There are many reasons why people turn to Teenage linehotline in Century City that connects youth in crisis with trained teen volunteers.
They call because someone is hurting them or they are afraid of hurting themselves. They write because an important relationship has ended or a troubling conflict has begun. They feel disrespected, neglected, rejected.
At the heart of almost every call, text, and email is the same cry of pain: No one is listening.
So teens receiving help are doing something they think adults should spend time doing more often, and something no one seems to do enough of these days: they listen.
Almost every time, at least for the duration of the conversation or chat session, this is enough.
“Even if their situation is really difficult, the best thing we can do in the beginning is always just to listen,” said 18-year-old volunteer Mendez. (The names of the volunteers are being withheld to protect their privacy and anonymity.) “And even if we don’t have a solution for them, I feel like this is something that helps them a lot.”
Teen Line volunteer Max, 15, speaks with The Times at the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center on Monday, August 11. Max says what surprised her about taking calls on the hotline was that every call contained a kernel of hope for the caller's future.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles-based Teen Line Project of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services helps fill the ever-growing gap between the need for mental health support and available resources.
Phone and text lines are available to youth throughout the United States and Canada, and the email address can be used by teens anywhere in the world. In 2024, volunteers responded to 8,886 calls, text messages and emails. Managers expect the total to exceed 10,000 this year.
The percentage of high school students who report constantly feeling sad or lonely has increased. growing steadily in the last decade. A study Published last fall, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 39.7% of college students said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, and 20.4% had seriously considered suicide.
At the same time, government spending cuts have hit many support services.
In April, the Trump administration announced it would stop paying $1 billion in federal grants which school districts across the country use to hire psychologists and social workers.
The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Congress in May proposes significant cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which millions of Americans rely on to access mental health care for themselves and their children.
In July the administration remote an option on the 988 suicide and crisis hotline that allowed young people who identified as LGBTQ+ to connect directly with counselors specifically trained to support queer youth. There are more than 1.3 million gay youth in the United States used the service from launch in 2022.
None of this has stopped Teen Line's 60 to 70 young volunteers, who put in 65 hours of initial training and a minimum of two five-hour shifts a month. The program receives no federal funding and relies entirely on grants and private donations.
Teen Line volunteers chat before starting their shift.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Every evening, eight to 12 high school students gather in a sunny office in Century City, often after a long day of classes, homework, practices and part-time jobs.
They raid a diner, settle into booths, grab their headphones, and spend the next few hours talking and typing with other teenagers looking for support.
Lines are open for calls and texts from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm PT each evening (text option closes an hour earlier). Letters can be sent at any time of the day or night.
They share an office with the adult volunteers of the 988 hotline. But the Teen Line corner, with its collection of hand-painted canvases and stuffed animals, is easy to spot in a sea of modest cubicles.
Didi Hirsch is by far the largest of the 12 centers in California that answer 988. Last year, the organization handled nearly 40% of the 454,146 988 calls placed in the state.
The total number of calls to the crisis hotline this year has already exceeded last year's total, with more than 462,000 calls coming from California alone, said spokeswoman Didi Hirsch.
People of any age, including teenagers, can call 988. But a call or text to Teen Line, which has its own 800 number, guarantees a response from a peer who probably understands better than most well-meaning adults what it's like to be a teenager today.
Public discussion about the youth mental health crisis “really moves away from the actual reality of what it means to be a teenager, because the people having these conversations are not teenagers. They're kind of trying to peer through the window from behind the glass,” said 15-year-old volunteer Max.
The stereotype of today's teenagers as anxious loners hunched over their phones is narrow-minded and inaccurate, she said, and her four fellow volunteers nodded in agreement.
It's not that teenagers are cut off from real life. The thing is, there is so much coming at them that it can be difficult to know how to reflect it all.
Teen Line volunteer Sydney, 17, holds one of the “emotional support” stuffed animals decorating the office.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“Being a teenager is a time of great responsibility, but with so little control and so little power,” Max continued. “You don't make decisions about your education. You don't decide where you live or what you do until you get to college, and there's so much pressure to succeed… We encourage them to think about their situation differently. We don't hand them a different set of cards, but we encourage them to approach it differently. And I think that's what teenagers need.”
Teen Line is not intended to replace long-term therapy or other necessary professional services, Didi Hirsch CEO Lyn Morris said. But it can be a “stepping stone” for overwhelmed young people who don't know where to turn or how to ask for help, she said.
Representatives of each generation complained as teenagers that adults did not understand them. But given the number of stressors that didn't exist until recently – social media, lockdown drills in schools, accelerating climate change – today's teens are very often justified in their feelings.
“We don’t have experience with this,” Morris said. “Thank God, teenagers have each other.”
It's too early to tell how cuts to 911 and other services will impact Teen Line call volumes. Volunteers said they have already heard from people affected by the recent policy changes. This includes teens who live in states where abortion is illegal and are concerned about getting pregnant, as well as those who tried to call the 988 suicide hotline but were unable to reach any operator in their state.
Meanwhile, for adults concerned about the fate of teenagers in their own lives, the volunteers offered some sage advice.
Before you take away the phone from a teenager who is too engrossed in their screens, ask what they are trying to distract themselves from. Listen to teens when they want to share it. And don't be afraid to say the hardest things out loud.
“Walking around the bush can be really suffocating,” said 17-year-old Jules. “Suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation, self-harm, things like that – just not calling it what it is can be really damaging… Just letting them get it off their chest and not keeping it bottled up and not being ashamed of what they're thinking can have a really big impact. You don't know how much relief it can be to talk about it, to talk about it and to be listened to.”
If you are a youth in need of mental or emotional support, contact Teen Line at (800) 852-8336 between 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm PST; by texting TEEN to 839863 between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm PST; or by sending an email any time to www.teenline.org/email-us.
