Snap Inc. today launched its in-app mental health portal, ‘Here for You’, in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with the UAE Digital Wellbeing Council to enhance the digital wellbeing of individuals and communities in general.
‘Here for You” is a platform that provides proactive support to Snapchatters who may be experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis, or who may be curious to learn more about these issues and how they can help friends who are dealing with them.
Amal Al Blooshi, Director of UAE Digital Wellbeing at the Ministry of Community Development, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with Snap Inc. to launch ‘Here for You’ in the UAE, a technical precedent step that promotes the wellbeing of the community members in virtual space and positive digital wellbeing behaviour. The step comes in line with our goals of enhancing digital wellbeing among individuals and the community and encouraging the purposeful use of technology. Through this partnership, we are bringing a resourceful tool that helps Snapchatters in pinpointing some mental health issues they might be facing and consequently addressing them to lead positive lives.”
Amal Al Blooshi added that the launch partnership of the Here For You portal will focus on three episodes provided by the UAE Digital Wellbeing Council covering topics on promoting the values of positive digital citizen, resources on online privacy and bullying prevention.
Jake Thomas, Head of UAE Market at Snap Inc., said: “We’re honored to be partnering with the UAE Digital Wellbeing Council. Snapchatters appreciate our commitment to privacy and how it allows people to be themselves, without the pressure of being judged by others. ‘Here For You’ was designed to empower our community with resources to help themselves, as well as friends and loved ones. Given that Snapchat reaches over 60% of 13-24-year-olds, and one in three 18-34-year-olds in the UAE, we believe that the most impactful way we can provide support and education for young people is in-app.”
Starting today, ‘Here for You’ will promote UAE Digital Wellbeing Council resources to Snapchatters when they search common mental health terms like anxiety, depression, and stress on Snapchat, and are designed to be easily shared with close friends and family to help support one another through the highs and lows.
From our earliest days, Snapchat was designed in a way to empower Snapchatters to express themselves authentically. That’s why we built the platform without public vanity metrics such as public comments and friend counts, and without an unmoderated newsfeed. We have always been inspired by the power that real friendships have in determining health and happiness — and this is particularly true among young people. As a platform made for close friends, we believe Snapchat has a unique opportunity to make a difference and have built a suite of in-app resources and features to support our community.
Snapchatters can access Here For You by following these steps:
● Open the latest version of the Snapchat mobile app
● Unless you’re a new user who has to first sign up, you should see the Camera.
● Look for the Search button (magnifying glass icon) up top and tap it.
● Now, start typing in the Search field. Type “Here For You” to find the feature and subscribe, or type words related to mental health crises and Here For You will be surfaced.
