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Share your story.

Some of Hartley's most-read writing is first-person — from parents, alumni, and teens who've lived what they're describing. We work with first-time storytellers regularly.

If you have a story about your family's experience with teen mental health treatment — what helped, what didn't, what you wish you'd known — we'd like to hear it.

You don't need to be a professional writer. You don't need a polished draft. Most of the storytellers we work with have never published anything before. We provide editorial support throughout. We will not publish anything without your final approval, and we never publish without your permission.

For storytellers who don't want their full identity attached to a piece, we publish under first name only, under a pseudonym, or anonymously, depending on what fits and what protects you. We've worked with parents who needed to protect a child's identity, teens who didn't want their school to know, and alumni who didn't want former programs to find them. All of those work.

What we publish

Stories that find a home at Hartley

We're especially interested in these kinds of stories. If yours doesn't fit cleanly, send it anyway — we read everything.

Voices

Parent essays

What you wish you'd known. What helped. What didn't. The story you'd tell another parent.

Coming soon
Voices

Alumni essays

Looking back on treatment — months, years, or decades later. What it actually did, and didn't.

Coming soon
Voices

Clinician perspectives

What you've learned from years inside the field that families need to know.

Coming soon
How

How to send us a pitch

The simplest version: email us a few paragraphs about what you'd like to write.