Help reduce US youth suicide

Happy Holidays!

We'd like to take this time to thank all of our supporters! Our gratitude for your generosity for ReachOut.com is boundless. We have a lot to be thankful for in 2013, since we were able to do all of this:

• Reached over 12,000 young people in the ReachOut Forums
• Trained 45 additional Peer Supporters for the Forums
• Started ReachOut TXT, a peer-to-peer support and information text service for teens and young adults going through tough times, with 10 tech-savvy Text Supporters
• Started expanding ReachOut's LBGTQ content with the help of 10 energized Content Developers
• Went to the White House in June to participate in the National Conference on Mental Health 
• Presented ReachOut TXT at the informational hearing for the California State Senate’s Select Committee on Mental Health
• Launched a nationwide social media campaign to promote help-seeking behavior and positive coping strategies in honor of International Suicide Prevention Week

Gratitude is not only limited to us. The youth who have found ReachOut have this to say:

• Hi, I am so blessed to find a place where I can have support. ... I am here because I suffered sexual abuse and anorexia for years. I am just recently starting to move on and saw this as a great place of support. I am quite interested in how I can help support others too. 

• thankyou so much everyone! your kind words mean everything to me! that's all I needed to hear. im making a change, im going to get better, and I WILL get better. youre all right, im here for a reason. Im not going to give up so easily, that's not me. Over the past 2 days ive made some changes, and ive said some things I needed to say. Im making peace with my past, and im eager to better myself everyday. I think im starting to find myself again. I have a small ounce of hope in me, and that's the most ive had in a long time! This might have been my hardest fall yet, but I WILL find a way out. I don't give up like that. You guys helped knock some sense into me. I guess I just needed to be heard, and understood. You guys were there and I couldn't thankyou enough... It cant rain forever, and if it seems like forever, kick that damn storm out! this is YOUR life, and its what you make it! so make the very best of it!  much love to everyone!

• Thank you everyone so much for all the kind words! It means a lot to have a community that shows this much support. I don't even know any of you personally but I still feel like I'm not alone in this.

For all of these things and more, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Nicola, Emily, Meredith, Michelle, Liz, Michael and Katherine

Links:

• Learning to Feel Grateful This Holiday Season
• ReachOut.com