About Lighten:
Free Mental Health Support for Youth

Lighten.im is a free online platform that provides immediate emotional support and mental health guidance through one-time interactions. It's designed specifically for teenagers and young adults aged 13-25 who need a safe, anonymous space to express their feelings about anxiety, depression, stress, or other emotional challenges and receive supportive, compassionate guidance.

It's simple and accessible: you type your thoughts, feelings, or mental health concerns into the message box on our homepage, then click "Share" to receive a supportive, personalized response. Our AI technology is specifically trained to address youth mental health challenges with empathy and understanding. Unlike ongoing chat services, each interaction is a one-time exchange focused on immediate emotional support, though you can use the service again whenever you need mental health guidance.

Yes, Lighten's mental health support platform is completely free to use for all teenagers and young adults. There are no hidden fees, subscriptions, or premium tiers. We believe emotional support and mental health resources should be accessible to all youth regardless of financial circumstances, especially during the critical developmental years from 13-25.

Your privacy is extremely important when sharing mental health concerns. We don't collect personally identifying information like your name, email, or phone number. While we do use your IP address to determine your country location (to provide relevant local youth mental health resources), we don't store the IP address itself. All messages about emotional challenges are stored anonymously to improve our service. This confidentiality is crucial for teens and young adults seeking support. You can read our complete Privacy Policy for details.

Lighten was created by a small team passionate about improving teen mental health support and making emotional guidance more accessible to young people aged 13-25. The platform combines expertise in adolescent psychology, youth development, and ethical AI to provide supportive responses that address common mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, and stress in ways that are both helpful and responsible for developing minds.

Absolutely! While each mental health interaction is a one-time exchange (not an ongoing conversation), teens and young adults can use Lighten whenever they need emotional support. There's no limit to how many times you can use the service for different mental health concerns. However, to prevent system overload, we do limit each user to send a maximum of 4 messages every 20 minutes. This helps keep our youth mental health support service available and responsive for everyone.

Lighten provides compassionate, non-judgmental responses specifically designed for youth mental health challenges. Our system acknowledges your feelings about anxiety, depression, stress, or other emotional difficulties, offers age-appropriate perspective, and sometimes suggests helpful mental health resources for teenagers. Responses are crafted to provide emotional relief and supportive guidance rather than clinical advice. When appropriate, we'll also suggest relevant local mental health resources for young people based on your country.

No, Lighten is not a replacement for professional youth mental health services or therapy. While we provide emotional support that can be valuable on its own or as a complement to professional care, we always encourage teens and young adults to seek help from qualified mental health professionals for ongoing or serious concerns like clinical depression, severe anxiety, or thoughts of self-harm. If you're in crisis, please contact a youth crisis helpline or emergency services immediately. Lighten works best as an initial support resource or complement to professional mental health care.