Demand spikes at CA Parent and Youth Helpline as state support ends

Public News Service

Policy decisions on the state and federal levels are creating chaos for the California-based National Parent and Youth Helpline, a service that connects callers in emotional distress to trained counselors. California cut $3 million for the helpline out of the state budget this past June, after supporting the program since its inception in 2020.

Lisa Pion-Berlin, president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, the nonprofit organization that runs the helpline, said the cuts came at a particularly bad time, because calls to the helpline doubled between August and September.

“So, we know the demand is increasing, but our capacity is not increasing, which means one thing – our abandonment rate goes up,” she said. “We can’t answer fast enough, we can’t respond fast enough because we don’t have the staff to do that. People who leave us messages, we call them back. We have people who are in crisis who, we call them back, several times.”

Pion-Berlin added that cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in the Republican tax-cut-and-spending bill passed this summer will hurt struggling families. She adds she worries that the administration will use the government shutdown as an excuse to cut social service programs like the helpline, which receives $2 million a year in federal funds.

In July, the Trump administration pulled the plug on the specialized counseling for LGBTQ people that used to be available on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Pion-Berlin added that, along with other federal policy changes, is causing emotional turmoil.