Be There
Be There is a free mental health support training program operated by Canadian charity Jack.org, offering a 2-hour online Be There Certificate course built on the 5 Golden Rules framework. Available in English, French, and Spanish, it teaches individuals how to recognize and support someone struggling with mental health.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersToronto, Canada
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Be There does
Be There is a mental health support training initiative operated by Jack.org, a Canadian charity based in Toronto that describes itself as the only national charity training young mental health leaders in Canada. The program's core product is the Be There Certificate, a free, self-paced, approximately 2-hour online course built around the proprietary 5 Golden Rules framework — Say What You See, Show You Care, Hear Them Out, Know Your Role, and Connect to Help — which provides structured, actionable guidance for supporting someone struggling with mental health. The course is delivered through a web-based learning platform (betherecertificate.org) supporting badge-based gamification and certification, and is available in English, French, and Spanish.
The course was co-created with Born This Way Foundation (co-founded by Lady Gaga and focused on mental health and kindness), giving the program access to a major US-headquartered partner network alongside Jack.org's domestic Canadian youth leader network. Day-to-day distribution relies entirely on digital channels — organic social media, content marketing on bethere.org, video storytelling, SEO, and partner-driven word-of-mouth — with no physical product, sales team, or paid tier.
The program generates no direct revenue from end users; the certificate is 100% free. Operating continuity is sustained by charitable contributions from a roster of roughly 10 named corporate and foundation supporters, including KPMG Canada, RBC (Future Launch), Co-operators, Slaight Family Foundation, TD Securities (Underwriting Hope), Friendly Future, Yellow Bus Foundation, Beedie, and Gooder Foundation. The program earned the 2020 Webby Award and 2020 People's Choice Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Be There functions as a branded program within Jack.org rather than as a standalone corporate entity, with no separate funding rounds, M&A activity, or commercial financial disclosures.
Be There firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Be There
- Legal name
- Be There
- Website
- https://bethere.org
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Be There is a free mental health support training program operated by Canadian charity Jack.org, offering a 2-hour online Be There Certificate course built on the 5 Golden Rules framework. Available in English, French, and Spanish, it teaches individuals how to recognize and support someone struggling with mental health.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Be There industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Mental Health Education and Training
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Behavioral Health & Counseling (Social Work, Psychology, Substance Use CE) (EDAAALAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Assessment, Certification & Qualifications Frameworks (BPADAKAL)
Keywords
Where Be There is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Toronto
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Be There business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Certificate Program |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
Be There product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Be There delivers the Be There Certificate, a free, self-paced online course that teaches individuals how to recognize when someone is struggling with their mental health, safely approach and support them, set healthy boundaries, and connect them to professional help. The course is built around the proprietary 5 Golden Rules framework and is available in English, French, and Spanish through betherecertificate.org, with badge-based certification upon completion.
Product overview
Be There is a mental health support initiative by Jack.org offering a single unified digital product: the Be There Certificate, a free online course available in English, French, and Spanish. The course is built around the 5 Golden Rules framework, which provides actionable guidance for supporting someone struggling with mental health. The Be There Certificate and the 5 Golden Rules work together as the core offering — the certificate course teaches and certifies users in the practical application of the Golden Rules.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Be There Certificate A free, self-paced online course that teaches individuals how to recognize when someone is struggling with their mental health, safely approach and support them, set healthy boundaries, and connect them to professional and community resources. Users earn badges upon completion and receive the Be There Certificate. Available in English, French, and Spanish. Created by Jack.org in partnership with Born This Way Foundation.
- 5 Golden Rules Framework A simple but actionable framework providing guidance on how to support someone struggling with their mental health, consisting of five rules: Say What You See, Show You Care, Hear Them Out, Know Your Role, and Connect to Help. Published as dedicated educational content on bethere.org with real stories and practical tips.
