The Peptok emotional-support hotline won’t fix the world’s many ills—but it might make you smile at a time when you probably need some help in that department. The last few years have not been smooth sailing, to say the least. With a global pandemic, relentless traumas to marginalized communities, and now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s no wonder people are feeling particularly overwhelmed and anxious at the moment. But sometimes, the smallest thing can give you a tiny, momentary reprieve from it all. Like Peptok, a free emotional-support hotline created by elementary school kids.
With the guidance of teachers Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss, the students of West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, California, created Peptok, which people can call if they are in need of, well, a pep talk. You can access Peptok, a name based on one of the students’ (adorable) misspelling of pep talk, by phoning 707-998-8410.
Call this number, and you will be greeted with a series of delightful pre-recorded clips. “If you're feeling mad, frustrated, or nervous, press one. If you need words of encouragement and life advice, press two. If you need a pep talk from kindergartners, press three. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press four. For encouragement in Spanish, press five,” the menu reads. Some of the sweet words of support that follow from option three, for example, include: “Be grateful for yourself,” “Get your wallet and spend it on ice cream,” and, “Think of groundhogs.” Gratitude? We need more of it. Ice cream? We need more of that too. Groundhogs? You can’t deny it, these critters are undeniably one of the cuter rodents out there. It’s fair to say these kids absolutely know what they’re talking about.
Peptok’s origins began two weeks ago when the students recorded their infectious giggles and words of positivity during their art class. On February 26, Peptok went public. With the support of the town’s community in the form of local flyering and sharing across social media, the hotline was a resounding success. In the first two days after they launched, they were receiving up to 700 callers each hour, with national news outlets CNN and NPR soon covering the sweet project. Situated in Sonoma Wine Country, the small town of Healdsburg had a population of 11,340 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census. Which makes it all the more impressive that their helpline achieved such reach in its first week.
Martin, a community artist who teaches West Side Elementary’s arts enrichment program, wanted to launch the helpline when she found herself constantly inspired by her students’ innate positivity. “I thought, you know, with this world being as it is, we all really needed to hear from them—their extraordinary advice and their continual joy,” she told NPR. The school hopes to keep the hotline operating until the end of the school year with the help of outside funding. Martin looks forward to continuing to extend the joyful, healing nature of children to adults who are struggling with life, particularly this year. “Their creativity and resourcefulness is something that we need to emulate because that level of joy and love and imagination is what’s going to save us in the end,” she told NPR.
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