Meet 'Nate' and Remember 988

A teen is scrolling at 1 a.m., feeling overwhelmed, and the difference between spiraling and reaching out can come down to one thing: remembering a simple, trustworthy option. That’s why we’re introducing “Nate” (spelled N88), the new youth-focused awareness campaign to promote the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.     

Stephanie and Scott are joined by OSPF Youth Advisory Council members Kelsey Shreve and Colson Smith, two of the creators behind the campaign. They walk us through what teens tune out, what they notice, and why older-style suicide prevention messaging can feel too harsh or too vague to land. We talk about attention span, short social posts, and the power of a recognizable character. Kelsey shares how N88's design came together and how color, expression, and even a mustache can make a crisis resource feel less intimidating.

The new slogan says it plainly: it’s never too late to call, text, or chat 988.   You’ll hear the campaign ad and the pride that comes with seeing student-created prevention work reach real communities.

Subscribe for more real talk on suicide prevention, share this with a trusted adult, and leave a review so more listeners can find 988 when it matters most.

Transcript

Welcome And Campaign Overview

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Welcome everyone to this episode of Voices for Suicide Prevention. As we like to say, our conversations are real talk, real honest, real life. I'm Scott Light.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

And I'm Stephanie Booker. The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation has launched a new youth-focused awareness campaign. It's aimed at helping young people better understand and access the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This campaign introduces Nate. His name is pronounced Nate, but it's spelled N88. And it was developed by OSPF's Youth Advisory Council. And we're pleased to welcome two members of that council, Kelsey Shreve and Colson Smith. Hey guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Hi. Hi.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

So before we talk about this campaign and all of your artistic talents here, and of course your passion for mental health and for suicide prevention, um, we'd love to kind of start off

Meet Kelsey And Colson

SPEAKER_03 1:00

where you're letting our listeners know more about you. Um, what you do, what makes you tick. I I we heard that uh before we started recording that you both are in bands. Um Kelsey, you're in, let's say, you're in the color guard in high school, and then you play bass in a band.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

Yes, I do. Tell us more about you. I'm a senior at Nelson Mill York High School. Um I'm in the color guard uh in our marching band. Uh, but yeah, I play bass for uh like a local opera house called Stewart's Opera House. They have an after school music program and they like let kids make bands and we get to perform like twice a year, and we get to book like other gigs around the year, so it's nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

And Colson, how about you? Tell us a little bit about yourself and what drew you to the youth advisory council.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Yeah, so I'm Colson. I'm a senior at Upper Arlington High School. Um originally my mom, she's a psychiatrist, so she's on the Ohio Mental Health Board. Uh, so she found the details in her email and sent it to me because I was interested in the stuff beforehand. And then I applied and I got on the uh youth advisory council for 988.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Nice. And Kelsey, what drew you? How did you find out about the Youth Advisory Council?

SPEAKER_04 2:15

Yeah, uh, so my high school, I think it was around my freshman year, we started our Sources of Strength uh program. And Evie, uh who's like our supervisor, uh, was actually the one that did our like training and retreat for that year. And she reached out to my school and my advisor for our sources group, and I applied and I got in. So nice.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

And of course, we're referring to Evie Roberts, who's on staff here at OSPF, and she does all the wonderful things related to youth, including the youth advisory council. And we're sorry that she wasn't able to join us today. She was not feeling up to speaking.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

I'm not feeling up to speed. I know.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

No, no. One of the first things that Evie was asking you all to do or think about was kind of like, how do we reach

Reaching Youth Where They Scroll

SPEAKER_02 3:05

youth when it comes to 988, which is the suicide and crisis lifeline? So when you started mapping that out during that particular meeting, I mean, what what kind of things were you all talking about?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Just focusing on reaching youth at a level they can understand. Um, like in this day and age where uh youth are on social media more and more, uh, we thought that social media would be a good platform to reach it. And then seeing the success of other marketing campaigns, such as like Duolingo, we thought a nice cute figurehead would be a good idea for the Nate campaign. So um that's sort of how we came up with Nate um and the idea to reach youth in this way.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Kind of split up in groups that day, and we all kind of like uh brainstormed, but we all like kid like came together with this same like social media cartoon kind of like um figurehead, and we just decided that that's what we wanted to go with. We were thinking about like merch, posters, and then it developed into an ad campaign, and it was really it was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Yeah. And that whole process when you when you were dividing into the groups during that in-person meeting, um, what were some of the conversations that you what maybe stuck in your mind about about that when you were talking about what it takes to to reach um your peers?

