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Revisiting Group Chat Breaks

JustVJustV Community Manager Posts: 5,579 Part of The Furniture
in Community Announcements

For those unfamiliar with group chat breaks, click the spoiler below for some info. :)

What is a 'group chat break'?
Roughly three times a year, we have a week (or two) where we take a break from running group chats.

We use these periods as a chance to gather up the feedback we've received from you all, reflect on how things are going on the community, and look at anything we might want to work on. Sometimes that happens behind the scenes, and sometimes we run projects on the discussion boards for you to get involved in during that week. It's also a good chance for our volunteers and staff to have a break.

When are they?
Typically, there's a break in January, April, and August.

You might remember back in March, we decided to cancel the April break. COVID had just hit the UK in full force, lockdown was very new, and ultimately the importance of our service and the needs of the community needed to come first. Around the same time, we expanded our chat service to be 7 days a week. Our staff and volunteers have been absolutely incredible in helping us get that up and running - a lot of them doing extra chats every week.

Fast forward to August, and the picture looks very different - there's no end in sight for the COVID situation right now and nobody knows how long it's going to be affecting our lives. With that in mind, we need to think longer-term and consider what's sustainable for the community. Part of that means re-introducing group chat breaks, because they give our volunteers and staff a break and we want to make sure we're still making time to reflect and improve our services, which arguably is even more important now.

When's the next break?

Following our usual routine, we're due a break this month. That's been scheduled in for the week of the 17th, so there will be no group chats from Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd. The usual group chat schedule will resume on Monday 24th.

What are we doing that week?

Given we've had our foot on the gas for a while now, we're going to use this break as just that: a break. So there will be no projects or anything happening, but we'd still encourage you all to submit any feedback you have during that time because we'll definitely still be reading it. There may still be a quiz (unconfirmed).

We're not sure how things will look when January's break rolls around, but by that point we might be in a better position to run some projects and get you all involved in something.

Where can I go instead?

If you'd like some quick, live support while Group Chat isn't running, feel free to head over to our one-to-one helpline. You can get in touch in three ways - phone, webchat and email. Call for free on 0808 808 4994, from 4pm-11pm. The boards will also be open as normal.

If you're at breaking point, our Crisis Messenger is also open as usual. Text THEMIX to 85258. You can also head to this thread to find more crisis options if you need urgent support.

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As always, feel free to throw any questions or comments below. :star:

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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Living the Zen life 🧘🏼‍♀️ Posts: 1,989 Extreme Poster
    @Mike Quick question, you mentioned that from the 24th, group chats will resume as normal, will this be as before where it was Mon-Thu or will it be the whole 7 days? :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Fruit loop Deactivated Posts: 2,762 Boards Guru
    Just putting my leg out and saying wouldn't mind helping if there was a quiz! I have very little to do these days 😂
  • DancerDancer Community Champion Posts: 8,103 Legendary Poster
    And I could do a round of the quiz.
    "There's a part of me I can't get back. A little girl grew up too fast. All it took was once. I'll never be the same." ~ Demi Lovato
    "The way that I have found the light in my life is through the expressive arts because I know that I will be accepted for the way I am." ~ Me
    "I'm going to get strong again and see you soon. " ~ Anonymous 
  • DancerDancer Community Champion Posts: 8,103 Legendary Poster
    If group chat is going to be back to Sunday-Thursday, will we still have Young Carers Chat and Under 16's Chat? The Young Carers chat has been very helpful for young carers such as me.
    "There's a part of me I can't get back. A little girl grew up too fast. All it took was once. I'll never be the same." ~ Demi Lovato
    "The way that I have found the light in my life is through the expressive arts because I know that I will be accepted for the way I am." ~ Me
    "I'm going to get strong again and see you soon. " ~ Anonymous 
  • DancerDancer Community Champion Posts: 8,103 Legendary Poster
    Eleanor said:
    @Mike Quick question, you mentioned that from the 24th, group chats will resume as normal, will this be as before where it was Mon-Thu or will it be the whole 7 days? :)
    Hopefully 7 days a week.
    "There's a part of me I can't get back. A little girl grew up too fast. All it took was once. I'll never be the same." ~ Demi Lovato
    "The way that I have found the light in my life is through the expressive arts because I know that I will be accepted for the way I am." ~ Me
    "I'm going to get strong again and see you soon. " ~ Anonymous 
  • independent_independent_ Community Champion Posts: 9,016 Supreme Poster
    Was gonna ask the same question about 7 day chats but @Eleanor got there before me!! Will it still be 7 days after chat break?
    “Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.”
  • DancerDancer Community Champion Posts: 8,103 Legendary Poster
    Yay! 
    "There's a part of me I can't get back. A little girl grew up too fast. All it took was once. I'll never be the same." ~ Demi Lovato
    "The way that I have found the light in my life is through the expressive arts because I know that I will be accepted for the way I am." ~ Me
    "I'm going to get strong again and see you soon. " ~ Anonymous 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 198 Trailblazer
    Oo, a quiz sounds good! :)
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