Give Us The Floor

Teens today face serious struggles related to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, bullying, physical health issues, and suicide. And the pandemic has only exacerbated many of these issues. Give Us The Floor works to combat this crisis through our core program, Supportive Group Chats (SGC). Supportive Group Chats are safe, online chat groups where teens in distress support each other without fear of stigma, taboo or shame. Participants share struggles, insights and accomplishments, and encourage each other. Most importantly, they build a community that helps to alleviate the mental health and social issues that plague our nation’s young people. Since its inception, Give Us The Floor has served over 3,500 teens across the country via the SGCs and with impressive results. We are now well-positioned to expand our constituent base, target high need populations, and increase the depth of support we provide. 

The teenage years are a particularly difficult and unbalanced period of life. Teens today face serious issues related to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-harm, physical health issues, and suicide. In fact, each day in our nation, over 3,000 teenagers attempt suicide, which is now the second leading cause of death among this age group. 20% of American teens suffer from a mental health disorder and 10% suffer from an eating disorder. Paradoxically, with the advent of social media and the internet, they also report feeling isolated, lonely, and that they don’t have access to a support system.

The pandemic has only worsened these issues. In a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in November 2020, the authors state that a significant portion of American youth are experiencing unmet needs and negative emotions due to COVID-19.

The pandemic has exacerbated problems resulting from social isolation across all populations all around the world. These pandemic inducing stressors include income insecurity, worsening of chronic physical and mental health conditions, and feelings of fear, anger, and sadness. SGCs could be replicated for different age groups and deployed globally to help people cope with the stress and isolation that COVID-19 has created.

There are improving factors that can make a big difference in the life of a struggling teenager: experiencing compassion, the dissolution of stigma and shame, and feeling a sense of belonging. Through research backed practices, GUTF has created Supportive Group Chats, a uniquely effective program that has made a significant impact on struggling teens. SGCs are groups of 12-15 teens, trained teen facilitators, and supported by a team of Adult Advisors. SGCs employ a “by teens - for teens'' model which is rooted in the data driven understanding that peer support improves self-confidence and mitigates transactions between depressive symptoms and peer victimization. SGCs are designed to instill a sense of belonging which has proven to be critical for emotional health and building resiliency. 

GUTF has spent the past 18 months upgrading its back-end technology systems and developing a new proprietary app. The alpha was released in April 2021 and the beta is about to be released. Version 1.0 will launch this summer and will allow us to gather analytics and identify additional features. We will begin working on version 2.0 in early 2022, implementing AI and machine learning to scale and increase the effectiveness of the program. 

GUTF participants represent a diverse cross-section of the national teen population and are particularly in need of our services. In a survey taken when teens join the program, 81% report suffering from anxiety, 77% from depression, 72% from isolation, 62% from suicidal thoughts, 34% from eating disorder and 24% from sexual abuse. 73% reported that they are not sure or sure they couldn’t have gotten the help from somewhere else.

Out of the thousands of SGC members that are active on GUTF’s group chats, 82% identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community and/or questioning. Additionally, 24% of GUTF members report that they are actively experiencing sexual orientation challenges and 41% are experiencing identity difficulties (sexual, gender, and cultural). Our participants are racially and ethnically diverse: 7% Asian, 21% Black/African, 2% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 22% Hispanic/Latinx, 6% Indigenous, 2% Middle Eastern and 55% White/Caucasian. Their families tend to be lower income, with 43% belonging to the Lower Middle Class and 55% to the Middle Class.

Teen participants are monitored and consulted every step of the way during their tenure on SGCs. We deploy surveys at various intervals of participation in the program. Group facilitators and adult advisors individually monitor participants’ evolution throughout their engagement with the program, changing course when necessary and gathering data that will influence future iterations of the program.

The SGCs have proven to be a solution in combating loneliness, stress, depression and other mental health impacts of disease outbreak among youth. This model has the potential to be scaled and replicated to support different age groups and across the world.

GUTF has been running the SGC program for 3 years serving teens in distress and has proven its effectiveness at fighting social isolation, stress, depression and other mental health struggles. As GUTF wraps up a technology systems upgrade and app development project, we are now well-positioned to expand our constituent base and increase the depth of support we provide.

Understanding that teens are uniquely able to help each other deal with distress and reduce stigma and using an online solution to create a teen-only community that provides constant contact is an innovative approach. SGCs enable participants to help others and be helped, which has been proven to enhance feelings of fulfillment. Data collected from SGC participants have shown that teens can be trusted and can be empowered to make a difference in their peer’s lives. SGCs also disproves the common belief that screen time is bad. When designed intentionally, online social spaces, such as SGCs, can be used for good and have a positive impact on mental health.

GUTF served 2,284 teens in 2020. We are currently serving 1,508 of them and plan to serve 10,000 teens by the end of 2022 and a minimum of 50,000 by the end of 2025 in the US only. The vision is to expand our reach internationally and positively impact hundreds of thousands of teens around the globe and millions of adults by 2030.

GUTF deploys surveys to the participants when they join, 1 month after joining, 3 months after, 6 months after, 1 year after and when they leave. Within the next year, we’ll begin to use AI and machine learning to monitor the improvement in wellbeing of the participants. We are also aware that we will need to put a strict process in place to ensure that the privacy of our participants is guaranteed.