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Um sort of just our experiences like in school, um seeing how uh like school marketing, school marketed stunts um around like suicide prevention don't seem to reach our fellow peers. Um and seeing how like just how that social media outlook is the best way to reach us, you know, as we're youth and we understand that mindset that our fellow peers have.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

Sometimes when you see like suicide prevention um campaigns, they're sometimes very like oblique, they're very like harsh. And I feel like they're not able to relate to youth very well. And you're just kind of like, oh, that's really scary. But if you make it scary, it's harder to talk about. But if you make it more inviting and easier to understand, I feel like younger people will be able to relate a lot better and be able to connect and open up about their feelings.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

I'm curious, uh did did the um when you're talking about a social campaign, uh, did did a time element come up in this sense in that, you know, hey, the videos uh, you know, need to be shorter than 15 seconds or need to be 15 to 30 seconds. Like what's the attention span for you and your peers when it comes to a campaign like this?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Uh yeah, that definitely came up in social media posts, like making sure that uh posts aren't like more than five slides long if it's a multi-thing um and just keeping it short and precise because um people will lose attention really quickly if uh it doesn't like get straight to the point. So we definitely made brevity uh

Creating Nate The N88 Character

SPEAKER_00 6:10

focus in that sense.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Well, Kelsey, actually, you were the artist um who kind of drew that original concept of Nate. Tell us a little bit about the character, maybe how it evolved and and and the inspiration behind it.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

Yeah, so I think we talked about what kind of imagery would draw uh youth like to like teenagers to like, you know, think about 988 a lot better. Um, and one thing that just kept coming up was a clock, but we didn't want to do like uh an analog clock. We wanted to do like something very like, I don't know, like an older kind of looking clock. Kind of a throwback a little bit. Um, just to like have a little bit of style with it. And we all like drew like uh what we thought about it, and I just ended up like, I know we talked about having a mustache on Nate, uh bigger eyes on Nate, and so we all just kind of like drew a little picture of what we all wanted, and I took like everybody's ideas and tried to like make this one uniform, cute character, and that's how Nate was born.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Okay. So if you had to describe him for someone who has never seen him, he's kind of like a an old-time alarm clock, kind of the wind up kind of uh he doesn't have the little bells on the top that that used to like ring. I'm sorry, I'm very old school, Kelsey and Colson. You'll know this. I used to have one of these.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

So he actually originally did have the alarm, like the book on top of his head. Okay. Um, but it just kind of looked a little clunky. So we just like stripped him back and made him a little bit more uh simplistic. Uh but yeah, he's an older clock. Uh he has like an open face, and his hands are usually pointed at the numbers nine and eight. And he has a cute little mustache and he's got very kind eyes, I think. Like small eyes. Um, and he his like colors of his actual clock are uh purple and teal for suicide awareness uh colors, and he's always giving a cute little thumbs up.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

I love that. We kind of nerd out sometimes on content and the behind-the-scenes stuff that you know of of how content's created. I'm just curious. You you took um the feedback, as you mentioned, from others, and then you created this. Did you do that in 20 minutes, or did it take like a week to refine and and you know, just work on those kind eyes and other things? I'm just I'm just curious about your process, Kelsey.

SPEAKER_04 8:45

Um, no, it actually took probably five minutes. It was like near the end of our meeting. Um, and that was our last uh thing that we were talking about that day was what we wanted to create. And last five minutes, we're rushing out the door. Um I they gave us these little sketch or like these little notebooks, and I had a pencil and I just started sketching it. And the end result was what it was. I just kind of left it. Um, I know that we did make uh the second time we met this year, uh, we did make some like refinements to it. Uh, and that was it. It was pretty easy.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah. Yeah, during that whole process too. Um, one of the things that if someone saw Nate, he does not have the hands of the clock. No. I'm curious why he doesn't have hands of the clock.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

Um, he doesn't anymore because I think it was kind of interfering with uh the mustache and making the overall like image too complicated. And we needed something very simple, but it was still attention grabbing. And so we just decided to go with uh no hands on the clock.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

I think there was also some thought into how he does not have a hand, like the hands on the face of the clock, to signify that really 988 is available at any time.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

That was definitely an idea brought up uh about removing those hands, how that signifies um the sort of

