I am in chat a lot, and am familiar of how it works, but I can see how intimidating it can be. It depends on who is in there at the point you come in and what the mood of the chat is.

A lot of self care is needed in chat here, and the ability to see that things can be misinterpreted, everyone has their problems which could cause them to not be able to help you and just a general awareness of yourself is needed in my opinion.

Like others said, perhaps if you get to know someone on the forums and you know they go into chat, ask if you can tag along with them, get to know how to use it all, then when you are ready going into a main room with a private conversation open with that other person to check in with them and ask questions as you're going along.

But, only when you're ready. There is no necessity in going to the chat rooms. For a lot of people it's a scary thing to do, and I think many can understand that. It takes some people a while to get the hang of. But it's up to you to do it when you feel you are able, not just jumping in because you feel a need.