Eight YouthLine volunteers, five from Oregon and three from Maui, spent a few days in Washington, D.C. this summer doing something few teenagers ever get the opportunity to do: advocating directly to the people who write the policy. For seven of the eight, it was their first time in the nation’s capital. By the end of the trip, they had briefed U.S. Senators and addressed an international summit of suicide prevention experts.
The trip opened with YouthLine volunteer James appearing on a Fireside Chat panel at the close of the annual meeting of state mental health directors, alongside several internationally recognized suicide and addiction experts. The very first question from the audience: why youth? James’s answer landed immediately. “Adults, simply aren’t equipped to support young people the way peers are, because they no longer have the lived, current experience of what it means to grow up right now.” He went on to describe a real text he’d received on the line that began, “How do I know you are not AI; I want to die,” and walked the room through how he built trust and connection with that texter in real time.
The next day, YouthLine volunteers Nicole, Ella, and Jeremiah joined a panel at the Global Crisis Now Summit, sitting alongside leading suicide prevention experts from Australia, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. They spoke about active listening and what drives youth anxiety today, bringing both lived experience and levity to the room. At the close of the panel, Monica Johnson, who directed 988 during the Biden administration, stood not to ask a question but to offer the volunteers a tribute. “I sleep well at night because of you,” she told them. That same day, the group headed to the Senate Finance Committee, where they led a panel discussion attended by four U.S. senators, Ron Wyden, Mazie Hirono, Jeff Merkley, and Tim Kaine, along with Rep. Don Beyer, chair of the House Mental Health Caucus.
The following day brought one-on-one visits with lawmakers. Senator Hirono, originally scheduled for a quick photo, ended up spending more than an hour with the volunteers in her office, fully invested in YouthLine’s model by the end of the conversation.
The story also made its way back home. After the volunteers returned, KGW News covered their D.C. trip, highlighting their advocacy for peer-to-peer mental health services and the growing demand for youth crisis support.
Youth mental health has become one of the most urgent public health conversations in the country, and too often, young people are talked about rather than talked to. Eight teenagers did more than just describe what it’s like to struggle. They showed policymakers what it looks like when young people are trusted to lead the conversation and equipped to support one another through it. Their message that young people are uniquely equipped to support their peers through crisis, reached some of the most influential mental health policymakers in the country and around the world.
To learn more about YouthLine and the young people making this work possible, visit youthline.org.
