Teen Lifeline Celebrates Silver Anniversary
Commemorating 25 years of saving lives and empowering youth!

Teen Lifeline has helped more than 500,000 teens and families since 1986, celebrating 25 years of remarkable impact on the youth of Arizona!

Inspired by the 1985 movie Surviving, which chronicled the suicides of two teenagers, Teen Lifeline has provided peer-based counseling that not only helps teens considering suicide but also empowers those specially trained peer counselors themselves.  More than 125,000 calls have been made to the hotline, with more than 1,200 peer counselors taking those calls under the supervision of Master’s-level mental health clinicians. These teens have contributed more than 255,000 hours of community service with a combine worth of over $2.5 million in donated time. In addition, nearly 400,000 teens have participated in Community Education programs that discuss openly the issue of teen suicide, providing tools and information to deal with the emotional challenges that teens face every day.

“Nobody can better understand what a teen is going through than another teen and that simple concept is what makes Teen Lifeline work,” said Executive Director Michelle Moorhead. “We have been blessed with wonderful support from the community for 25 years and have worked diligently to reward that support by truly affecting the lives of teens in Arizona. Over the past 25 years, we have seen a decrease in teen suicide in Arizona, 2nd highest rate in the nation to 9th highest, and we still have much work to do.” 

Teen Lifeline, is an independent Phoenix based, 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a safe, confidential and crucial crisis service where teens help teens make healthy decisions. The organization strives to impact the devastating problem of teen suicide in Arizona so that any teen at any time will have knowledge and access to Teen Lifeline, its counselors and services.