Across the world, people are opening a website and finding words that feel as if they were written just for them, offering warmth, understanding and a reason to keep going. This is what the internet was made for.
Global (28 January 2026) – Ben West didn’t set out to chase numbers or build something that would go viral. He set out to honour his brother and to create a place that could reach someone at the exact moment they needed to feel less alone.
Just a week after launch, that intention has turned into something extraordinary, with a simple idea now touching hearts across the globe, including right here in South Africa.
Eight years ago, Ben lost his brother Sam, who took his own life. That loss never really leaves you, but it can take on different shapes. For Ben, it became a determined effort to build something meaningful, something that could offer comfort in moments that feel unbearable. The result is “Reasons to Stay”, a suicide prevention project built on one of the most human gestures we have: writing to another person because you care.
When you visit the site, you don’t sign up, you don’t explain yourself and you don’t need to have the right words. You are simply given a letter, written by a stranger, chosen at random. Every letter was written by a real person, somewhere in the world, who sat down and decided to offer warmth, hope and connection to someone they will never meet. Every letter is carefully moderated by a team of volunteer clinical professionals to ensure it is safe for people experiencing suicidal distress. The space exists as a reminder that even in our darkest moments, we are not as alone as we think.
@iambenwestThis is me, and this is what I do ❤️❤️♬ original sound – Ben West
In just seven days, more than 10,000 letters have been written by strangers from over 100 countries, and those letters have already been read by more than 160,000 people. Among them are messages like this one, written from a place of survival and hard-won perspective:
@iambenwestAn update 💙♬ original sound – Ben West
I sat down with Ben to talk about the initiative and the response has been overwhelming, even for someone who spent two years building it before launch.
“I’ve been working on this website for around two years now. I’ve known for a while that it was something that was needed,” he shared.
“When we talk about mental health or suicide, there’s a tendency to talk about the responsibility of others. We talk about the government not investing enough or healthcare not being good enough. Both of those things are largely true around the world, but the conversation about mental health becomes very negative. And if you’re trying to give people hope that things will get better, on some level, this is a little counterproductive! Necessary conversations, but only when balanced with some positivity. That’s where Reasons to Stay came from, it is a uniquely positive project where everyday people can feel like they’re playing a positive role in suicide prevention.”
Reading through the letters before they reach the moderation team has given Ben a window into what people truly value when everything else falls away.
“What I’ve found so interesting is reading through the letter submissions before they go to my team of clinical professionals to be moderated and checked. You start to get a picture of what people truly value in life,” he explained.
“In over 10,000 letters we’ve received so far, material items are never mentioned; they don’t talk about what car you drive or where you live. No one has said anything about being proud of how much you make or your job title. Almost exclusively, they talk about valuing yourself and the importance of the loved ones around you. When it comes down to it, and strangers are pressed to give people a reason to stay, it turns out that what matters most is loving what makes you unique and being around your family and friends. A profound reminder for us all.”
At the heart of the platform is Sam, and the work he never got the chance to finish himself.
“Out of the two of us, Sam was the first to be a mental health campaigner. He badly wanted for people to be more aware and educated on mental health, and he desperately wanted support to improve. If Sam had survived, I’d have no doubt that he would be writing the words you’re reading now, he would be doing the work I’m doing, and I would be the proud older brother. Sadly, Sam never got the opportunity to get better and do these things. But I feel a very strong sense of responsibility to continue the work he started and do my absolute best to make a change so that other people do have that opportunity to get better.”
Although the platform is based in the UK, its reach has been unmistakably global, and Ben is clear that this is not about borders or geography.
“No matter who we are or where we come from, we all have highs and we all have lows,” he said. “This is not a platform for British people to help British people, it is a website for humans to help humans. We all have the same basic needs, and although we may speak different languages or come from different cultures, we are the same far more than we are different.”
Messages arriving from all corners of the world have reinforced that belief.
“Since launch, we’ve received over 10,000 letters written by people from over 100 countries. Each are strangers providing enormous empathy and support to other strangers. It’s so easy to think of the world as a neatly divided grid of different people from different areas. But that sells us so short of what we really are, a group of human beings all born into life at random, trying our best to work out how to do it. When you read a letter on the site, anyone in the world could have written that to you. What a beautiful thing that is.”
For anyone in South Africa, or anywhere else, who feels moved to write a letter but isn’t sure where to start, Ben’s advice is gentle and grounded.
“If you’d like to write a letter to a stranger, that is a wonderful thing to want to do,” he said.
“What I’d say is don’t overthink it. When we study suicide prevention and what works at supporting someone through those moments of distress, telling them what to do or giving advice actually isn’t particularly useful. Neither is being dismissive or trying to persuade them to stay. What people value in those moments is acceptance, genuineness, empathy and connection. Those are very hard things to get across in a letter, but it is possible. Look at some of the letters already on the site for inspiration, and remember that anything you do write goes to our clinical moderation team before being delivered, so it doesn’t have to be perfect.”
And if you’re in need of some love and kindness during a difficult time, visit the website.
What “Reasons to Stay” offers is not answers or fixes, but presence. It meets people in the middle of their hardest moments and reminds them that someone, somewhere, has felt this too and chose to reach out. That small act of connection can be enough to slow the spiral and help someone breathe.
And maybe, just maybe, a letter from a complete stranger gives someone a reason to stay.
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