History

Unite 4 Life was founded in December, 2006 as a response to two youth suicides that occurred at Livermore High School in Livermore, California. The program was created through a collaboration of youth organizations, community volunteers, and mental health professionals as well as input from our local police. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

The community of Livermore was shaken in March of 2006 when a freshman from Livermore High took his own life. Those tremors were felt even deeper in October when a second student from the high school died by suicide. The overwhelming response from all those involved in the aftermath of these tragedies was this: The community was full of hurting teenagers. Fortunately, the community was also full of caring adults who wanted to help. The problem was that there was nothing to bridge the gap between these hurting teens and the adults who could help them.

Several concerned members of the community came together to form Unite 4 Life with the vision of bridging that gap.After extensive research of prevention programs and models from all over the country, a comprehensive depression awareness and suicide prevention program was created that is designed to be implemented both in the community and on school campuses (see Our Programs).

The pilot program was first launched at Livermore High School in January of 2007. The response was amazing. We received nothing but positive feedback from administrators, teachers, parents, and students. At this point, we knew we were meeting a need that was much larger than just one high school in one community. Our vision is to see Unite 4 Life implemented in as many communities and schools as possible across the county to help hurting students.

We began by sharing our program with officials at the local, the county, and the state level. We have received the backing and endorsement of all those we have shared the program with (see Endorsements). In September of 2007, the Livermore Valley Unified School District gave us their full approval to approach every school in their district. A few weeks later, we were also invited into schools in Pleasanton and Dublin as those communities began to be impacted by youth suicide.

Unite 4 Life currently has one full-time employee. Beyond that, we are an organization and a program that is completely driven by volunteers. We have seen members of the community from all races and backgrounds step forward to be a part of helping: stay-at-home moms, retired adults, business owners, college students, and so many more (see 4Volunteers to find out more about getting involved).

In our first full school year, we have already experienced so many amazing results. During the 2007-2008 school year, we implemented our program in 14 schools from four communities in the Tri-Valley area speaking to over 15,000 teenagers, 500 school faculty members, and 400 parents.

We have seen the atmospheres of school campuses changed as students and faculty are reaching out to hurting teens. We have connected with hurting teenagers and plugged them into the resources they need. We have spoken to tearful parents who have thanked us for helping their children. It is impossible to measure how many lives have been saved, but we know that we have worked with several suicidal students who are still alive today.

With all that, we know that we have only just begun. There is a lot more work to do. As long as there are communities with hurting students, we will continue to move forward. Unite 4 Life has taken its first step of expansion. We have established a headquarters in Vancouver, WA. From this base we will reach out to the schools and communities of Clark County and the surrounding areas. We will also use this as our national headquarters as we fulfill our vision of helping hurting students across the country.