We rely on online connectivity to reach the people who need it most—from teenagers self-harming in high school bathrooms to rural Iowans struggling to cope as their farms suffer. Soon, bigger, more powerful sites will be able to fast track their users while ours will be undercut and immobilized.
“No one should have to struggle alone.”
I’ve joked to my family a couple of times that the training is, in part, training in leveling up as a human. I don’t always live up to that training, but being a volunteer has taught me a lot about how any of us could face a crisis, and that it’s okay—and sometimes essential—to reach out when times are hard. It’s taught me that there’s a lot more bravery and strength in our community than I ever knew.
Imagine knowing that there’s a place you can go no matter what’s going on, a voice you can reach who won’t judge, won’t discredit, won’t skip past your pain to tell you what to do. Would you—will you—consider being a part of something like that?
