By Lauren Zazzara
Features Assignment Editor
Feeling stressed, depressed or lonely? Help is just one touch away. “7 Cups of Tea” is a free app that offers support for emotional distress. Through the app, students can either talk one on one to a trained listener or enter a group chat to connect with others having similar problems.
“I’m a psychologist, and I wanted to create a solution to help more people at scale,” Glenn Moriarty, founder of the app, said. “Therapy is great but it is limited and has challenges. This is a more streamlined way for people to get support.”
All students have to do to join is create a screen name, password and offer an email address. Users can choose an ambiguous screen name.
On the bottom of the screen, users will see options for “Alerts,” which gives news and allows users to do a review, “Listeners,” where users can talk to someone one-on-one, “Chats” to connect with a larger group and “Forum” to create new discussion topics or add to existing ones.
In the “Group Support” tab under “Chats”, users can anonymously introduce themselves and share their experiences. There are chats for loneliness and depression as well.
Under “Forum,” users have created discussions on wide ranging topics such as loss and pride, as well as motivations and quotation to help inspire and uplift.
The app offers different badges and points for different activities one does on the app, such as “Growth Points,” “Compassion” points, and “Cup Coins.”
“You can move up through different levels,” Moriarty said. “It’s an easy way to track your progress, since we don’t always realize that we’re making process.”
The app serves as a source of comfort and support for thousands of users.
“We have 90,000 conversations per week at present, and we have 60,000 listeners from 150 countries in 130 languages,” Moriarty said. “Now we’re just starting to work with colleges and universities, because a lot of people seeking help and listening are college students.”
Visit the “7 Cups of Tea” website at www.7cupsoftea.com for more information and for a free depression test.
