Maui Youth & Family Services partners with YouthLine to provide Maui youth with mental health support

Maui Youth & Family Services (MYFS) is partnering with YouthLine, a program of Lines for Life, to bring a youth peer-to-peer support and crisis hotline to Hawai‘i.

YouthLine is available by calling, texting, chatting online or by email:

Call: 877-968-8491
Text: ‘teen2teen’ to 839863
Chat: Online
Email: teen2teen@linesforlife.org

As self-harm and suicide rates continue to rise across the nation, and as they are the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-24, the organizations recognize the importance of providing preventative resources like crisis call centers. These are safe spaces where young people can talk, text, or chat with trained peers who truly understand what they’re going through.

“It’s really important that youth have a place at the table with programs that are being made for them,” said Ashley Tone, assistant director of YouthLine Education & Outreach of Hawaiʻi. “We believe in creating robust programs that not only support youth but are also informed directly by their thoughts and feelings. Hearing their perspectives in a space that emphasizes peer support helps to foster a safer, more inclusive environment.”

MYFS and YouthLine are collaborating on conducting focus groups throughout Maui that concentrate on understanding the emotional needs of Hawaiʻi’s youth. Youth input will be included in a 65-hour training curriculum that includes classroom training, roleplays, and listening sessions.

“YouthLine is a terrific program, and I’m very excited to be working with them to bring this service to our youth on Maui,” said Nicole Hokoana, MYFS CEO.

Since 1987, MYFS, a Maui Behavioral Health Resources agency, has provided mental health and wellbeing programs for Maui County’s youth, such as outpatient and school-based counseling, residential shelters, and substance use treatment. This partnership will further extend MYFS’s initiative to develop personalized plans focused on positive change to help the whole family thrive. Garnering data about youth needs, and working with YouthLine to provide direct services, MYFS hopes to continue to provide timely, current and relevant resources for youth in Maui County.

This work is supported by Maui United Way’s Sentry Mālama Nā Keiki Initiative. The initiative provides critical mental health support for Maui keiki impacted both directly and indirectly by the Lahaina wildfires, through a variety of activities, direct services, and partnerships with local youth-serving organizations.

Maui Youth & Family Services is part of Maui Behavioral Health Resources, an umbrella organization of three nonprofit agencies that also includes Aloha House and Mālama Family Recovery Center. All three agencies seek to provide mental health and substance use disorder treatment to Maui residents. Together, the agencies provide services to almost 8,000 individuals in the Maui community each year. Learn more at www.MBHR.org.