When I had no one else to turn to, counseling was out of the question in my mind, I turned to the Internet to help me with my problems. At first, my online searches turned up nothing but outdated and long forgotten advice sites. I was into chat rooms at the time, but no one could name any useful sites for help. Then one day while at work, on a relaxing Saturday, I came across this website, HelpingTeens. At the time, it was no more than email advice being given out. So I submitted my request and sat hopefully waiting for a reply to come back to me. While I waited for my answer from HelpingTeens, I drifted around the Internet to other “help” sites that turned up in my search when I found HelpingTeens, desperately trying to seek advice in other places. Some advice sites seemed unable to provide the help I needed and so I threw them aside. Previous attempts at calling hotlines failed, they were either busy or just didn’t help with my problem. I talked to my friends (the few I had) but they soon started to complain about me. I didn’t dare talk to my family about my problems because … well I was scared to and didn’t really want them to know. Sure enough, within 24 hours someone across the world from HelpingTeens had answered the questions I had.
I have always liked helping people and I’ve been taken advantage of sometimes while helping others, but when I found HelpingTeens, I knew that it would be great if I could share my advice with teens. I know that the teenage years are often the hardest you will ever have to come across and I wanted to share my experiences with more people across the world. I started by joining HelpingTeens and Brandon Thomas accepted me that day while I was at work.
HelpingTeens is now a major part of my life. When I’m not working, and have time to myself, I usually am on HelpingTeens. Every day I sit here, desperately trying to answer as many peoples problems as possible. Scouring the Support Groups, monitoring the Live Chat, and now that I’m an Administrator for HelpingTeens, I’ve focused my efforts more towards keeping the site up and functional for everyone to use to get some help. I still participate with helping, but the administrative work does take up a large portion of my efforts these days on HelpingTeens.My main goal has always been to help as many people as possible, to return the thanks for all the help I have received. Reaching out to someone anonymously across the world can often provide more comfort than any other source. Keep reaching out and we will keep helping you back.