#ThroughTheNight

Background

There had been a sharp increase in the number of calls made by teens to the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) helpline between 12am and 3 am. But, with a shortage of volunteers manning the lines during this time, SOS needed support to help these teens get through their dark times.

Idea

#ThroughTheNight was an Instagram-led campaign that reached out to troubled youth between midnight and 3am. While the country wound down for the night, the platform of hope stayed open, giving young people a virtual space in which to find illustrations, quotes, songs and even personal stories contributed by others.

Making them feel that they are not alone, even in the darkest hours.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, Samaritans of Singapore launched a hashtag that was filled with inspiring content from influencers, artists and musicians. Within 24 hours, hundreds of sympathisers joined the cause by sharing their own content and stories.

Results

Throughout Suicide Prevention Week, the number of contributions rose and hundreds of messages of gratitude and encouragement were left in response to the posts. As well as art and poems, stories and music, comic strips and messages of encouragement, an ice-cream parlour created a new flavour called ‘Hope’ and stayed open through the dark hours.

Our Thoughts

There are two insights to this work. The first is how very alone suicidal people feel and that feeling is likely to be strongest in the small hours of the night. The second is, they usually plan to take their own lives. It is rarely spur of the moment.

By asking people to post their messages of support between midnight and 3am, and that’s the brilliant part of this, desperate youngsters simply couldn’t feel so isolated and would, at the very least, pause to think about the effect their plans might have on other people.