We allow plenty of freedom in chat and you can pretty much talk about anything at all that’s on your mind. It’s important to remember that chat can't offer crisis support or professional medical advice and we have a few limitations around particular issues that we’d ask you to keep in mind:

Sex – Chat’s not a place to hook up or brag about your sexual encounters. Asking about bedroom antics, STIs or contraception is all okay.

Drugs – You’ll be warned off any chat about manufacturing, dealing or getting hold of drugs, but we welcome conversation about the effects and impact of taking substances.

Self-harm – Chatters will be happy to listen to your feelings and offer support to help with your self-harm. However, please avoid any graphic detail or description of methods (such as where or how you've harmed yourself). Instead, we encourage you to focus on feelings (e.g. "I feel like harming myself because I feel...").

If you feel you might be about to harm then we’d ask that you don’t come in to chat so that we can keep the group safe. Check out our broader self-harm guidelines to learn more about how to talk about it and where else you can go for help.

Eating issues - We promote healthy eating here but not obsessive dieting. It’s okay to respectfully tell people what you struggle with (e.g. “I struggle with binge-eating”), but please avoid sharing specifics about your weight, calorie counts or details of any behaviours (such as what or how much you've been eating or drinking). Instead we encourage you to focus on your feelings, using broad terms to describe things if you need to.

Suicidal Feelings – the group environment is not a safe place to talk about suicidal feelings as it can be very distressing for others and we are not set up to offer support in a crisis. The moderator will suggest that you use more appropriate services such as Samaritans or Papyrus

You can sign up for a chat account or log in as a guest. If you have an account on the discussion boards too then you might want to use the same name to help the community get to know you. Try and stick to the same username once you’ve picked one. It avoids confusion and helps you to settle in and build relationships with the group.

This varies but can be between 10-20 people. When chat is very busy it’s difficult for everyone to be heard and following conversations can be tough. You may need to be patient and to choose a quieter moment to ask the group for some help. Moderators will do their best to help everyone have a chance to talk if they need to.

All chats are moderated by a mixture of paid staff and volunteer mods.

Their role is to oversee the group and to make sure that everyone is adhering to the guidelines so the chat remains a safe and welcoming space. Moderators are trained in offering emotional support, listening, signposting (sharing links to resources online) and managing the group. They are not expert advisers and cannot provide 1-2-1 support.

We also ask that you avoid sharing any personal contact details in the chat room such as your email address, phone number or facebook page. If you want to share a link to a photo of yourself then you do this at your own risk. Don’t forget that once you post something in the chat room it can’t be deleted; photos are easily saved or shared.

Under very rare circumstances we may choose to break confidentiality. These are:

If we believe a user is in immediate or great danger or that you are about to place someone else in immediate or great danger. And, that we have enough personal information about a young person for us to believe there is an opportunity to intervene.

We would involve you in any intervention and only carry it through if the circumstances were extreme. The general rule is that what is said in chat stays in chat as it says in the Group Agreement.

If you can't get in to chat, chances are you've landed here out of hours. Or if we're really busy, you might not be able to get in on your first try. Our Support Chat sessions have a cap of 12 users plus 2 moderators, for a total of 14 people. In either case, there are some places you can go.

The discussion boards are available 24/7. If you haven’t already registered then once you’re signed up you will be able to post and receive replies from the community. We also offer a free, confidential helpline webchat, email or text service if you need further advice.

General Chat isn't capped like Support Chat, so that can be a great place to relax, meet our community, and find out how things work around here if you're waiting for a space to become free.

Yes! The Mix Chat is mobile friendly. Just come along to the Live Chat page as normal and log in. The mobile version is more basic so for full features and functionality you'll need to use the chat room on your laptop or desktop computer.

You can also download the 123FlashChat app for Android devices. When asked for a chat ID, enter 3479.