Youth Connect
We’re glad you’re here!
We don’t pretend to have all the answers for whatever you may be going through. We’re just here to hang out with you and share some things we thought you’d like
Check out the
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Everything on our site has been chosen to bring fresh hope into your world.
Your...
- Call Centre/ Prayer Line
- Kids Help Phone
- Hope for Wellness Help Line:
- Chat Services |6 pm–2 am EST|
- Canada Suicide Prevention Service:
- Kids Help Phone
- Hope for Wellness Help Line:
- Text CONNECT to
- 686868
- 9 - 1 - 1
- Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line:
- For Quebec residents:
Your Music
Music Notes
Download the Free PRAZOR app for music you can enjoy & trust.
It’s funded by Prazor’s enthusiastic community of listeners. Download the free music app and start enjoying a variety of music.
LifeNet Music Playlist
Your Videos
Alpha Youth!
Alpha Youth is a space where young people gather together to explore life, faith, meaning and God. It’s all about honest and open conversation, where you can ask anything. Seriously.
The Alpha Youth Series now includes brand new Aussie Street Talks, young people from across Australia giving their thoughts on some of life’s big and small questions.
TeenTalk videos feature Dr. David Dwarka, our favorite psychologist, in conversation with a group of teens on a variety of timely topics.
Comming soon
TeenTalk Videos
TeenTalk videos feature Dr. David Dwarka, our favorite psychologist, in conversation with a group of teens on a variety of timely topics.
Your Pets
Animals are community too!
(GALLERY )
Your Books
Check out our books!
If you’re a reader, there’s a ton of good books ‘out there’ that have been written by people with special insight. Here are a few we can suggest.
Predator-Proof
Your Family Series
Brene Brown
Books
Your Games
Explore new games!
Most Gen Z’ers spend more time on video games than on any other passtime.
Your Opportunities
Apply for a scholarship for a week at a Circle Square Ranch or Teen Ranch
Download
Application
Organize a LifeNet Sharing Hope Concert to help struggling teens
Careers
It stands to reason that if we were created and didn’t just evolve, the Creator must have had a specific purpose in mind for each person. When we look around at all the individuals in the world, everyone is so different. They were obviously created for different functions.
Many people get stuck in dead-end jobs that have nothing to do with their true purpose – for a variety of reasons. It’s usually necessary to work at unrelated jobs for awhile, on the way to fulfilling one’s true purpose in life – but wherever possible, it’s critical to move towards your life’s purpose.
Read more
How does one know what that is?
The function you were created to fulfill in life will feel right. You will be drawn to it. You might love the predictable, organized life of a line-worker in a car factory – or you might love the process of entwining words into a poem. If you’re fascinated by the inner workings of the human body, you could have been gifted with the heart of a healer; a doctor, a nurse or a nutritionist. The trick is not to get stuck in a job soley for the purpose of making money. While income is necessary, if we communicate with the Creator in our quest for our true purpose, He will open doors that would have been impenetrable without His guidance. Because your purpose is part of His plan, He is more anxious, even than you, to help you on your way. Have you ever tried talking to Him? You might be surprised. Here are a few articles to help in your search.
Teenagers and God: Where Kids Fit
What is God’s Purpose for Your Life?
Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life
The Grace to Grow
What is the Real Purpose in Life?
8 Steps to Knowing God’s Will For Your Life
Time Managment
Time is on your side!
Time Management Tips
Student Success – Time Management
Time Management Golden Nugget
A Short Story on Time
Stress & Anxiety
Managing emotions!
How to Cope With Anxiety
Managing Stress
How to Make Stress Your Friend
Stress Management Tips
Your Environment
Environment influences growth!
The word “environment” has become associated with climate and location, but it’s much more than the air and view. It refers to everything that surrounds you: the people around you, your school or occupation, your perceptions of relationships – your physical, emotional and spiritual surroundings.
Environment influences growth and behavior. Is yours healthy? What can you do to improve it?
As you can see in the following article, many Gen Z’ers have anxiety towards school. What could you say to the kids who shared their thoughts to give them hope and a more positive outlook?
“13 Reasons Why Gen Z Stress About School”
Pornography
Tatiana’s Story: “Pornography was My Main Education for Sex and Love”
Porn’s Impacts on Consumers, Relationships, and Society
Porn Tanked My Mental Health. Here’s How I Got Help
Emma’s Story: Overcoming Her Struggles with Pornography, Shame, and Self-Worth
How to Get Unstuck From a Cycle Of Watching Porn
Stories of Exploitation on Pornhub
Billie Eilish Began Watching Porn at 11. The Devastating Impacts It Had On Her
How Does Someone Get Addicted to Porn?
