Page 16 - MLT December

frontline
Giving Back
by Lisa Dukart
You’ve Got a Friend
BA North Penn High School graduate’s unique nonprofit brings people together in real ways.
ack in 2013, Gabby Frost was a suicide, it troubled her. “I sent them big One Direction fan—so big that support, but there wasn’t anything in she and a friend created an online place that I knew of that was a support community to engage with others tool,” says the North Penn High School who loved the popular boy band. grad. “So I thought, ‘Why not create a “We went on Twitter and made way for people to get paired up with a
platform aimed at forging relationships among teens and young adults. It also directs those in need to hotlines for everything from suicide to eating disorders to postpartum depression. “I think the main pressing issue kids have these days is constant engagement with social media,” says Dr. Megan Starner, a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist who works out of
Buddy Project’s Gabby Frost.
TESSA MARIE IMAGES
friends with a lot of people,” recalls Frost. When Frost came across tweets from
people contemplating self-harm or
buddy based on their interests?’” Now 22, Frost was just 15 when she
officially launched Buddy Project, an online
14 December 2019 | www.mainlinetoday.com