Using award-winning programs and systems that have already proven effective in Australia, Inspire harnesses the power of the Internet to reach out to America's youth and meet their mental health needs in a way that traditional mental health services never could.
The internet is becoming the support medium of choice for young people in the United States. According to recent surveys, nearly 90 percent of young people regularly access the internet, 75 percent are comfortable accessing health information online, and 25 percent use the Internet to seek specific information on mental health.
Inspire's flagship tool is the U.S version of Reach Out!, a website created in response to Australia's escalating rates of youth suicide. Reach Out! is credited with helping to reduce youth suicide rates in Australia, which have fallen by 56 percent since the website's inception.
The Inspire theory of change
Informed by the public health approach to mental health and the World Health Organization's Social Determinants of Health Model, reachout.com will cultivate life-affirming, protective factors that build resilience in young people:
- Positive relationships with peers, family, and other adults
- Meaningful participation
- Knowledge that enhances confidence
- Life and social skills, including communicating, participating, problem solving, tolerating diversity, optimistic thinking, and mutual responsibility
- Safe and supportive environments for developing and maintaining healthy communities
Inspire will integrate Reach Out! into existing community-based services and supports and develop tools for educators and mental health providers. Young people who visit reachout.com will find the following tools:
250 Fact Sheets
More than 70 percent of youth aged 16 to 24 seeking online health information want to know it comes from a reliable source1. Reachout.com offers 250 fact sheets developed with youth mental health professionals and vetted by young people to ensure that the “voice” resonates with youth.
Online community
Many young people need a space where they can interact and share their experiences with others. Reachout.com will offer online youth involvement programs, such as peer-moderated forums, where young people can chat, share stories, and support each other through difficult times. Through this supportive community, young people can become more comfortable addressing their problems and are more likely to seek professional help.
Gaming
Among teens, 72 percent of boys and 48 percent of girls play video games either online or on consoles2. The award-winning Reach Out! Central, a “serious game,” takes advantage of the explosive growth in gaming to engage youth use and use the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy to help them develop coping skills. The game appeals to young people through its colorful aesthetic, use of popular music, ease of use, and the overall fun of gaming.
Self-expression
More and more, young people look to the Internet to express themselves creatively and document and share personal experiences. Twenty percent of teenagers keep a blog and nearly 40 percent read one - and more than 60 percent of teens aged 13-17 have a profile on a social networking site3. Online content creators are diverse, with overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos. Reachout.com will leverage these trends by providing rich spaces for sharing personal stories and featuring the autobiographical stories created and edited by young people, using multiple media including “mini-documentaries”.
Multiple Platforms
Young people look for multiple ways to access and transport digital content, including podcasting and text messaging4. By providing numerous platforms, reachout.com empowers users to define their own experience.
1 Kaiser Family Foundation, December 2001
2 Jack Myers Media Business Report, 2005
3 Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005, and Cox Communications and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2006
4 Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005