No Clock Hands And A Bigger Meaning

SPEAKER_00 10:16

distraction from time uh that 988 has, um, where it's available at any time and like any place really.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

And it's never too late.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, that was our sort of slogan we came up with. Yeah, it's never too late to call 988.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

So tell me a little bit behind that message.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Um well, yeah, we wanted to make a slogan like other brands have in their marketing campaigns. Um so we sort of focused on the uh 24-7 availability of 988 and um sort of made something that rhymed. And we came up with it's never too late to call 988, which sort of flows really well, and um, I feel like we'll see a lot of success success with.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

I'm curious when you're in a collaborative setting uh like that, you know, you it's everyone's brainstorming, they're riffing on ideas. What what did you two learn from from that whole process? And again, you're you're helping develop, help to develop a character and a campaign. I'm just curious what were your what were your thoughts from that whole process?

SPEAKER_04 11:19

I really enjoy collaboration with other people. I think sometimes if you're working alone, sometimes you can get one-sided on your own thoughts and how you think it should go. But I think when you actually sit down and you listen to other people and how they think, it gives you a lot of um inspiration for your next projects as well. Um, but I think it gave me a lot of insight to other people's uh how they think and like how they perceive things.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

So yeah, totally agreed. Um the way I usually think is I like pick a path and I go straight down it with my thoughts. But um working with other people helps me view view the other paths that might uh be a little quicker or have better results than the one I'm on, just in that neural pathway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Yeah. So when we're talking about Nate and the message that's never too late to call, text, and obviously you can chat as well online for reaching out to 988 and anyone can do it. I mean, it does not have to, you don't have to be of a certain age. I mean, it's available at at any age.

Writing The Slogan That Sticks

SPEAKER_02 12:25

How important is that kind of message for for youth and the extra layer that it was actually created by youth? So youth creating this campaign for other youth. How important is that?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I think it's like one of the main selling points of 988 because some youth uh might be too scared to go ask uh somebody like their parents or their friends, or they just might not really have anybody they feel like they trust in a situation like this so they can go to a third party who's always available for them, like no matter the time, uh, and just try and get that help that they need. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

Yeah, I think uh we talk about it a lot in sources of strength. Uh, having a mentor or a trusted adult that you can always go to. And sometimes that's really hard for youth to do uh because it it almost feels embarrassing. But having a third party, like Colson said, to just kind of reach out that it doesn't have to be connected to you. You don't have to feel shame or embarrassment. I think that helps a lot. Um, I know that like at my school uh a few years ago, we didn't have any like branding or anything about 988, no, no resources. Um, and it wasn't until we started our sources group that it started coming about. And now our entire school is decorated with 988 everywhere. Wow. It's in our bathrooms, it's on our lockers, like we have it everywhere just to make sure that everybody knows that

Why Youth Made Messaging Works

SPEAKER_04 13:55

they have a place that they can turn to.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

That's amazing. That's that's that's terrific. We are also partnering, speaking of getting the word out, we are also partnering with NBC4 in Columbus to air digital ads across Ohio about Nate. And and those ads are targeted to youth, targeted to parents, targeted to those trusted adults that you both just mentioned. So, Kelsey Colson, what do you hope people take away when they see or hear these ads?

SPEAKER_00 14:23

I guess the takeaway we want is just the knowledge of that resource that's available because um some people might be going through a situation in which 988 might be really helpful for them and they just might not know that it exists or that it's like um certifiable and it's help it can give. So just creating more of an official campaign with the official message, we hope to get that word out and get it in everybody's minds in case the situation ever arises. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

With like social media, it can kind of throw you into like a loophole sometimes. You can be stuck on the same content over and over again. But having a reminder, like even whenever you are going through a hard time, social media can like really help sometimes. I think it can be like almost like an escape from reality. But having that reminder while you're also like scrolling on social media can be really helpful and like kind of give uh another like incentment, like just so you know, like this is out there, like it's always there.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

It really does when you're you're seeing an ad or on social media when it comes to 988 and Nate, um, it does reinforce that that that is available. And if they're seeing it at their schools now as well, and and parents are seeing it, and they know that it's okay to talk about this and and being open about that. So I think that that's great. And I I agree with you, Kelsey, that the more times that we're able to talk about this, the more this breaks those stigmas and that we can all, whether we're 10 or 110, you know, we're talking about mental health. I think that's so important.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