3 full time staff
4 regular contractors
5 vendors

GUTF has spent the last 3.5 years building up our organization by hiring talented people who are all singularly dedicated to our mission and setting up efficient workflows that have allowed us to increase our productivity and make major headway towards accomplishing our goals. Our team consists of mental health experts, skilled administrative professionals, a social media maven, an IT professional, a part-time COO, and our founder/CEO, who all meet several times a week to share ideas, problem-solve, and discuss the best way to improve the way we serve teens.

What sets this team apart from others is that each member has said, many times, how much they wished that they had access to GUTF when they were teens. Each member’s recognition of the value of GUTF is rooted in a deep place of understanding of the challenges we know that our teen community experiences. We pride ourselves on our open communication, entrepreneurial spirits, and creativity, and that energy is infused in all that we do. There is great camaraderie to be found within our team.

Diversity and inclusion are woven into GUTF’s DNA and that dedication influences every decision we make as a nonprofit organization. Through targeted outreach, specialized recruitment strategies, and programmatic choices, we make concerted efforts to serve diverse and disadvantaged populations. As a result, participants in SGCs represent a diverse cross-section of the national teen population and are particularly in need of our services. We take the same approach for the team which is diverse as well in terms of representation in gender, sexual orientation, location and ethnicity, and we continue to place great emphasis on ensuring true representation when recruiting new hires, youth advisors, and teen interns. GUTF takes great pride in our values as an organization when it comes to the human rights of all people. 

To 1) Access mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice from experts, as well as the Solve and MIT networks 2) Receive monitoring and evaluation support to build an impact measurement practice 3) Gain exposure 4) Join a powerful network of impact-minded leaders across industries and sectors 5) Receive access to funding 6) Access relevant in-kind resources

GUTF needs to grow competency in specific areas of expertise, especially in AI and machine learning and data sciences which are crucial to our ability to scale and the future impact of the supportive group chats. GUTF also needs to grow in notoriety to raise awareness about its impact and our innovative solution.

The Supportive Group Chats host conversations between teens who talk to each other without restraint, this is an incredible opportunity to increase knowledge about adolescents’ development and behavior. When we expand to different age groups and populations, the data that will be accessible will allow the scientific community to learn about human behavior, mental health, social interactions, and specific issues people are struggling with. Developing the most appropriate technology and design to scale will also be critical.

We would love to be able to partner with 1) MIT AI and machine learning experts to help us create and develop the functionality needed to detect and better help participants in crisis, catch inappropriate and offensive content and behavior and prevent participants from sharing personal information plus any application we haven’t thought of yet 2) MIT statistics and data science experts to help us analyze the data we will have access to and 3) MIT medical mental health experts to help us improve the program to better support our participants

Participants of the Supportive Group Chats build a community that helps to alleviate the mental health and social issues that plague our nation’s young people. SGCs are an accessible solution for teens experiencing loneliness and distress and provide an innovative online support system. Participants represent a diverse cross-section of the national teen population and are particularly in need of our services. In a survey taken when teens join the program, 81% report suffering from anxiety, 77% from depression, 72% from isolation, 62% from suicidal thoughts, 34% from eating disorder and 24% from sexual abuse.

According to self-reported survey data, after participating for just one month, 85% of the participants report having been helped with their struggles and 79% feel less lonely. After three months, 81% feel better about themselves, 73% reported that they are not sure or sure they couldn’t have gotten the help from somewhere else, thus significantly improving the well being of the served population. More information can be found in our 2020 Impact Report: https://giveusthefloor.org/imp... /

With a prize from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, GUTF would be able to hire data scientist experts, analyze the data collected through the version 1.0 of the app to understand how to more effectively improve the well-being of SGCs participants.

Participants of the Supportive Group Chats build a community that helps to alleviate the mental health and social issues that plague our nation’s girls. SGCs are an accessible solution for girl teens experiencing loneliness and distress and provide an innovative online support system. 72.1% of participants identify as female, 8.8% as non-binary, 3.3% gender variant. They are particularly in need of our services. In a survey taken when teens join the program, 81% report suffering from anxiety, 77% from depression, 72% from isolation, 62% from suicidal thoughts, 34% from eating disorder and 24% from sexual abuse.  

According to self-reported survey data, after participating for just one month, 85% of the participants report having been helped with their struggles and 79% feel less lonely. After three months, 81% feel better about themselves, 73% reported that they are not sure or sure they couldn’t have gotten the help from somewhere else. More information can be found in our 2020 Impact Report: https://giveusthefloor.org/impact-report-2020 /

With an award from the Innovation for Women Prize, GUTF would be able to hire AI and machine learning experts to analyze how AI and machine learning could be integrated into the app to more effectively improve the well-being of teen girls on the SGC platform.

Participants of the Supportive Group Chats build a community that helps to alleviate the mental health and social issues that plague our nation’s young people. SGCs are an accessible solution for teens experiencing loneliness and distress and provide an innovative online support system. Participants represent a diverse cross-section of the national teen population and are particularly in need of our services. In a survey taken when teens join the program, 81% report suffering from anxiety, 77% from depression, 72% from isolation, 62% from suicidal thoughts, 34% from eating disorder and 24% from sexual abuse.

According to self-reported survey data, after participating for just one month, 85% of the participants report having been helped with their struggles and 79% feel less lonely. After three months, 81% feel better about themselves, 73% reported that they are not sure or sure they couldn’t have gotten the help from somewhere else, thus significantly improving the well being of the served population. More information can be found in our 2020 Impact Report: https://giveusthefloor.org/imp... /

With an award from the AI for Humanity Prize, GUTF would be able to hire data scientist experts, analyze the data collected through the version 1.0 of the app to understand how to more effectively improve the well-being of SGCs participants.