PLEASE LIVE SEEKS TO:

1. Reach out to students by giving them information on depression, suicide, and related mental health topics; teach hurting students that it is okay to seek help and where to find it; and educate the student body and youth staff on how to respond to suicide threats.

2. Empower other students to look for and be aware of suicide warning signs.

3. Encourage parents to ask difficult questions and look for red flags in their teen’s actions.

4. Change the stigma surrounding mental health.

The purpose and mission of Please Live shall be to promote help, welfare, and healing of at-risk teenage and college age students by providing educational and referral services to students, parents, and community members regarding depression, self-injury, and similar mental health issues which may lead to suicide and other unproductive life outcomes.

Please Live started with a caring teenager who saw a need in the world and decided to address it. During the 2009-2010 school year, Alexa Moody, a 19-year-old volunteer youth leader at Christian Life Assembly in Camp Hill PA, noticed a rise in teen suicides in the Central PA region. Just minutes outside of Pennsylvania’s capital, Alexa heard of five teen suicides within the course of five months. She was heartbroken. Although she did not personally know any of the teens, her heart was torn for the friends and families left behind (known as suicide survivors). It was from this hurt that Alexa heard God’s voice telling her to do something about it.

So, armed with a broken heart and a message from God, Alexa started Please Live in May 2010. Over the course of a few months, Please Live has garnered the support of many different organizations, including Holy Spirit Teenline, the Bloomsburg chapter of To Write Love On Her Arms, and Safe Harbor Christian Counseling. Please Live has also received encouragement from other local businesses such as Servants Heart Gifts and Books and Davo Productions, as well as national organizations such as People Against Youth Death.

In spite of being a teenager with no training on how to run an organization; in spite of being a college student and having extremely limited funds; and despite the trend of ignoring mental health problems, Please Live has blossomed into a program that schools and youth groups are eager to get their
hands on.

Imagine you are at a college fair in a high school gym. Around the room stand many different tables decorated with eye-catching displays to represent colleges across the nation. Each table has one or two representatives to talk to you about that college and answer your questions. They have pamphlets and informational cards to hand out. Some have hoodies and other merchandise that you can buy.

Now replace “college” with “human service agency”. This is what a Please Live event looks like. Consider it a Mental Health Fair- where students can wander into a room and see dozens of tables with agencies that are there to help them. Many of these tables will have actual counselors there to talk with the students one-on-one and answer their questions or make referrals. Such agencies can relate to anything as long as it is relevant to teenagers today: suicide, depression, self injury, addiction, child abuse, teen pregnancy, domestic violence, self esteem, dating/relationships, bullying, drinking & driving, etc.

Please Live also believes in being flexible. Sometimes holding a mental health fair isn’t the best tactic to use in your particular situation. We can pretty much bend to any size audience, any age group, and any time limit that we are given.

We’ve also done assemblies with set lineups that featured a lecture-style education on depression, self harm, and suicide; drama skits performed by CLA’s drama club 2Miles; guest speakers – teens who have attempted suicide as well as parents who have lost a child to suicide; video presentations and more. If you want Please Live to come to you, we will work with you to make it as powerful as possible.

> Want Please Live to host an event where you are?
Contact us at support@pleaselive.org!

Due to limited funds, at the moment we will only travel to locations within Cumberland, Adams, York, Dauphin, Perry, and Lancaster counties to hold Please Live events. However, we hope this will change in the near future! In fact, we hope to someday open Please Live chapters all over the United States. But for right now, we are limited to the previously mentioned counties.

As for what type of place we will go to, schools and youth groups tend to be our specialty. This can be middle school, high school, or college aged students. However, if requested, we can bend our program to just about any age group (including parents and adults) and we will use whatever venue we are invited into (a park, a firehouse, a barn, etc.)

Absolutely free. Yes, that’s right, free. We don’t believe that money should ever be an excuse to deny mental health awareness to every school and community. We don’t believe money should ever get in the way of reaching out to a hurting youth. This is possible through the donations and support of local businesses, volunteer vendors, and ordinary people doing simple things to help us out. One thing will always remain constant for Please Live: we will enter your school/youth group/other venue at absolutely no cost to you.

Yes and No. Please Live’s number one purpose is to reach out to the hurting. We believe that EVERYONE- regardless of age, race, gender, orientation, or belief system – has a purpose in life, and EVERYONE deserves to live a happy and healthy existence. We are not here to tell you that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. We are here to love you, to accept you, and to walk with you on the road to recovery.

We believe in something called the Multi-Dimensional framework. This is a concept that states that as humans, we are made up of four dimensions: Biophysical (body, health), Psychological (mental, emotional), Social (relationships, environment) and Spiritual (faith, inspirations, dreams).We believe that all four dimensions need to be addressed to truly feel happy and healthy. When addressing the spiritual dimension, we use a Christ-centered approach that encourages open minds and healthy exploration of scripture. However this is definitely not the purpose of Please Live.

As of January 2, 2013, Please Live has officially sent in the paperwork to be an incorporated nonprofit organization in Pennsylvania. We are still waiting on receiving our final IRS approval letter, but we expect to receive it within 3-6 months.

Once approved, Please Live will be considered incorporated since Jan 2. So any donations given during the 2013 year, regardless of the time frame of getting our approval letter, are still tax-deductible.

Feel free to contact Alexa Moody at support@pleaselive.org!