Amid Trump administration cuts, L.A. teens provide mental health lifeline

As federal cuts slash adolescent mental health funding, a group of Los Angeles teenagers is stepping in to provide support for their peers through a crisis hotline.

Teen Line, a Century City-based program run by the nonprofit Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, trains teenage volunteers to answer calls, texts, and emails from young people in crisis. Volunteers say they are already hearing from teens affected by the Trump administration’s rollback of federal support.

The teens call because someone is hurting them or they are afraid of hurting themselves. They text because an important relationship has ended or a troubling conflict has started. At the heart of almost every call, text or email is the same cry of pain: Nobody is listening.

That is where the volunteers step in.

“Even if their situation is really difficult, the best that we can do at the start is always just to listen,” said Mendez, 18, who is leaving for college after years at Teen Line. “And even if we don’t have a solution for them, I feel like that is one thing that just helps them so much.”

The hotline has seen steady growth. Volunteers fielded 8,886 calls, texts and emails in 2024, and managers expect to surpass 10,000 this year. The lines are open daily from 6 to 10 p.m. Pacific time for calls and until 9 p.m. for texts, with email available around the clock.

The need is acute. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study last year found that 39.7% of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, and 20.4% said they had seriously considered suicide.

Meanwhile, government support is shrinking. In April, the Trump administration ended $1 billion in federal grants that schools had used to hire psychologists and social workers. Congress’ Big Beautiful Bill, passed in May, proposed major cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, all critical sources of mental health care access for young people.

In July, the administration also removed an option from the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline that had allowed LGBTQ+ youth to connect directly with counselors trained to support queer teens. Since its 2022 launch, more than 1.3 million queer young people have used the feature.

Despite these setbacks, Teen Line’s 60 to 70 youth volunteers — each required to complete 65 hours of training and work at least two shifts per month — remain committed.

Each night, eight to 12 high school students gather in a Century City office decorated with hand-painted canvases and stuffed animals. After school, homework and jobs, they sit down at cubicles to take calls and chats from peers across the U.S., Canada, and beyond.

Max, 15, said she was surprised to find that “each call has a kernel of hope for the caller’s future.”

She added that the national discussion about the youth mental health crisis often excludes the voices of teens themselves. “The people having these conversations aren’t teens. They’re people kind of trying to look through the window from outside the glass.”

Teenagers, she said, face unique challenges, from social media pressures to school lockdown drills and climate anxiety. “Being a teen is a time of huge responsibility, but with so little control and so little power,” Max said. “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.”

Teen Line does not replace professional therapy, said Didi Hirsch Chief Executive Lyn Morris. Instead, it serves as a “stepping stone” for young people who may not know how to seek help.