Charity Which Supports Young People Relaunches as Youth4Youth

Teenage Helpline, a charity providing peer support to young people aged 10-25 across the UK, has relaunched as Youth4Youth.

The charity's primary service involves providing high-quality, peer-led support services that are accessible to all those aged 25 and under.

Youth4Youth's services involve putting young people in contact with peer mentors, aged between 16 and 25, primarily via email. In recognising young people's preferred ways of communicating, Youth4Youth will also be introducing a chat feature in 2025 to allow young people to chat with mentors via their website.

Josh Towers, Founder of Teenage Helpline, created it in 2011 after offering support similar to that of an agony aunt to people during his teenage years.

He struggled with his own mental health while coming to terms with his sexuality aged 14. After receiving help himself, he identified a gap in the market and set up the charity.

Youth4Youth's offer and mission hasn't changed with the rebrand. The change in name is focused on ensuring that the charity can expand its reach and support to the right people at the right time.

Supporting young people on a range of issues including mental health, sexuality, bullying, online harm, education and family issues, Youth4Youth provides advice and support to young people as well as to parents, guardians and teachers.

Josh Towers, CEO and Founder of Youth4Youth, said: “This is a really exciting moment for our charity. When I started Teenage Helpline, at the age of 14, in 2011, it was with one key goal to provide peer support to young people, just like me, all over the country. We have been able to do that, but with our new name, we hope we can reach even more young people.”

“A key reason behind our brand name change is recognising how much therapeutic-support services have evolved since our inception. While "helpline" felt right at the time, we no longer feel it is truly reflective of our approach to supporting young people today.”

Helplines are often seen as a last resort, when issues such as mental health hit a breaking point, but what Youth4Youth truly want to promote is early engagement - and conversation - to stop this point ever being reached.

The charity aims to encourage young people to reach out to them (and connect with other young people) sooner in their mental health journey, so they receive the reassurance they need and understand that they are not alone, and it is completely normal to be feeling like they do.

Josh continued: “Our new brand allows us to be friendly, comforting and welcoming, rather than clinical or corporate, and encourages day-to-day support and a conversational approach, long before the point of crisis.”

Youth4Youth is an organisation set up for young people by young people. It strives to remain in touch with what young people want and need.

“We want to make sure that all young people have a safe space to reach out for support - through all the challenges, that as a young person, they may experience - especially for those that struggle to speak with adults or professionals,” Josh added.

“Now, our new name - and new brand, conveys that message perfectly.”

Youth4Youth is a registered charitable company. Visit its website, to access their services and learn more, today: y4y.org.uk

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

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About Youth4Youth

Youth4Youth, previously known as Teenage Helpline, is a charitable organisation that provides services to young people aged 10-25 across the UK.

The charity's primary service involves putting young people in contact with peers, to receive peer-to-peer mentoring, via an online chat function on its website or via email.

It also delivers other support, via its website, providing young people, parents, guardians and teachers, with access to valuable resources.

Youth4Youth is an organisation that was set up by young people for young people. It strives to remain in touch with what young people want and need.

This news release has been prepared by Altitude on behalf of Youth4Youth.

Altitude is an award-winning public relations consultancy based in South Yorkshire.

We support ambitious businesses and organisations with public relations and a wide range of associated services.

For more information, images and interview requests please Rachel Measures, Account Manager or Max Haley, Senior Account Executive, via email or on 0114 252 1172.