Need to talk? The ‘Hey Sam' program trains young people to support others

Many young people are still dealing with the aftermath of the isolation from the pandemic. Boston-based Samaritans, Inc. is looking to support them where they spend the most time – on their phones.  

The "Hey Sam" program is a peer-to-peer text support line specifically for people ages 15-24, staffed by people in the same age group. 

"Often we, you know, we look to somebody to help us manage something. It's wanting to find somebody who can really relate to what we're we're experiencing," explained Samaritans CEO and President Kathy Marchi

Marchi says the Hey Sam program gives young people a place to reach out to get nonjudgmental, compassionate support and a chance to talk out anything they may be struggling with. The volunteers are people like 22-year-old Kerry Shea. 

"I think it's really helpful for someone to have kind of like a neutral, unbiased outlet, which is what Hey Sam is kind of all about," Shea said.

Shea says normalizing talking about mental health struggles can prevent a smaller issue from turning into something bigger. 

"A lot of people come in just to sort of talk about what's been going on for them, not necessarily because they're either at high risk or in a time of crisis, like they're kind of just feeling down or they're feeling sad for whatever reason in that moment," she said. "I think it's really important that people feel like they can talk about those regardless of how big or how serious they may think it is."

Since the line launched in March 2022, the Hey Sam team has heard from 1,700 young people in over 3,000 conversations. Marchi says those conversations are valuable not just to the texters but also to the volunteers responding.  

"We hear a lot about young people saying not just that being a volunteer is helpful and the experience is good for them, but it's really helping them learn to be more compassionate and more connected to others."  

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Shea believes her age paired with her own struggles with depression, anxiety and OCD help her better connect with texters to help them through whatever problem they may be experiencing  

"I understand kind of where they're coming from in the context of their struggles and things like that. So I think I'm better able to kind of validate it in a sense. So yeah, I definitely do think that there's a certain sort of understanding that we're kind of going through the same stuff."

Sixteen-year-old Veronica Martinez also says her own mental health journey inspired her to start working with Hey Sam.

"After understanding how much it helped me to talk to someone else and be there and have someone listen to me, I wanted to become that person for others who maybe don't have parents who they can talk to, or friends, or anyone. really. And I wanted to be that person," Martinez explained in Spanish.

Volunteers go through about 40 hours of training to work on the program. Samaritans was granted funding in the latest state budget specifically to push forward with Hey Sam, money that Marchi says will be used to beef up staffing and training, and make sure they have the technology they need to keep the system running smoothly. 

"It's really important to us that we have that funding and it's leading us to focus on the program and really being able to stabilize and ensure that it continues."

To learn more about the Hey Sam program, you can visit textheysam.org or follow @textheysam. If you want to reach out to the line, text 439-726 anytime between 9 a.m. and midnight. Samaritans also answers calls for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.