Creating the Easiest Mental Health Support Online
Someone dies by suicide in the US, every 11 seconds.
And 45% of people with Mental Health issues don’t seek help.
One of the major reasons for not seeking help is that mental health resources are hard to access. So HeartSupport is making tools to make mental health support quick and easy, no matter where you are right now.
Over the last several years, HeartSupport has talked face-to-face with thousands of people about issues like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addictions, and suicidal thoughts. So many people have been helped by one simple factor: people take the time to listen. Users can make up any username they want to post on HeartSupport’s anonymous forum. There they can be open and honest about anything going on in their life. From there, users respond to the topic with encouraging words, draw pictures, and even record video responses.
So many people have been helped by the forum over the years, that HeartSupport is expanding the forum into the farthest reaches of the internet.
”We can’t just ask people to come to our website for help. That’s not doing our best. “ says Casey Keys, HeartSupport’s Creative Director. “We have to go to where hurting people hang out and make it as easy as possible for them to get the support they need.”
HeartSupport already has forum integrations for Instagram and Youtube that let a content creator make a post asking their audience to simply “@heartsupport in the comments” if they need help. Any comments made on that platform get ported to the forum where the HeartSupport community responds. Those responses get sent back to the platform as native replies to the original user’s comments.
“It’s a pretty slick system,” Keys continues. “Any content creator can give their community quality, ongoing mental health support with a simple call to action. It’s really brilliant.”
The organization also has a similar system that works with SMS. Anyone who needs help can simply text “heartsupport” to 512-647-2871
Their text will be converted into a forum response, and replies will be sent back to their phone as a text message.
How Can I Help?
“What we really need right now is financial support to fund the development of these amazing tools,” Keys says. “We want to help people in a massive way on Twitch, but we gotta get developers to write that code!”
This fall HeartSupport is starting development on native plugins for Twitch and Discord that will let any broadcaster add a panel extension to their page. The extension will let users create a forum post without leaving Twitch. If anyone in chat is having trouble, the broadcaster can simply say, “Scroll down and make a post on HeartSupport, they’ll take care of ya!”
Discord’s new forum features will let HeartSupport’s forum live natively on anyone’s community Discord server, so if someone needs encouragement, they don’t have to leave their favorite community to get help.
As a content creator, you can fundraise to help to HeartSupport’s development of native mental health tools at heartsupport.com/fundraise
About HeartSupport
HeartSupport is a Mental Health focused Non Profit organization built on the belief that people deserve love, attention, and support no matter the color of their skin, what they believe, who they love, what they’ve done, or what’s been done to them. Founded by Jake Luhrs, the vocalist for the Grammy-nominated metal band, August Burns Red, HeartSupport was created to give music fans a safe place to be honest online. From that initial vision, the organization has grown to be an online family and support system for thousands of users, from music fans, to professional athletes and gamers.
Users can make posts on the anonymous forum, the “Support Wall” and be honest about whatever issues they may be facing in life. Those posts are met with encouragement from other users across the forum, Discord, social media, and live streams. Some posts get a thoughtful text reply, while others may get a video response or even a personalized gift sent in the mail.
The online community at HeartSupport spends time together on live streams, in community groups on Discord, and in person at events like Twitchcon. HeartSupport has also been very active at Vans Warped Tour and other music festivals for the last 8 years.
HeartSupport Fest, a massive mental health focused pop-punk music festival will be held in Orlando, FL in February 2023.
How your donation can make a HUGE impact
Every dollar given to HeartSupport goes directly to funding development and support of innovative mental health support initiatives. HeartSupport is working tirelessly to make it easy to access mental health support no matter where you are. With funding, the organization plans to create direct interfaces for their mental health support forum and resources that live natively on Twitch, Discord, and other social media outlets.
Every $5 you give equates to around one hour of mental health support! If just one interaction can mean the world to someone who’s hurting, one hour of encouragement can change someone’s life.
HeartSupport is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law and fund the development of Mental Health peer support technology so no one has to struggle alone.
Helpful Links:
- Download the Overlays and Alerts for Streamlabs Desktop
- Add the Charity Alerts into other Broadcasting software
- Start a fundraiser or donate to HeartSupport using Streamlabs Charity