If you have secondary breast cancer, that is breast cancer that has spread to another part of your body, perhaps you would you like to come online and talk to others in the same situation this evening from 8.30pm - 9.30pm. There is an expert breast care nurse and a trained facilitator present to run the session. If you have secondary breast cancer and would like to join then you need to be registered on the forums. Then at 8.30 just go to breastcancercare.chatjet.com/bcc/index.html type in your user name and password and join the chat.
Part of the problem with restricting numbers is that I feel my need is not great and cannot justify taking up a place in chat that might prevent others joining - quite a dilemma really. I hope it doesnt keep too many away for that reason. But I dont think I can join in.
Could I ask if the Moderators are aware when there are people wanting to join in after they ‘shut the door’. Maybe they could then ask for ‘volunteers’ to drop out?
It seems such a shame that those like dawnhc who have so much to offer from past experience feel that they should sit out live chat to ensure others are not locked out
I am copying the message I put up a few days ago in the hope that this will settle your fears about live chat.
'Dear forum members
As many of you know we have been having a debate on the site over the last couple of weeks about whether we should close live chat sessions when a certain number of users are in the room. We have looked at how the sessions are going and thought it might be useful to clarify how the sessions run.
We do not have an arbitrary number allowed in any session. But we do know, both from our own experience and from academic literature on how online therapeutic groups work most effectively, that very large groups do not work well. This is because it becomes very difficult for participants to follow the discussions and hard for the facilitator and the nurse to make sure everyone is involved and their questions are answered.
We will endeavour to allow everyone who wants to come to live chat to attend – this normally means we will go up to sessions of 12-14. This should ensure that everyone who wants to come can get into the session. However, in some circumstances, where the staff running the session feel that those already there will not get a quality experience out of the session if more people come in, we may close it for a while.