Project UROK stands for two things: You’re OK and You Rock.
Although Jenny Jaffe founded the nonprofit organization in 2014, it has already attracted a lot of public and media attention thanks to its incredibly empowering videos aimed at helping teenagers cope with mental illness. Using humor, personal stories, and different sketches to illustrate the struggles adolescents or anyone dealing with mental illness go through, the videos serve as reminders and encouragement to get help and keep going.
Project UROK has four major goals:
- De-stigmatize mental illness
- Combat isolation
- Create an online community
- Reduce teen suicide.
According to the site, “46.3% of 13-18 year olds have a diagnosable mental illness (NIMH). 1 in 12 teenagers will attempt suicide, and 1 in 6 will seriously consider it.” Therefore, the overall goal of Project UROK is to help minimize these statistics by creating a supportive community of people with shared experiences.
Here’s a video from Mara Wilson – the actress is most famous for her role in Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire.
People who have previously struggled with mental illness and have been able to deal with it make the videos. In this sense, they help create a sense of belonging for people that are just finding the platform and are looking to connect with likeminded individuals. Everyone has the option of creating their own videos and sharing them with the community.
And if you’d like, we encourage you to make your own video for Project UROK!
Like what you just read? Get new posts delivered to your inbox:
Talkspace articles are written by experienced mental health-wellness contributors; they are grounded in scientific research and evidence-based practices. Articles are extensively reviewed by our team of clinical experts (therapists and psychiatrists of various specialties) to ensure content is accurate and on par with current industry standards.
Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.
Articles contain trusted third-party sources that are either directly linked to in the text or listed at the bottom to take readers directly to the source.
