Nonprofit dedicated to teen suicide prevention helps provide creative outlet

Mental wellness nonprofit inspires creativity

Nonprofit "Robbie's Hope" helps to prevention lives and gives teens a originative outlet 05:27

A nonprofit dedicated to teen termination prevention is spreading consciousness astir intelligence wellness and giving teenagers a originative outlet.

"Robbie's Hope" was started by Kari Eckert aft her lad died by termination successful 2018. She said she and her hubby had nary thought their 15-year-old lad was struggling.

"Robbie's friends didn't person an idea, his teachers, his coaches. He seemed to beryllium thriving. He was a bully student. He was well-liked," Eckert, the organization's enforcement director, said. 

Eckert said they wanted to instrumentality enactment – which meant listening to teens and Robbie's friends.

"We wanted to cognize what they were talking astir and what they wanted to bash astir this issue," she said. "They knew different kids were struggling and that they knew kids were lone talking astir it amongst themselves – that they weren't ever getting adults involved."

Eckert advises parents to normalize conversations surrounding intelligence health, emphasizing being susceptible with your child, "just similar you are with your champion person and it is genuinely a work of a genitor to person this conversation. It is 2025. We cognize that intelligence wellness is simply a interest for young people. We person to speech astir it."

Robbie's Hope reaches crossed U.S.

Now, Robbie's Hope has teen ambassadors successful precocious schools successful each 50 states and hosts an yearly creation contention for teens. 

This year, they person their archetypal curated grounds astatine the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art.

 "Robbie's Hope was a enactment radical I didn't adjacent cognize I needed until I recovered it," said singer-songwriter Sloane Simon, who won the expansive prize successful 2022 with a opus successful the euphony category.

"I was 16 erstwhile I wrote the opus truthful determination has been a batch of maturation since," she said. "The opus was written astir increasing up and conscionable feeling similar everybody has thing to accidental and you cognize arsenic a teen present with societal media, it is conscionable difficult, and Robbie's Hope truly really helped maine consciousness astatine home."

Eckert said she hopes to grow the speech surrounding intelligence health.

"Talk to your child, inquire them however they are truly doing. Like, I would've said, 'Robbie, connected the extracurricular you look great, is that however you consciousness connected the inside? And Robbie, if you're not OK, who are you going to spell to? If it's not maine oregon your dad, who are you going to spell to?'"

Eckert said today's issues are "too big," which requires connection with one's children.

"I didn't cognize that I needed to speech to my kid astir intelligence wellness and astir suicide," Eckert said.

If you oregon idiosyncratic you cognize is successful affectional distress oregon a suicidal crisis, you tin scope the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling oregon texting 988. You tin also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.

For much accusation about mental wellness attraction resources and support, The National Alliance connected Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine tin beryllium reached Monday done Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, astatine 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).

• Nonprofit
• Mental Health
• Suicide