Teen Lifeline in Tucson

The mission of Teen Lifeline is to prevent teen suicide in Arizona through enhancing resiliency in youth and fostering supportive communities.

In Tucson, we seek to collaborate with youth and their community to recognize and respond to suicide risk. We strive to do this by uniquely creating connections to help, and engaging local teens as peer counselors.

Because we envision a world where all youth possess a sense of connectedness and hope for their future!

24/7/365 crisis hotline for teens, answered by teen peer counselors.

• Call 24/7/365
• Textline hours are 12 to 9 p.m. Monday – Friday / 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday & Sunday
• Peer counseling available from 3 to 9 p.m. every day

Our clinicians teach best-practices suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention to students, schools, parents, and community groups. We also participate in wellness fairs and mental health events across the state.

Stickers on the back of school IDs with our hotline number and a message of hope ensure a connection to help is in every student’s pocket.

Arizona law ARS 15-160 requires all schools grade 9 – 12 to print hotline information on the back of student IDs. Teen Lifeline is the only crisis hotline in Arizona specifically for teens, answered by trained teen peer counselors—and over 450 schools have our number on the back of their student IDs.

If you’re an administrator who wants to add Teen Lifeline’s hotline information on your school’s student IDs, reach out to Community Liaison Melissa Hall at melissa@teenlifeline.org for assistance and materials.

Teens across the Phoenix and Tucson areas help their peers on the hotline every day as peer counselors. With 72+ hours of life skills development training, teen volunteers learn advanced coping and communication skills to help both themselves and their peers through life’s challenges. This training is conducted four times a year (once a quarter).

To become a peer counselor, teen volunteers must meet the following requirements:

• Be 15 – 19 years old
• Have reliable transportation to and from our Phoenix or Tucson locations
• Make a commitment to volunteer 15 hours (2-3 shifts) per month for at least 4 months

When a teen is discharged from a psychiatric facility after a mental health crisis, teen peer counselors support their transition back to daily life with caring messages in calls, texts, and letters.