Umbrella4U

Umbrella4UBreak the social norm!

Umbrella4U is a non-profit run by students. We build free mental health tools for young people. Our first one is Haven, an anonymous peer-support app for teenagers.

  • Be yourself
  • Judgment-free
  • Youth-led
  • Free forever
Haven is closed for updates What we're about

What is Umbrella4U?

A non-profit run by students, building free mental health tools for young people.

We started as a student project and we're still run by volunteers, with adults advising rather than deciding what happens. Everything we build stays free for the people who use it, and it spreads through Chapters, which are small teams running things locally in a school or a city.

  • Non-profit · free where it counts, forever
  • Youth-led · built with the people who use it
  • Judgment-free · come as you are
  • One app · Haven, free and anonymous
  • Chapter-powered · student & community led
  • Across North America · and growing

Who we are

A lot of teenagers keep quiet about how they're doing, because saying it out loud in front of people they know can cost them. That's the problem we work on.

Haven is our answer to it. Teenagers post what's on their mind without giving a name, and other users read it and respond. It's the one tool we've built so far, and it gets most of our time.

Umbrella4U is the non-profit behind Haven and the tools we plan to build next. We design them with the students who use them and keep them free. Schools, grants and donors pay what it costs to run.

1

Youth-first

Students help design every tool and test it before release. If a 15-year-old doesn't feel safe using it, we don't ship it.

2

Free for young people

Every feature is free for young people. Nothing expires and we never ask for a card. Schools and funders cover what it costs to run.

3

Moderation and crisis paths

Trained moderators review what gets reported, and a post that reads like a crisis shows helpline numbers straight away. Privacy is on by default. We built all of this at the start, because it's hard to add once a community exists.

4

Meant to spread

Chapters run Umbrella4U in their own school or city, so the work doesn't depend on one central office.

What we've built

Meet Haven ☂

Haven is our anonymous peer-support app. You post what's on your mind, and other users who have been through something similar read it. They reply by opening an umbrella for you, which is how Haven says someone is with you on it. There's no comment box anywhere in the app, so nobody can argue underneath your post. Haven is closed for updates at the moment and will be back soon.

  • No name required
  • One umbrella each
  • Human moderation
  • Crisis pathways
Haven is closed for updates

Coming to Haven

Circles are smaller spaces inside Haven.

The main feed shows every post at once. A Circle is a smaller space about one subject, with its own rule. You join the ones you want, and what you post there stays in that Circle. None of them are open yet. These six are the ones we're building first.

/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.

Where we're headed

The goals we're working towards.

None of these are numbers we've reached yet. They're the targets we plan around, and we'd rather publish them and be held to them than keep things vague.

1M
young people reached by 2030

Across Canada and the U.S., free and anonymous, and open at any hour of the day.

5,000
schools & communities

School counsellors and youth organisations using our tools with the young people they support.

<60s
to feeling less alone

From opening the app to a reply from a real person, at any time of day.

These are targets rather than current totals.

Chapters & leadership

Chapters are how this spreads.

A Chapter is a small student or community team that runs Umbrella4U in their own school or city. We're opening Chapters now and looking for people to lead them. You don't need experience, because we train every leader before they start.

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 runs peer support, events and outreach in its own school or city. Most fill some version of the roles below, and smaller ones double up until there are enough people to go round.

  • 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

These roles sit above Chapter level, and between them they keep the wider network running and safe.

  • 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?

The application takes about ten minutes to fill in. We read every one that comes through and write back with what happens next.

Apply to lead →

If you want to help, there's room.

We work with schools, funders, clinicians and volunteers, and there's usually something useful for each of them to do here. Email us and we'll write back.

Partner with us Lead a Chapter