I'm also curious, uh, and just give me a uh give us a broad perspective here. When you tell your peers that, hey, I'm working with OSPF and and we really want to hype 988, out of every 10 of your peers, how many know about 988?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

I'd say a lot of my peers know about 988 by now because um we we have this period in school that's like sort of reserved for meeting with teachers or like special announcements and like a few times a year we use it to advertise things like 988 and like mental health

What Teens Already Know About 988

SPEAKER_00 16:35

awareness. Um, and we also have a dedicated app for the hotline on our iPads now. So um the word is getting out there, but good, it's still sort of in that place where it's um not as marketable to my fellow peers um because of that like bleakness of the uh just like white and black 988 letters on the app logo, stuff like that that gets brought up in school. Okay. That's good to hear though. That's really good to hear.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

I think that most of my peers also are uh like uh custom with 988, just because they are literally like we have magnets that are like small like cell phones and they say 988, and they have like the number, crisis hotline, everything. And um, I it's plastered on every um locker. So anytime you're going to your locker, you see it over and over again, and it's on teachers' windows, it's it's everywhere. And our sources group, we host a football game every year because my school is a really big football team. Um, we have a game every year uh where we have a suicide awareness game and we partner with another school and we just raise awareness the entire night. And I am shouting from the rooftops about 988 and OSPF and everything.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

And I love that. Well, we're gonna continue to um shout from the mountaintops about 988, and I would love for our listeners to

Hearing The NBC4 Nate Ad

SPEAKER_02 18:00

hear the campaign message as well. So let's take a listen to this uh digital ad as we introduce Nate to the new audience.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

Got a problem, got a question, got a feeling you can't explain.

unknown 18:19

Had a rough day, need somebody. Wish things didn't feel this way.

SPEAKER_04 18:27

Nate's got a reminder, everybody ought to know. It's never too late to call text or chat nine eight eight.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Call text or chat nine eighty eight. A real person is ready to listen.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

So that was the Nate campaign spot, and it's reminding young people that nine eighty eight really is there when they need someone to talk to confidentially, and that that that help is available right away, anytime. So that's awesome to see.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

I know, and I'm just curious again from you two, as the cre as two of the creators of this, and then when you hear and see your work on an NBC station here in Columbus, Ohio, or you know, may hear it on uh, you know, uh a podcast or anywhere else,

Pride And Real World Reactions

SPEAKER_03 19:10

how's that make you feel?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

It is nice seeing like the work get out there. Um, I've had some peers of mine like tell me about uh because when we introduced the Nate campaign, uh I helped introduce it at one of the middle schools near my area. So that aired on the channels around my area. Sure. And uh my peers recognized me and they reached out, and it was sort of nice to see that uh people are actually like seeing this and it's getting out there and people like are making those connections to the campaign.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

Yeah, I feel extremely proud of uh the work that we've done. Uh it's it's insane. Like I've told family and friends about it, and they're like, you're joking. And I'm like, no, like I'm serious. And it's just so strange to see something that we all created like be aired and like it's shared all over social media, and I think it's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

And if anyone is looking to share more information

How To Follow And Share Nate

SPEAKER_02 20:05

about Nate, if you go to Be Present Ohio um on Instagram uh and follow, we would love that because we are posting from time to time about Nate, and we would love to um have you amplify that information, if you will, and share it. We're also going to be working on a toolkit um that will have some of the some of the merch and a poster and some of those social media posts. And we would love if you're school, business, whatever organization that you have, and you have a passion to reach out to youth about this message about the the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, um, you know, look for that on again the Be Present Ohio website and you can meet Nate there as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Kelsey and Colson, before we wrap it up officially, we'd love to ask you kind of one final question here. If a young person hears only one thing from this campaign, what do you hope that is?

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Just that 988 is always there for you whenever you need it, no matter what the cause of your text is or uh or your call is. Um it's available for both text and call. Just that it's available for you no matter the reason, no matter the place, no matter the time.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

We really thank both of you, Kelsey Shreve and Colson Smith, for joining us today and helping to share the story behind the new character, Nate. We appreciate your leadership,

One Message To Remember

SPEAKER_02 21:35

the creativity, and your commitment to helping young people such as yourself know that someone's available through 988 whenever they need it.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

And to our listeners, we thank you as well. When you're and to our listeners, we thank you as well. When you listen to our episodes, you're breaking stigmas, you're breaking those barriers, and you care about mental health and saving lives. This is Voices for Suicide Prevention, brought to you by the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.