A new emotional support app, 7 Cups of Tea, has been catching a lot of traction across college campuses as of late. This app offers anonymous emotional support to college students by connecting them with trained listeners.

The app is available on iPhones or Androids. 7 Cups’ goal, as stated by its founder, Glen Moriarty, is to offer emotional support at no cost, 24/7, worldwide.

How the app works is fairly straightforward. If a student wants to talk to someone, then they can either talk one-on-one with a trained listener or talk in a group. To talk in a group, you click the chat widget at the bottom of your phone’s screen, and then select the group support tab. There are chats for the new members and sharing your story. There are also chats specific to the support you want such as anxiety or depression support.

For the one-on-one option, you select the ‘one-on-one’ tab and are connected with the next available listener.

If you are unsure about talking to someone, or you would like to know more about them, then you can check out the Listeners section of the app. Here, you can view the profiles of the certified listeners and request to talk to a specific one. Each may specialize in different areas, such as depression, bullying, family stress or LGBT issues.

All of the listeners are certified in active listening through a program designed by Glen Moriarty, who is a licensed psychologist. This program teaches a set of communication skills including empathy, compassion and respect. It frames active listening as the act of completely focusing on absorbing what another person is saying, this means that the listeners are trained to fully comprehend and respond to what you are telling them, rather than responding immediately with their own thoughts.

This way of conversation helps remove the tension present in typical conversations, according to 7 Cups. It is worth noting that, while 7 Cups is intended to be an alternative or supplement to other kinds of therapy, it is not a crisis resource. 7 Cups does provide a link to a helpline in its group chats if needed.

Additional features on 7 Cups of Tea are the Community Events Calendar, Community Project and the Forum. The Forum hosts a wide range of topics, from Uplifting Quotes to the Indian Sub-Community to choosing where to attend college.

7 Cups of Tea can be downloaded via the App Store for iPhones or the Play Store for Androids. For more information, students can visit the app’s website, 7cupsoftea.com.