Umbrella4UBreak the social norm!

Umbrella4U is a youth-led movement for self-expression, a place to break the social norm, drop the mask, and be accepted for exactly who you are. Started by students, run by volunteers, spread city by city.

We’re working on a mobile app.Haven is being built for your phone, too.
  • Be yourself
  • Judgment-free
  • Youth-led
  • Free forever

What is Umbrella4U?

A youth-led movement for self-expression, helping young people be who they really are and break the social norms that say they can't.

We're a non-profit, started by students and run by a volunteer team with adult guidance. We build free, judgment-free spaces where young people can drop the mask and be accepted for exactly who they are, then spread them city by city through the young people who lead our Chapters.

  • Non-profit · free where it counts, forever
  • Youth-led · built with the people who use it
  • Judgment-free · come as you are
  • A shelter of tools · Haven today, more on the way
  • Chapter-powered · student & community led
  • Across North America · and growing

Who we are

We started with one stubborn belief: no young person should have to hide who they are, or shrink to fit someone else's idea of "normal," just to be accepted.

That belief became Haven, an anonymous space where teens say what's really on their mind and get met with warmth instead of judgment, a place to feel less alone. It works. Now we're building the rest of the shelter around it.

Umbrella4U is the movement behind Haven and the products that follow it. Different tools, one umbrella: each designed with young people, held to a real standard of safety, and free at the point where it matters most, for the person who needs it.

Youth-first, always

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

Free where it counts

Any young person gets full access for free, forever. Schools and systems fund the rest.

Safety is the product

Human moderation, crisis pathways, and privacy by default, not an afterthought bolted on later.

Built to scale

One shelter, many tools, designed to reach a whole continent, not just one classroom.

Our flagship · live today

Meet Haven ☂

Haven is our anonymous peer-support app, a safe place to be heard when you're carrying something heavy. Share what's weighing on you and get met with warmth, not judgment, from people who understand because they've been there too. When a story moves someone, they open one umbrella for you, a quiet "I'm standing with you." No pile-ons, no arguing, no names, just support, so no one has to face it alone.

  • No name required
  • One umbrella each
  • Human moderation
  • Crisis pathways

Where we're headed

The plan is a continent, not a pilot.

We're not trying to run one nice app. We're trying to put shelter within reach of every young person in North America who needs it. These are the targets we're building toward.

1M
young people reached by 2030

Across Canada and the U.S., free, anonymous, and there at 2 a.m. when it counts.

5,000
schools & communities

Counselors and youth orgs running Umbrella4U tools as part of how they care for kids.

<60s
to feeling less alone

From opening the app to a real human response, because a hard moment can't wait for business hours.

Figures above are the goals we're organizing around, not current totals.

Our products

One umbrella, many tools.

Each product solves a different piece of the same problem: getting a young person from "I can't say this out loud" to "someone's got me." Haven is live today; the rest are on the way.

🗼

Lighthouse

In pilot

The fastest calm path from "this is an emergency" to real help, crisis lines, local services, and a warm hand-off, matched to where a young person actually is.

Crisis navigation · Region-aware

Almanac

In design

Your own weather, tracked. A private journal that turns "I don't know why today was hard" into patterns you can see, for your eyes only, never scored, never shared.

Private journal · Self-insight
🌱

Greenhouse

In design

A growing library of small, guided skills for hard moments, grounding, breathing, reframing a spiral, getting to sleep. Two minutes when two minutes is all you've got.

Coping kit · Guided & short
Coming soon ◍ Circle, peer groups ❖ Compass, for schools ❦ Roots, for families ⚓ Harbor, 1:1 mentorship 🌲 Grove, meetups

Chapters & leadership

Our next step: a Chapter in every city that needs one.

Umbrella4U grows the way support actually spreads, person to person. We're opening student- and community-led Chapters across North America, and we're looking for the people to lead them. No experience required; real training provided. If you've ever wished this existed where you are, you might be who we're looking for.

Loading the location map

Public school locations are loading as map pins.

Current team map Dots mark current public locations.
  • West Vancouver Secondary SchoolWest Vancouver, BC
  • St. George's SchoolVancouver, BC
  • Vancouver Christian SchoolVancouver, BC
  • Mercer Island High SchoolMercer Island, WA
  • Wayne Valley High SchoolWayne, NJ

Local · in your school or city

Lead a Chapter

A Chapter is a small team that brings Umbrella4U to life on the ground, running peer support, events, and outreach where they live. Roles per Chapter:

  • Chapter Lead, runs the Chapter and is its point person.
  • Co-Lead / VP, shares the load and steps in when needed.
  • Peer Support Lead, trains and coordinates the listeners.
  • Wellbeing & Safety Officer, owns escalation; the calm head in a hard moment.
  • Outreach Lead, brings new members and volunteers in.
  • Events Lead, runs meetups and awareness weeks.
  • Partnerships Liaison, the bridge to school admin and counselors.
  • Comms Lead, social media and telling the Chapter's story.
  • Treasurer, local fundraising and a small budget.

Regional & national · build the org

Join the core team

Beyond individual Chapters, a regional and national team makes the whole network work, and keeps it safe. Leadership roles:

  • Regional Director, grows and supports Chapters across a region.
  • Chapter Success Manager, onboards new Chapters and keeps them healthy.
  • Head of Safety & Clinical, protocols, crisis standards, and duty of care.
  • Head of Training, the curriculum every leader completes.
  • Head of Partnerships, schools, districts, and health systems.
  • Head of Fundraising, grants, donors, and sponsored seats.
  • Head of Comms & Marketing, the story, the brand, the reach.
  • Head of People & Volunteers, recruiting, onboarding, recognition.
  • Equity & Belonging Lead, making sure Umbrella4U is for everyone.

Ready to open a Chapter?

Fill out the application, it takes about ten minutes. We read every one, and we'll get back to you with next steps and training.

Apply to lead →

Help us hold an umbrella over a whole generation.

Whether you're a school, a funder, a clinician, or a young person who wishes this had existed for you, there's a place for you under it.