Quantifiable outcome
- Course takes approximately 2 hours to complete with badge rewards
Companies that use Be There
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Be There technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Be There partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Born This Way FoundationcoreBorn This Way Foundation (Lady Gaga's foundation focused on mental health and kindness) co-created the Be There Certificate program with Jack.org. This is a co-development partnership resulting in the free online mental health support training course available to the public.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Be There competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- QPR Institute: QPR Institute trains "gatekeepers" in Question, Persuade, and Refer techniques for suicide prevention, mirroring Be There's mission of equipping non-clinicians with simple, actionable mental health support skills. It directly competes for the same volunteer, school, and corporate training audiences.
- Mental Health First Aid (National Council for Mental Wellbeing): Mental Health First Aid is the most widely adopted gatekeeper-training program in the U.S. and globally, teaching laypeople to recognize and respond to mental health and substance-use crises. It is a direct peer to Be There in product category (structured mental health support training for non-clinicians) and customer base (workplaces, schools, community members).
- LivingWorks (ASIST / safeTALK): LivingWorks delivers ASIST and safeTALK, two of the most established suicide-intervention skills training programs worldwide. Like Be There, it focuses on teaching non-professionals a structured framework for supporting someone in distress, and operates in workplaces, schools, and community settings.
- Active Minds: Active Minds is a U.S. nonprofit empowering student-led mental health education and advocacy on college and high school campuses. It shares Be There's youth-focused mission, peer-support framework, and education-and-awareness delivery model, though it operates more through in-person chapters than a centralized online course.
- The Trevor Project: The Trevor Project is the leading U.S. organization focused on suicide prevention and mental health for LGBTQ+ young people, combining crisis services with education and training. It overlaps with Be There on youth mental health support training and education-driven outreach, though Trevor operates at a larger scale with a 24/7 crisis contact channel.
Others
- Born This Way Foundation: Born This Way Foundation is the co-developer of the Be There Certificate, making it more partner than competitor. It addresses overlapping themes of youth mental health and kindness but does not offer a competing gatekeeper-training curriculum; its inclusion here reflects the tight co-creation relationship with Be There rather than competitive overlap.
Broad incumbents
- NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness): NAMI is the largest U.S. grassroots mental health organization, offering public education, family-to-family courses, and peer support programs. It is a broader incumbent in the mental health education space, overlapping with Be There on layperson mental health literacy but operating at significantly larger scope and with an established affiliate network.
- The Jed Foundation: The Jed Foundation protects emotional health and prevents suicide among college students through campus-wide programs and student-facing resources. It overlaps with Be There on youth mental health education and curriculum distribution to schools, but operates at institutional scale with consulting and policy work beyond the consumer course model.
- Headspace (mental health): Headspace is a large, venture-backed mental health platform offering meditation, therapy, and employer benefits. It is a broad incumbent overlapping with Be There on mental health education and workplace distribution, but operates a paid consumer and enterprise model rather than a free public-good certificate course.
Emerging players
- Crisis Text Line: Crisis Text Line provides 24/7 text-based crisis intervention, and has expanded into training and education resources for supporters of people in distress. It is comparable to Be There in the youth mental health support space but differentiates through a live-service crisis channel rather than self-paced certificate training.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Be There social profiles
Digital presenceBe There financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Be There leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Be There funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Be There M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Be There
What does Be There do?
Be There delivers the Be There Certificate, a free, self-paced online course that teaches individuals how to recognize when someone is struggling with their mental health, safely approach and support them, set healthy boundaries, and connect them to professional help. The course is built around the proprietary 5 Golden Rules framework and is available in English, French, and Spanish through betherecertificate.org, with badge-based certification upon completion.
Is Be There a public or private company?
Be There is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Be There founded?
Be There was founded in -1. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Be There based?
Be There is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, in the North America region.
Who are Be There's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are QPR Institute, Mental Health First Aid (National Council for Mental Wellbeing), LivingWorks (ASIST / safeTALK), Active Minds and The Trevor Project. Born This Way Foundation is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), The Jed Foundation and Headspace (mental health). Crisis Text Line is listed as an emerging player.
Does Be There have an API?
No public API is recorded for Be There.
What industry is Be There in?
Be There's product category is Mental Health Education and Training. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAAALAD, Behavioral Health & Counseling (Social Work, Psychology, Substance Use CE), with a secondary code of BPADAKAL, Assessment, Certification & Qualifications Frameworks. Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 8200.