Healthful ChatReviews 79

So, let me begin by saying that I originally came here to discuss philosophy in the philosophy room -- it was one of my majors in undergrad and after I moved to pursue education in a different field, I wanted to find a place to discuss philosophical concepts and applications.

It wasn't until much later that I came to discover there are over 50 rooms with all sorts of peer-support topics. It's lovely to see chatters coming in to the rooms in search of support and other chatters welcoming them and talking them through whatever they are going through. It's distinctly Not a paid or professional therapist site, but I think many people benefit from being listened to and supported here. There are many great, welcoming, friendly people on here, both mods and chatters alike. It's refreshing to see strangers reaching out to those in need by lending a helping hand, sharing personal experience, or servinf as a listening year and sounding board.

It should also be noted that the depression room is a completely different site, with their own team of moderators and their own rules and guidelines. They really should have separate review pages in virtue of this.

I feel very attached to this site as I have been coming for a long time -- I feel like I have grown up here, had meaningful conversation, supported those in need, and made friends. It is my opinion that community is one of the most important parts of being human, and this place facilitates that.

I've been a chatter on the site a number of years. I found it when I was in a bad way. It helped me feel like I wasn't alone. That I wasn't defective. When the right people are in, it can be a very supportive an amazing place. I read the rules so I knew not to talk about certain topics. Yet, I was able to talk about why I felt the way I did. It's not a crisis place. No professionals. Chatters and mods alike have seen me through at times I didn't think I could make it or want to make it. I will be always be grateful.

I found this site really good, there are many people who offer advice and support from their own experiences that I found really useful. It does have trolls but usually, the moderators are able to get rid of them fairly quickly.

I would say overall the site offers a lot of support to people who might not be in crisis but just need someone to talk to. I went on as I wasn't sure where to turn to for help, and people encouraged me to speak to a therapist, and when I had concerns about taking medication they helped me know what they had experienced themselves. I feel that I am in a much better place now than I was when I first entered the chatroom.

I came to this site when I was feeling very suicidal and the people there helped a lot. It's not got actual therapists and psychiatrists but people seem to want to help each other barring the odd person who is there to troll. I saw mods in there and they were helpful.

This is a site funded by ads. Its a fraud site full of degenerate creeps that will bully ppl for trying to help other ppl out. Tons of perverts and child abusers. Pretty much a dating site for mentally ill people that cant get regular dates IRL. Disgusting. Site should be banned. / 5 minus star rating

If I had a partner who told me I couldn't stand up for myself against people who were constantly abusing me I wouldn't stay with them and this is what this chat does. Chatters are banned for weeks at a time for lashing out at the trolls who run rampant here. The mods do what they can but they can't do much against the actual problem so they are told by the site admin to go after the chatters who interact with the trolls. The admins get snippy if a chatter doesn't agree with everything they say. Even when you try to be polite and just say you aren't happy with the situation they jump on you telling you you are wrong and the mods and site admins are always right.
Am I disgruntled? Yes. Am I bitter? Yes. That doesn't mean what I have said isn't true.
It's a decent site if you can stand the abuse from trolls and not react. It's a decent site if you want to interact with people who may have similar issues. It's by no means a professional ran site but, aside from the issues I stated, it's an okay site. I mean aside from being told you have to shut up and take abuse and hope a mod is around to take care of the troll.

I've met and continued to engage with members of this site for over six months. It has helped me a lot and I've met people I respect and now are friends outside of the site.

The moderators seem fair to me, I'm not sure why the bad reviews. Vendettas from banned people probably that didn't read the rules, like someone else mentioned here. That's very unfair because these people are giving up their time for free to help others with similar health issues.

Overall, this site has a moral compass. It actually tries really hard to make sure standards are upheld. It doesn't allow (to the best of its ability), people to be disrespectful to each other. It encourages support and understanding. It's unique for this point alone. I encourage you to try it.

I found this site when I was in an extremely dark place, and I made friends, from all over the world, and they really helped me to have the strength to fight. I think the mods do a fantastic job, in what looks like challenging circumstances at times. I would recommend this site to others!

Basically, this site is a circle-jerk of the regulars insulting people for things they haven't experienced. I've visited it on and off for about a month, and the majority of people who frequent it are anti-social in their own regard. There is the clique of landlords who denigrate others, saying they "own them" or can "buy them". Then there are the regulars who can insult/disbelieve anyone with impunity. They insult dead loved ones, and then ban you when you show them how ridiculous it is.

