Lines for Life

Lines for Life is Oregon’s home for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. We provide help and hope to individuals and communities through mental health and substance abuse prevention programs and crisis support services. Want to become an ambassador for mental wellness? Join us and advocate for mental health, gain skills and resources, and help prevent substance abuse and suicide.

Important to Note: Only residents on the reservation or members of Warm Springs can volunteer.

We bring communities together to promote mental wellness and break the stigma associated with reaching out for help. We offer skills training to help communities recognize and respond to mental health concerns before they reach a point of crisis, and advocate for state and federal policies to create lasting change.

The YouthLine has been serving Central Oregon for over 20 years, working in classrooms and answering calls and texts from youth in crisis since 1993. In 2019, The YouthLine established the first YouthLine satellite team in Central Oregon on the OSU Cascades campus. Since then, more than 40 youth volunteers have been trained and answered thousands of crisis calls, texts, and chats in Oregon and across the United States.

In October of 2022, we opened a second Central Oregon satellite on the Warm Springs Reservation. This program will train native Native youth volunteers to respond to calls, texts and chats and engage them with relevant and culturally specific ideas. Our staff and youth volunteers are working hard to meet the growing needs of youth experiencing mental health issues – whether it is a bad grade, a relationship break-up, gender identity, or suicide ideation. The YouthLine is expanding to meet those needs and decrease the stigma surrounding talking about mental health and suicide.

YouthLine operates under the umbrella of Lines for Life; a non-profit dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse and suicide and the promotion of mental wellness for all.

As we partner with the Warm Springs community, tribal elders, and service programs, our shared goals are to destigmatize discussions of mental health, increase help-seeking behavior, and adapt our peer-to-peer support services and educational programming to meet the specific cultural needs of tribal youth. We know that suicide disproportionately impacts Native youth, and that connections to community and culture are significant protective factors.

In addition to training youth to respond to helpline contacts with YouthLine, the program will incorporate cultural arts, traditional practices, and group activities with tribal leaders – and invite young people to become ambassadors for mental wellness in their own communities. The call center is located near the Warm Springs Prevention Team and the Culture & Heritage Center, facilitating these program partnerships.