Rise Together

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Rise Together Where Stories Save Lives. Igniting a movement of hope through storytelling, connection & action.
500,000+ lives reached • NIH-backed
Partner with RISE ↓

RISE TOGETHER exists to ignite a movement of change that is saving lives. Since 2013, we’ve empowered hundreds of thousands of youth to speak up about mental health, addiction, and the real challenges they face. Our peer-driven programs create space for brave conversations, bold leadership, and real transformation. Whether we’re on stage, in the classroom, or walking alongside young leaders—we show up with open hearts, lived experience, and a belief that youth voices can change everything. We don’t do “one and done.” We build relationships. We build movements. And we believe every young person deserves to be seen, heard, and supported.

For the past three years, young people have been coming together in rooms like this to lead, learn, speak up, and connec...
10/14/2026

For the past three years, young people have been coming together in rooms like this to lead, learn, speak up, and connect.

This year, we’re building on that foundation in a new way.

For the first time, we’re bringing the summit together as the — with new collaboration and expanded focus on youth voice, wellness, and leadership beyond the one day summit.

These photos are from last year, and they’re a pretty good reminder of what’s possible when young people are given the room to be part of the conversation.

A young person opens up. Asks for help. Begins to see how their own story could help someone else.Students describe thes...
10/13/2026

A young person opens up. Asks for help. Begins to see how their own story could help someone else.

Students describe these moments in their feedback to RISE TOGETHER. Our published, peer-reviewed research also captured students’ intentions to seek help, support peers, and avoid substance use.

We teach young people to use their lived experience to connect and take action.

Bring RISE to your community:
📩 [email protected]

Read our research: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40790232/

World Mental Health Day is one day.The conversation can’t be. 💚Check on your people. Check in with yourself. Keep going....
10/12/2026

World Mental Health Day is one day.
The conversation can’t be. 💚

Check on your people. Check in with yourself. Keep going. Your story matters. Your mental health matters.

10/08/2026

LUCKY 13 🔥

They said it was the best one yet. That we took it to another level. And that Appleton needs MORE of this.

We couldn't agree more.

From the first artist to the final encore, this was something special. Local talent absolutely DESTROYED the stage, and ONYX closed out their international tour by BLOWING THE ROOF OFF Gibson Community Music Hall!

And behind the scenes? A whole lot of moving pieces, last-minute saves, and incredible people making the impossible happen.

Massive love to ONYX (Sticky Fingaz & Fredro Starr), IM KEAG and his crew—Dylan Finley, DJ G-**ot (Glenn), who SAVED THE NIGHT, and special guest Jameson Winter—Keziah Love, their management teams, the fans, our RISE team and board, designers, photographers, volunteers, and everyone behind the scenes who made this night happen!

And to our incredible sponsors and partners: Superior Mineral Water, THZ Insurance, Faith Technologies, ThedaCare, Woodward, Amcor, Festival Foods, Rogers Behavioral Health, Prevea, The Avenue, Appleton Rotary, SHN, We EmpowHER, Collaborative Wellness, From The Ash Tree, and Gibson Community Music Hall. THANK YOU!

We poured our hearts into this one, but it took an entire crew to make it happen. And the best part? We left with new friendships and people already stepping up to help make WHATEVER'S NEXT happen.

This is what happens when music, culture, purpose, and community collide.

If you were there, you KNOW.

If you weren't? YOU MISSED OUT. HA! 😂

But here's 60 seconds to catch you up.

🎥

THANK YOU FOR 13 YEARS! 🖤

I remember leaving this school wondering if anything we said actually landed.Then this message came.“Since we’ve spoken ...
10/01/2026

I remember leaving this school wondering if anything we said actually landed.

Then this message came.

“Since we’ve spoken I have made a lot of changes in my life for the better. I’m going into my senior year happy and healthy.”

This is why storytelling matters.

Not because one presentation magically changes someone’s life… but because sometimes hearing someone tell the truth about what they’ve survived gives another person permission to tell the truth, too.

To feel less alone.
To ask for help.
To imagine something different for themselves.

Years later, messages like this still stop me in my tracks.

This is the work. This has always been the work.

09/24/2026

Real stories build trust. Trust creates connection. Connection makes it easier to ask for help.

13 years taught us this. Young people need to know three things:Your story matters.You are not alone.And you have the po...
09/22/2026

13 years taught us this.

Young people need to know three things:

Your story matters.
You are not alone.
And you have the power to help yourself and each other.

It’s awesome to see what happens when we create the room.

Young people showed us that lived experience matters. That being real and relatable builds trust. That telling the truth about what we’ve been through can make difficult conversations easier to have.

And they taught us something even bigger:

Young people aren’t problems to be prevented. They’re partners in prevention.

That changed us.

What started with sharing our stories has grown into creating connection, developing youth voice, giving young people real tools to take action, and helping the adults around them become better at listening and responding.

Because prevention isn’t one presentation.

It isn’t one speaker.

And it isn’t telling a kid what not to do.

Prevention is helping a young person feel seen before they feel invisible. Connected before they feel isolated. Comfortable asking for help before they’re in crisis. And empowered enough to recognize when someone beside them needs that same connection.

Thirteen years later, maybe that’s the biggest thing we’ve learned:

The most powerful thing we can give a young person isn’t our story.

It’s the connection, tools, and opportunity to change their own.

That’s what the next chapter of RISE TOGETHER is about.

Stories Save Lives.
Connection is Prevention.
Your Story Matters.

09/22/2026

A young person who knows they’re not alone is more likely to believe there’s somewhere to turn.

09/21/2026

Years of doing this work have taught us: prevention starts long before the crisis.

09/21/2026

Young people don’t need us to have all the answers. They need us to listen when they find their voice.

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Kaukauna, WI

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