Teen Lifeline saves lives; here’s how.
Teen Lifeline’s work is all done towards the mission of preventing teen suicide in Arizona by enhancing resiliency in youth and fostering supportive communities. This happens through our peer-to-peer crisis hotline and suicide prevention education services for teens, educators, and parents.
Below, we highlight the impact our programs made last year.
Our impact over the past year…
Hotline: the most hotline calls/texts in our history
The hotline had 46,098 calls and texts last year—this is double the number of calls and texts we received before the pandemic. On average, one in three were from teens considering suicide. 94% of hotline callers/texters feel better immediately after talking with a peer counselor.
Life Skills Development: teens learning how to help themselves and others
Over 90 teens volunteered with Teen Lifeline last year. Together, they volunteered over 20,000 hours last year! (The value of their peer services was over $500,000.)
Caring Contacts: a new way to support Arizona’s most at-risk teens
In 2022, Mercy Care funded the development of Teen Lifeline’s Caring Contacts program, a service supporting teens recently discharged from inpatient psychiatric care through caring calls, texts, and letters sent by our peer counselors. This program officially launched in 2023, and continued serving Arizona youth and families in 2024.
Hundreds of teens have been helped through our Caring Contacts program.
Prevention Education & Outreach: schools as a connection of hope
Last year, 171,000 teens, parents, and educators received prevention education.
Through the School ID Initiative, over 400 schools have partnered with Teen Lifeline to place our hotline info on the back of their student IDs and ensure over half a million students always have a connection of hope nearby.
Messages of Hope: peers encouraging peers to reach out when struggling
During Teen Suicide Prevention Awareness Month 2023, we worked with 33 high school student-athletes and band members to produce a series of suicide prevention PSAs. These PSAs reached 13.1 million people through social media, high school football games, school announcements, and news media.
Accredited, Top-Rated Professionals
Teen Lifeline always operates with clinical and suicide prevention best practices as a priority. Behind all of our suicide prevention education, volunteer life skills training, and hotline supervision is a team of suicide-informed, master’s level clinicians.
Teen Lifeline also receives top marks from several clinical and nonprofit reviewers across the board.
- In 2003, Teen Lifeline became the first accredited peer counseling hotline officially recognized by the American Association of Suicidology—a certification we maintain through today.
- In 2021, Teen Lifeline was also accredited by the International Council of Helplines.
- Charity Navigator rates Teen Lifeline 100 out of 100 for our programmatic impact, financial health, operational transparency, and thorough accountability.
- GuideStar awards Teen Lifeline with its Platinum Seal of Transparency every year, the highest level of recognition it grants to organizations.
- GreatNonprofits names Teen Lifeline as a Top-Rated Nonprofit every year, a highly selective award only given to the top 0.1% of charities.
Real Connections, Real Success Stories
At the end of every hotline call, suicide prevention training, student ID, donation, and program is a real person, finding and fostering connections to hope. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been changed through the support they found at Teen Lifeline; here are a few of those stories.
Real Connections, Real Success Stories
At the end of every hotline call, suicide prevention training, student ID, donation, and program is a real person, finding and fostering connections to hope. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been changed through the support they found at Teen Lifeline; here are a few of those stories.
Follow Teen Lifeline on social media!
Our suicide prevention and mental health resources don’t stop at our programs—our social media is a resource for teens, families, educators, and community leaders, too. We post several times a week on Facebook @TeenLifeline, Instagram @teen_lifeline, Twitter/X @602248TEEN, LinkedIn @Teen Lifeline, and TikTok @602248TEEN; there, you’ll find the latest:
- Suicide prevention news and how to respond to it, according to suicide prevention specialists.
- Organizational updates about Teen Lifeline’s impact, services, and how to get involved.
- Mental health education—the science of teen mental health and suicide prevention, how-to guides on supporting yourself and others, and actionable, easy-to-understand resources to improve your and your loved ones’ lives.
Preview our most recent social media posts in the feed below!
