Contact Our Staff Team

1994!

You can read up on YouthLine's history on our History page and at this digital exhibition by The ArQuives.

Youth in Ontario, aged 29 and under. There are many definitions of youth in the non-profit/NFP sector, but in recent years we have seen many organizations expand their definition of youth from 'age 26 and under to age 29 and under,' in order to acknowledge that young adults of many ages share certain needs and can benefit from youth-oriented programs and services.

We train 2SLGBTQ+ youth to support other 2SLGBTQ+ youth via chat, text, and phonecall. Volunteer recruitment happens once a year.

Youth connect with us about a range of issues and with a variety of questions. The benefit of anonymous peer support (distinct from professional counselling/therapy) is that youth can connect with similar-age people who share a community and (sometimes) lived experiences. This can make it easier for youth to ask questions, talk about problems, and feel heard in their struggles.

Since we are not a counselling service, our volunteers do not require extensive schooling/professional training, and cannot offer advice to youth who chat/text/call in. Our volunteers are not trained to respond to crisis situations, which is when a youth is in immediate danger of being harmed, harming themself, or harming another person.

When a youth connects with us and is clearly in a crisis situation, we refer them to other organizations, such as local distress centres, KidsHelpPhone, and Trans Lifeline.

Yes, we operate completely anonymously.

We do not ask youth to tell us their name or address, and we do not ask our volunteers to disclose (share) personal information about themselves when they are chatting/texting/calling with youth. However, sometimes a situation will happen where a youth will share that they are in danger/being harmed or abused, as well as some kind of identifying information (such as their name and school).

If they are age 15 or under, our volunteers have the Duty to Report to a Children's Aid Society (child protective services).

You can find those statistics (and much more) in our Annual Reports.

Not currently (July 2024). In the past year, we ran two programs called the Provincial Youth Ambassadors Program and YouthOrganize. We occasionally publish reports, zines, and other cool stuff, which can be found on our Online Resources page.

We recruit volunteers for the Peer Support HelpLine once a year. You can find volunteer opportunities here.

If you're interested in a student placement with YouthLine please email info@youthline.ca.

Additionally, we do hire summer interns through the Canada Summer Jobs program. The best way to stay updated is to follow our Instagram.

To order service cards and outreach posters, click here

Thanks for your interest! Please email info@youthline.ca 

We would love to, but we're a small team with limited capacity for travel. Please email info@youthline.ca with details about your event/request, and we'll let you know if we can attend!

We are happy to give a virtual or in-person presentation about the HelpLine at schools and workplaces, depending on travel capacity.

We also occasionally give educational presentations and speak at panel events about 2SLGBTQ+ identities and issues.

Send details about your needs to info@youthline.ca

Read this FAQ, then email info@youthline.ca with any other questions you might have, as well as the deadline for your project. We'll respond as soon as possible.