Why Teen-Led Mental Health Advocacy is Changing the Game

This is for the teen who sat quietly in class, wondering if anyone else felt like crying in the bathroom.

For the friend who texts “you good?” when they mean “I love you too much to lose you.”

For the young soul who once thought they were too broken to be brave, and then built something beautiful anyway.

This is Hiya.

At this year’s ICAN Summit in Montréal, Québec, our founder, Alejandra Wells stood before a crowd not just as a teen entrepreneur, but as a truth-teller. Her research wasn’t numbers on a slide; it was a mirror held up to a generation saying, “We need help. But we also want to help each other.”

The Heart of Her Study
We found that nearly 2 out of 3 teens feel safer opening up to peers than to professionals. Not because therapists aren’t doing sacred work, but because sometimes healing starts in the language of “same here.” In the silence between songs. In a handmade bracelet. In the real talk that happens when no one’s grading your pain.

This isn’t just research. This is revolution — teen-led, empathy-fueled, and unapologetically bold.

Hiya: Where Color Meets Courage
Born from Alejandra’s own battle with depression, Hiya began in beads and tears. It grew into a platform, a blog, a bracelet line, a movement that whispers “You matter” in every color of the spectrum. It’s a space where prom stress and panic attacks can sit side-by-side with affirmations and playlists.

Because mental health doesn’t look one way — and neither does healing.

Check On Your People
One of Hiya’s proudest campaigns, “Check on Your People,” didn’t start in a boardroom. It started in bedrooms, in group chats, in the aching hearts of teens who knew what it meant to almost not make it.

It’s not about fixing anyone. It’s about not letting go.

Why It Matters
We live in a world where 1 in 5 teens struggle with mental health, but over 60% can’t access the care they need. Alejandra’s research didn’t just identify a gap. It built a bridge.

That bridge looks like teen talks. Like digital magazines written by youth, for youth. Like partnerships with schools and senators and big-hearted organizations that get it.

And This Is Just the Beginning
Hiya is launching a Teen Ambassador Program. A Youth Advisory Board. A movement that says: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

We’re not afraid to speak. We’re not too young to lead. We are loud, soft, messy, brilliant, AND we are enough.

So if you’ve ever wondered if your voice matters, know this:

It does. It always has.

And at Hiya, we’re listening.

✨ With love and fierce hope, 

The Hiya Team