Caiden is part of a team of youth who are shaping Samaritans’ groundbreaking peer-to-peer support textline. Currently a high school senior, Caiden originally joined the Hey Sam team two years ago, drawn in by its youth-centered mission.
“Being able to have people in my demographic contribute stuck out to me,” he says. “I think that it can be really impactful to talk to someone in a similar life situation to you.”
Since joining, Caiden has taken on a variety of roles. In addition to his weekly text shifts, he participates in monthly youth advisory board meetings, trains new volunteers, has helped design outreach campaigns, and co-created a volunteer training module focused on self-care and preventing burnout.
He is also a contributor to the Samaritans blog, where he published advice for adult allies of LGBTQ+ youth, a group at particularly high risk for suicide.
As a trans youth who has experienced his own challenges with mental health, Caiden is passionate about creating better mental health resources for teens like himself. And he appreciates how Samaritans truly listens to its youth leaders.
“Youth culture is constantly evolving,” he says. “It’s so important to have people who can say, hey, I think this is something we could be doing to make a bigger impact. [At Samaritans] I feel respected on the same level as any adult making these decisions.”
In an ideal world, everyone should have someone they can talk to when they’re feeling alone or scared… [At Hey Sam], we want to make it so that more people have that support system in their life.
Text Hey Sam
If you are a young person in need of support, send a text to: 439-726
