YouthLine offers free interactive lessons in school settings to help teens tackle common life stressors.
Our 45-90 minutes classroom lessons are tailored to your classroom and designed to:
- Complement existing health curriculum
- Normalize help seeking behavior
- Destigmatize conversations about mental health and substance use
- Identify individualized support systems, trusted adults, and community resources
About Our Lessons
We believe that
1) teens are resilient,
2) teens can gain coping skills to positively guide their lives, and
3) negative perceptions around mental health and seeking help can be turned around.
We deliver lessons using interactive co-facilitation and peer teaching that keeps students engaged. YouthLine volunteers help initiate and lead discussions that normalize subject matter.
Please keep in mind: We currently offer classroom education on Mondays and Tuesdays. We reach capacity at 45 students and additional classes may not be combined. We do not require technology, but we must have access to ample wall space.
For more information or to schedule YouthLine Outreach in your area, email YouthL@linesforlife.org.
Let’s Talk YouthLine
Learn Mental Health Concepts and understand YouthLine as a resource.
Grades 6-12
This unique 30-40 minute lesson introduces the YouthLine as a resource for students while normalizing mental health conversations and help-seeking behavior. Students identify individualized supports and self-care strategies. Each attendee receives our Getting Through Today brochure and an interactive wallet card.
Skill building: Define Mental Health concerns, identify appropriate resources, increase help-seeking behaviors
Coping with Stress
Learning to manage stress fosters resiliency and increases students capacity to discover their own strategies to help calm and regulate when they need it most.
Grades 6-12
Classes build a collective definition of Stress, examine their stressors, and discuss how people cope with stress. Through brainstorming activities, teens learn to identify stress in their lives. Students begin evaluating their own coping strategies and support systems. Each attendee receives our Getting Through Today brochure and an interactive wallet card.
Skill building: recognize stress, distinguish between healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, identify appropriate resources, increase help-seeking behaviors
Suicide Awareness
Moving past stigma improves life-saving ability to recognize and address the signs of suicide.
Grades 9-12
This lesson combats the stigma around suicidal ideation and depression and gives students a chance to talk about these uncomfortable topics. Teens learn to recognize the signs of suicidal ideation, gauge their personal comfort level with the topic, and identify how to help a friend in crisis.
Skill building: recognize the prevalence of suicide in Oregon, learn warning signs and symptoms of both suicidal thoughts and depression, identify help-seeking behaviors
[Lessons meet Oregon Department of Education Health Standards for Analyzing Influences, Accessing Information, Self-Management, Advocacy, Decision Making, Goal Setting, Interpersonal Communication]
Connecting in the Community
YouthLine provides youth supported outreach, education, destigmatizaion and awareness to communities throughout the state of Oregon (and beyond!) through:
- Classroom presentations
- Trainings for adult and youth gatekeepers
- Youth related conferences and summits
- Provider workshops
- Community events
- Wellness podcasts and webinars
- Informational materials
- Postvention
- Legislative advocacy
- Fundraisers
- And more…
Why Outreach?
The YouthLine’s outreach work is the main way that we reach out to and serve those in our community. Through research supported classroom lessons about sensitive topics like suicide, bullying, and stress, the YouthLine connects to thousands of students across Oregon each year. During the 2019-2020 school year, we reached over 20,000 teens through classroom education and community outreach.
YouthLine works with various community partners to provide youth-focused workshops, provide information and resources and attend various conferences, tabling events, and other community events. Our goal is to spread the word about YouthLine and educate others about mental health, wellness, breaking the stigma around these topics, and normalizing help seeking behavior.
For more information or to schedule YouthLine Outreach in your area:
Email YouthL@linesforlife.org