I’ve always had a passion for helping young men.

My extensive background in fraternity leadership gave me the unique opportunity to speak with hundreds of young men from all across the nation. As brothers, they trusted me with their hopes and dreams, concerns and fears, in a way that they were often too hesitant to discuss with their own parents. I, in turn, was open with them about my own struggles as a college student and young man. I shared stories of my own difficulties, and the efforts it took to overcome those darkest days.

I shared that my fear of failure or not living up to expectations had led me to severely abuse alcohol in college. On multiple occasions, I even had thoughts of self harm due to the overwhelming pressure. Like too many young men still today, I was convinced I was the only one who had issues. I thought I wasn’t as smart, athletic or good-looking as the other guys. Worse, I had no one I trusted with these fears, and weathered them alone.

When I found myself in a place of leadership of young men, I understood the responsibility I had to these students who placed their trust in me. I understood the deep cost of too many young men feeling unheard or misunderstood, and I knew I must find a way to offer them the support and wisdom I craved all those years ago.

At Chapter meetings, I began offering my business card to every young man present, instructing each to put it in his wallet. I invited each to call me if they had a troubling personal issue with the assurance that our conversations would be held in strict confidence. I told them, “You will never get in trouble when you ask for my help…If you get in as much trouble asking for help as you do getting caught, who will ever ask for help?”

That small gesture of offering a business card opened the floodgates. They started calling me, coming to meet with me—dozens of young men sharing every issue imaginable. They opened up and shared overwhelming issues, telling me that I was the only person they had ever told. It was the most humbling experience of my life.

I still hand every young man I meet my business card. I still invite them to call me with their personal issues, their concerns, their fears. However, those early chapter meetings were merely the spark that lit the flame of LifeBrothers. Today, thousands of young men have taken the LifeBrothers Promise.