What hopepost is.

Anyone who has been through something hard can write a letter. Anyone struggling can read one. Both stay anonymous. Writers don’t perform, readers don’t feel watched. The exchange between writer and reader is the whole interaction.

No accounts. No profiles. No signal back to the writer that the letter was read. This is deliberate. The emotional contract is that the letter exists, freely, and will find someone who needs it. Anything more would change the contract.

Every letter is reviewed by a human before it reaches a reader. That human is the founder, who is intentionally anonymous. The project is the project, and the work has to stand on its own.

Letters are reviewed by a real person before publication. They are not reviewed by clinicians, and hopepost is not a substitute for professional support. If you're in crisis, please reach out to a service that can help. See Find Help.

• Not a substitute for therapy.
• Not a crisis line.
• Not an app to engage with. No notifications. No streaks. No feed.
• Not a community. No comments, no replies, no reactions, no counters that turn letters into a popularity contest.

If any of those is what you need, the Find help page is the right place to start. We list crisis lines by country and link to other letter projects we admire.

The person on the other side of a hopepost letter is just someone who recognised the weight of what another person might be carrying. If you’ve been there too, write a letter when you’re ready. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Letters are lightly edited before publication, and it’s the recognition, not the prose, that matters.

We’re not the only people doing letters. These projects do different versions of the same idea, and we point readers to them often.

• Reasons to StayClinically-moderated letters specifically for people experiencing suicidal thoughts. If you're in that place, this is the project to read.
• Letters Against DepressionVolunteers write physical letters to people experiencing depression.
• More Love LettersStrangers send handwritten letters to people nominated by someone who loves them.