Don't go to the depression room if you want any kind of real meaningful support if you're in crisis or severely depressed. Astrid will talk about her cats and that's ok but you're in trouble if you mention sending info about crisis sites. Astrid pretends to be "away" to watch people chat and as soon as you mention that there are other sites for support she'll suddenly pm you and accuse you of advertising or promoting sites and then ban you without warning. She does this most with guests, but will let chatters with nicknames get away with talking about sex in the main room.
The site would be a lot better if moderators like Astrid used common sense because it's ridiculous to ban people for helping others find crisis sites. But they are short on moderators volunteers so you're stuck with people like Astrid who basically tries to browbeat you into saying you won't share crisis support services with people who need it.
Google crisis sites and other support chats like 7cups if you want help

I actually liked this site. It helped to see that I wasn't alone. I guess I got what I needed from it. It also helped kill time when I had trouble sleeping or I was having bad anxiety. Now I'm back to feeling alone.

I can never be sure why I was banned but the only conclusion I could come up with was that it was due to my internet being down. The internet was down and I didn't know it so it connected me to a saved hotspot nearby. It said connected so I thought I was good. It must not be allowed to do so. If you do use it delete your saved wifi hotspots before you do. After it said banned I thought it was a mistake so I used it from someone else's house and it was okay. Well then I went home and it said my ip had suspicious activity. I don't know what that means but I'm guessing it had to do with me using it from different homes and maybe due to the internet switching to a hotspot. Either way when I got that error I was like oh that sounds awful. Suspicious? It just sounds horrible. Didn't help with my mental health at all. I agree that the moderators can be a bit too harsh but they usually give people second changes. They will say stop talking about this or that and if you don't you are temporarily kicked out of the room. I didn't have any bad experiences with them. I tried using the contact us button to try and explain what it could be but I never got a reply. It's my own fault for not reading the rules carefully I guess. Although for something that can get you banned I'm surprised they don't put it in the chat rooms

I had a great time on the site. The people are interesting to talk to, you can have philosophy discussions if you're interested in that, or get peer support in the other channels.
But the moderators are atrocious. They don't know what they're doing and when you get banned due to a frequent glitch in the website they don't unban you. I asked for support and they did absolutely nothing to help me, even if they could've done it in 5 minutes.

The site has good and bad like all chat sites. It is a peer support site so take advice with a grain of salt. There are rooms for a lot of topics and people from all over the world. Some rooms are more active and others it depends on the time of day. I have meet many good people there. Like all sites it gets trolls and people lying for attention. But they mods and ras are good about trying to get them gone or calmed down if they are told.

I've been permanently banned from this site and I greatly depended on it. Now thinking even more about suicide. A chatter named ShadowOfLight who now goes by a different nickname (because everyone hates him, and even more so now) is the one who lobbied admin to get me banned. Reading the reviews, it seems I'm not the only one who has a problem with Forever, I don't want to talk too bad about her though, cause I'm convinced she is intellectually disabled, she just shouldn't be a mod. My permanent ban came out of nowhere, I litterally had just entered the room.
I've lost friends that meant so much to me now and am hopelessly alone, all because some loser couldn't make friends on his own merit. The things I did were so little, sure I got out of hand a time or two but its a mental health chat, isn't that to be expected to some extent? Not only did they ban me they said I was disgusting, abusive, and shameful. (of course they get to have the last word).
I'm so angry and helpless. They have completely disregarded what this will do to me. I wanna move on but I hate them so much. I hope something bad happens to them, I really do. That may sound bad but given what this will do to me, I can't help it. They've shown me 0 kindness or understanding.
P.S. They are now using MODS that are not known to chatters and they will mute you without you even knowing that you've been muted/banned (if you suspect this try logging on to another channel). Look our for mod name MOB, he's a $#*!

I've kicked aound the site for a number of years. I admit that I use a number of nicks, but I really am a nice guy. Sometimes I am a poet, a writer, a sensitive and caring guy, a showbiz hipster, an English dude, a guy whose wife died, a poor slob who is unlucky in love, you name it. I started in bipolar room and my female fan base just kept growing. If you are reading this, we have probably chatted at the site on more than one occasion. If I duped you, consider it a life lesson. This one mod has no idea about me and has a crush on all of my nicks. She told each one that she has feelings for him. It's kind of sad. The website is okay especially if you are completely bored or manic. That's about it.

I have been using the depression chat room for several years, on and off.
The chat rooms on healthfulchat, in particular the depression chat room, is constantly trolled by people who seek to bring emotional pain to those already suffering from mental ill health.

The website is advertised as a safe, moderated site where people can access peer support.
However the site very often has no moderator(s) online at all, and even when moderators are online they are not very good at dealing with the trolls.

As other people have said in their reviews, there are a few well known users that regularly troll the site but they are not dealt with.

Some of the moderators also behave like children themselves, and should not have been given the position as moderators. Culprits include 'BlueGobi' and 'SPP'.
Despite people complaining about how the site is moderated, or complaining specifically about individual moderators, the owners of the site do nothing simply because the moderators are volunteers.

The site is outdated and poorly run, soif you're looking to connect with people for peer support, try somewhere else.