Is Consent in the Porn Industry Real?
Can Watching Porn Become Addictive?
Top 3 Reasons People Quit Porn, According to a Therapist
The First Time I Was Sold for Sex, I Was 11 – Lexie’s Story
How Porn Can Impact Mental Health
I Was Trafficked As a Teen Without Realizing It – Jose’s Story
Ash’s Story: How an Online Porn Habit Nearly Led to a Risky In-person Encounter
How Pornography Negatively Affected My Self-Worth – Katelyn’s Story
Hallah’s Story – How Porn Influenced Her Sexual Abuse
Mark’s Story – I Was Addicted To Porn At Age 12
Abortion
Forgiveness from the Creator of Life!
We’re not about to share graphic videos of what happens in an abortion on the LifeNet site. Our purpose is not to stir up guilt or shame – or to enter into the heated abortion debate – but to help teens who have gone through deep waters to be restored and move on with their lives with authentic hope.
Read more
Rather than focussing on the abortion issue, our hope is to help prevent pre-marriage pregnancy, eliminating the terrible decisions faced by some young moms. Where that’s impossible, we are advocates for adoption, to give both mother and child an opportunity for a fresh start at life.
With the availability of the morning after pill, for many, instant abortion has become a means of birth control. We believe that empowerment for young women comes with the determination to exercise moral values, not with the sloppy availability of a pill that eliminates life but can never eliminate the responsibility of ending someone else’s life, no matter how early on, because life begins at conception.Sadly, the popular philosophy that fills the airwaves today has convinced many young women that abortion is a viable option for an unplanned pregnancy. The details of procedures and potentially permanent mental health issues for the mother are ignored. What about pregnancy that happens as a result of rape? One has only to Google “People who were conceived as the product of rape” to find stories of moms who understood that the children planted in their wombs through rape had lives apart from their criminal fathers and had a right to their lives.
If you’ve had an abortion and have remorse, forgiveness is available to you from the Creator of life, if you just ask Him – and you have a little one lovingly waiting to meet you in Heaven one day.
Abortion Tied to Sharp Decline in Women’s Mental Health
Adoption or Abortion
Bullying
How to Stop Bullying: Examples & Best Solutions (For Students)
Protect Yourself Rules – Bullying
Bullied Boy Gets Help From Classmates
How Strangers Helped Teen Being Bullied – What Would You Do?
Child with Tourette Syndrome is Bullied – What Would You Do?
Bullying: How to Safely Help Someone
Together Against School Bullying
What is Bullying? – SEL Sketches Together Against School Bullying
Sexual Abuse
We at LifeNet understand the trauma of child sexual abuse on a very personal level. Watch this video.
It features the CEO of LifeNet.
How to Move on From Sexual Abuse
Samantha’s Story: How She Survived Child Sexual Abuse
Recovering from Rape and Sexual Trauma
Predator-Proof Your Family
Recovery From Sexual Abuse
Victims of Sexual Abuse: Do They Ever ‘Get Over It?’
How to Reclaim Your Life After Sexual Trauma
How to Cope With Sexual Assault
Body Image
Kennedy’s Story: How Pornography Influences our Culture’s Idea of Beauty
Body Image and Self-Esteem
Body Image in Adolescence
Eating Disorders
It’s key to differentiate between eating disorders and disordered eating.
Disordered eating might not involve a diagnosable eating disorder, like anorexia or bulimia, but it does involve dangerous abnormal eating behaviors that can potentially lead to these conditions.
Read more
Developing a positive relationship with food can be a complex process, especially for those living with or recovering from disordered eating. It’s not something that can be fixed by comparing notes with friends or reading information from the internet. However, if properly vetted and used as a supplement to appropriate medical care, technology can be helpful in eating disorder recovery.
There are apps that can help you understand how to monitor your habits, improve your mental health, and take positive steps toward a stronger mind and body.
Disordered eating may involve:
✦ eating for other reasons besides hunger and nourishment, such as stress, boredom, or to mask emotions
✦ eating the same thing every day
✦completely eliminating certain food groups
✦ occasionally or regularly engaging in destructive behaviors, like binge eating, purging, or abusing laxatives.
