About

What we're actually doing.

Umbrella4U is a non-profit run by students, making free things that let young people say what they think without paying for it socially. Haven, an anonymous peer-support app, is the one that's live so far.

Why we exist

Why we bothered.

A lot of young people spend most of the day being a slightly smaller version of themselves, mostly so that nobody comments on it.

Most of us doing this grew up getting labelled for being different, and worked out fairly early that hiding was the cheaper option. It's a tiring way to live, and it's lonely in a way that's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't done it.

So we're building somewhere with nothing to perform, where saying the real thing gets you understood rather than judged, usually by people who have been in more or less the same spot.

Our story

How it started.

We built Haven first, an anonymous app where young people post what's really on their mind and get understood rather than judged. People used it and it helped, which made it fairly obvious that the problem is bigger than any one app can cover.

So we built the organisation around it. Umbrella4U exists to keep Haven running properly and free, which means designing it with the people who use it and finding the money somewhere other than their pockets.

An umbrella only ever covers one person, which is roughly the problem we keep running into.

What Haven is

What Haven does.

Haven is anonymous peer support for young people. You put down whatever you're carrying and it gets read by people who have carried something similar, though the mechanics are unusual enough to be worth explaining:

UmbrellasWhen a story lands with you, you open an umbrella on it, which is a quiet way of saying "I'm with you." Because there are no comment threads anywhere, the umbrella ends up being the whole message.
Your weatherYou pick a weather when you post, anywhere from clear sky to heavy storm, and as umbrellas come in it clears toward sunny. It's the one part of the app where you can actually watch support arrive.
Four ways to be metPost as Listen, Advice, Similar, or Resources, and people answer the way you picked, so asking to just be listened to means nobody hands you advice you didn't want.
Filters that protect youNames, contact details and abuse get blocked before a post ever goes live, and because the check sits in the database rather than the browser, there's no way round it from the client.

What's next

Circles.

A single feed is the right thing when you want to be read by anyone. It's the wrong thing when what you have to say only makes sense to people who care about that one particular thing. Circles are smaller rooms inside Haven, each about a single subject, each with a house rule that sets how people talk in it. You join the ones that suit you, and what you post there stays in that room. They aren't open yet, and these are the six we're starting with.

/small-winsJoin

The tiny thing you did that counted.

No advice unless asked
/3am-thoughtsJoin

Say it while it's still soft.

Anonymous encouraged
/doodlesJoin

Drawn on whatever was nearby.

No faces, no plates, no house numbers
/lost-thingsJoin

Objects, people, feelings, all welcome.

Be gentle here
/snack-councilJoin

Rulings on food, legally binding.

Votes are final-ish
/window-seatJoin

One thing you can see right now.

No street signs in shot

Small circles feel cosy, and they also make you easier to recognise. The more specific the room, the vaguer you should be about yourself.

What we believe

Things we don't bend on.

Youth-first

Co-designed with the people who use it. If a 15-year-old doesn't feel safe using it, we don't ship it.

Free for young people

Full access, no cost, no trial that runs out. Schools and funders pay for the rest.

Moderation and crisis paths

Human moderators, a route to real help, and privacy on by default. Built in from the start, because retrofitting this sort of thing doesn't work.

Come as you are

There's nothing to perform and no version of normal you have to hit, so however you turn up is fine.

Safety & privacy

Safety and privacy.

Chapters

Chapters.

A Chapter is a small student or community team running Umbrella4U where they live, covering peer support, events and outreach. We're opening them across North America, and you don't need any experience to lead one because we train you properly.

The Chapter Handbook spells out what running one actually involves, which comes down to seven requirements and a library of ideas for everything past that.

Get involved

Getting involved.

Lead a Chapter

Students, counsellors, and people who wish this had existed when they were fifteen are all useful here. The application takes about ten minutes, and we read every one that comes in.

Apply to lead → Partner or ask a question