In January of 2020, LivingWorks and the California Department of Education (CDE) signed an agreement that would see 66,000 students, staff and teachers receive LivingWorks’ new 90-minute online Start training. For many organizations, that agreement would be the final step in the customer relationship. Not so for LivingWorks. From the moment we began working with the CDE, we knew that the agreement wouldn’t be enough. We had a responsibility to make sure that each and every one of those licenses gets used so that those 66,000 people have the opportunity to save a life.
The wheels began to turn, with our team imagining ways to engage middle- and high-school students and to get them excited about taking a suicide prevention training program – a tall order! We thought about what tweens and teens like, and of course, music was at the top of the list. We conceived the idea of a concert-like experience with the high-energy sound and lighting that goes along with it. Top performing artists. Inspiring motivational speakers. Kids relating to other kids. The LivingWorks Youth Summit was born. We would bring thousands of students together in an arena setting to participate in an afternoon-long event that would inspire and engage them to support a friend or family member who is thinking about suicide.
Then COVID happened.
So, nimble as always, LivingWorks switched gears and re-envisioned the event for a virtual platform. Same dynamic speakers, same exciting performers, only now, the Summit could be available to any of the 1.7 million middle- and high-school students in California!
On September 15, 2020, we will hold the first-ever LivingWorks Youth Summit.The online event will livestream from 1-2 p.m. PST, and will be available via YouTube following the livestream.
Acts will be announced on a weekly basis, so stay tuned to the Youth Summit website at www.LWYouthSummit.com, and to LivingWorks social media channels to find out who’s participating. We’ve got some amazing talent lined up!
Until then, if you’d like to learn more about the partnership between LivingWorks, CDE and the San Diego County of Education, check out the news release, or watch the news conference. If you’d like to sponsor the event, and to make Start accessible to even more youth, visit the sponsorship page or reach us at 1-888-733-5484.