What is Disordered Eating?
A Quick Look at the Best
Eating Disorder Apps:
Most comprehensive: What’s Up?
– A Mental Health AppBest for self-improvement: Cognitive Diary CBT Self-Help
Eating disorders may entail different types of behavior depending on the type:
✦ Anorexia nervosa. People may not eat enough and could appear very thin.
✦ Binge eating. People may eat uncontrollably but not purge.
✦ Bulimia nervosa. People may overeat and then purge to avoid gaining weight. They may also abuse laxatives and diet pills.
Connect Groups
Life is all about community. While the last couple of years have made it difficult to get together, things are easing up and new methods for meeting, such as zoom calls, have emerged as viable alternatives.
We are in the process of establishing “CONNECT GROUPS” wherever a need is expressed. If you’d like one in your area, please let us know and we’ll see what we can do.
CONNECT GROUPS
Small groups of teens who meet for discussion and sharing of insights under the direction of a LifeNet qualified leader.
Your Family
Families come in all sizes, shapes and colours. Some are close and others are broken; others are composed of peope around you who aren’t even blood relatives, because families are made up of people who love you and who you love.
Family is all about community and relationship – but no matter what shape, colour or size your family is, the thing that sets family apart is committment to eachother.
Who is your family? Who cares about you the most? When you’re troubled, can you reach out to that person? There are times when we all feel alone. If you’re feeling like that right now, that there’s no one who cares, reach out to us and we’ll reach back.
As you can see in the following article, many Gen Z’ers share anxiety towards family.
“13 Reasons Why Gen Z Stress About Their Parents”
Friends
Your Friends Who are your friends? Are they a positive part of your life? Are they making your life better or worse in the long run? Sometimes it’s important to do an inventory of our friends.
“13 Reasons Why Gen Z Stress About Their Friends”
As you can see in the following article, many Gen Z’ers have anxiety towards friends and social media. What could you say to the kids who shared their thoughts to give them hope and a more positive outlook?
“13 Reasons Why Gen Z Stress About Social Anxiety”
Your Mentors
Mentors are people who commit to walking alonside you for a season in your life. They’re usually people who have mostly figured out the things you’re trying to learn. As we grow, we will have a list of willing mentors who are trained to assist with life issues. Meanwhile, until our list is assembled, you may know someone who you would like to mentor you. They won’t mind being asked and you could start a wonderful new friendship.
✦ If your hoped-for mentor would like to speak with us, just ask them to contact us.
Personal Stories
Mary-Anna’s Story
14 years old
Mary-Anna was 14 before she told her sister that her grandfather had been molesting her ever since she was a young girl.
* Names & images have been changed to protect identities.
Read
The grandfather was sent to prison and the family scattered, each to a distant place of refuge in futile efforts to escape the pain. Thankfully, Mary-Anna’s story did not end with suicide. Suicide-ideation does not always have to end in tragedy. Mary-Anna was surrounded by a community of people who cared and knew how to pray.
* Names & images have been changed to protect identities.
Read
One day, Carson’s neighbour and her friend were walking through the woods that separated their houses. As the neighbour looked up from kicking through the crisp fall leaves, pure horror invaded her heart. There was Carson, hanging from a tree, his once-square shoulders now sloped with the weight of his body. His family has never been the same.
Mary-Anna’s Story
14 years old
Mary-Anna was 14 before she told her sister that her grandfather had been molesting her ever since she was a young girl.
Emma’s Story
14 years old
Emma was confused and lonely, suffering from social media bullying at school.
* Names & images have been changed to protect identities
Read
She fell into a series of depressive incidents. She and her parents sought help… sadly without effective resolution. Each agency she reached out to somehow missed her ‘cry for help’. She was frustrated and despondent, believing her life to be meaningless. Emma chose to end her young life at only 14-years-of-age.
Your Faith
According to Pew Research, Gen Z is the least “religious” generation, with about one-third denying faith in God. They are also the highest percentage-wise in suicide rates.
What is the correlation? It can be convincingly argued that without substantiated faith in something beyond one’s self, there is no reason to live, because of the realistic awareness of one’s own weaknesses. Hence the importance of finding faith in something beyond one’s self. But what is that? Is God real? Who is He?
“Gen Z Wants to Talk about Faith”
“Gen Z is keeping the faith. Just don’t expect to see them at worship.”
God Loves You Back
Passion 2024, Atlanta, Georgia.