PHOENIX -- Intense phone calls come into the hotline every day.
Callers threaten suicide, worry about pregnancy and abusive relationships, and reveal deep secrets about problems in their lives.
The callers are teens.
And the people who listen to those teens' struggles and stories over the phone are their peers.
"I feel completely prepared to answer any call that comes in through the hotline, no matter how intense or how horrible it can be," said Emily, 18, who listens to the phone calls.
Emily volunteers for
Teen Lifeline, (602-248-TEEN or 800-248-TEEN) a hotline designed to help troubled youth seek help from a peer counselor at any time of day.
She has been volunteering at the Phoenix office for a few years.
"Somebody who's feeling suicidal is extremely depressed and sad and feels like there's no other option," she said, "but they also realize that they're finally talking to somebody, and that's a step in the right direction. They're actually getting help from somebody."
Emily said she's received dozens of hours of training to learn how to handle various situations and phone calls.
A professional supervisor is also constantly available to help.
According to Nikki Kontz, a social worker and clinical coordinator for Teen Lifeline, a quarter of the phone calls that come into the hotline are suicide or depression-related.
In the last year, the numbers of calls coming into the hotline have increased.
Last year, she said, Teen Lifeline received approximately 7,400 phone calls. This year, she said she expects the number of calls to increase by more than ten percent, and she attributes some of the increase to the economy.
"With the loss of jobs, with increased stress within the family environment, it has also then built upon the stress within the teens' lives," she said.
"They might not be able to express it or understand it as directly related to the economy and what's going on within the nation, but what they are able to say is that things have definitely changed within their family dynamics," she said.
"We can definitely equate that to parents having a loss of jobs, increase in financial responsibility, losing a home - any number of different things that the economy has control over," she added.
Kontz also said younger kids have been calling more often this year, and Teen Lifeline has received extra relationship-related calls as well as calls pertaining to bullying.
"As we've seen the economic climate worsen," said Dana, 18, another volunteer, "there's definitely been a lot more stress at home, and there's definitely more calls."
"There's always a reason for a call," she added, "that maybe the caller isn't aware of."
"If there's a lot of stress on a family, the caller isn't the one who is necessarily aware of the money problems or anything like that, but the caller just knows that they're feeling stressed or they're feeling depressed because of the rift in their family," she said.
Kontz said she believes the economy may be affecting teens who choose to volunteer as well.
"The hotline is staffed from 3:00pm to 9:00pm with teenage volunteers ages 15 and up," she said. "This past year, we have seen an increase in those interested in training as well as those that are completing our training process."
She estimated the number of volunteers has increased to sixty volunteers from forty or fifty the previous year.
"Part of this is that there really aren't any jobs for anyone, even teenagers," she said.
"So, a lot of the jobs that might've been taken by teens before are now being taken by adults that are trying to feed their families," she added.
"Teens have a lot more time on their hands," she said.
Kontz said teens and families are also becoming more interested giving back to their communities because of the tough economy as well.
"This is an opportunity for them to...offer support," she said.
In the spirit of full disclosure:
Katie Raml serves on the Advisory Council for Teen Lifeline.
Lori Jane Gliha will serve as the emcee during this year's awards ceremony.
