage.
It's hard to talk about this, by the way, because I do not begrudge that person and I would do it the same way again. Parting was weird and bad as I made an abrupt exit from the site, and I love(d) them, and I'm not sure if I'd want to excise that part of my life unless it means they get better help sooner. I still need to make the rest of this post about how the site shouldn't exist in its current form.
Since then, I volunteered at a different crisis support line, and (while it had its own problems) was supervised and supported by more experienced listeners for months before I was in a position to lead other new listeners. It made me realize how laughably bad 7cups training is.
As an adult, I went back to find someone to vent to myself, and the listener with whom I connected immediately told me (in words smothered in empathy, blink-and-you'd-miss-the-problem) that my friends aren't supporting me, I can't trust my friends and family, and that I should be their friend instead. I hadn't said anything about my family or friends.
I laughed in their face and told them exactly how they were abusing his position of social power in this space, but that's only because I am almost comically not vulnerable to that kind of common and effective manipulation. As it happened, I felt super supported. But they brought it up because they're aware that many people looking for anonymous help don't have many other people to listen to them.
Last I checked, the volunteer listener half of the site has only decreased in quality since I left it. There were some experiences there I was grateful for, but that later experience made it clear to me that this place was built in a way that makes abuses of power extremely easy, and made me reflect on how easily I could have done them myself had I been so inclined.
The core goals of 7cupsoftea were good. I'm willing to bet that extremely unethical move that listener made, telling me I should be their friend, was probably even not intended to be manipulation, though it was (and needs to be not given any slack every time, because one time, it will be someone who means to do abuse).
But encouraging listeners to follow up with people they had helped in the past sets up a bad situation for listeners and members alike. Training is insufficient. Supervision is either insufficient or nonexistent, I can't remember. Listeners can come to other listeners for support, but most are also unequipped for that position. Rules are easy to ignore.
Please use the Crisis Text Line (not sure if I have firsthand experience with this one) or Lifeline Chat (which I CAN recommend firsthand).
If you prefer speaking out loud, but are not suicidal, calling the National Suicide Hotline and saying "I am not suicidal, but I really need a number to call for a lower-level crisis, do you know of any broader crisis lines I can call?" worked well for me when I needed it.
When I signed up, people as young as 13 could register to be listeners, a policy designed to keep adults from creeping on teenagers in need of help, but maybe they should have used... any of the strategies other helplines use to prevent this, instead. I'm unsure if this is still the case. The bulk of the post didn't need it and it proved distracting, but it should be pointed out while I'm here. They were not equipped to make that work and I'm not sure any online system ever would be.
