About

Advising One Youth at a Time

By Muslim Youth for All Youth

The YCL is made possible through the support of the H. Hassan Family, Annie E Casey Foundation, Horizon Foundation and the Baltimore Community Foundation

Overview

The Islamic Leadership Institute of America (ILIA), a 501c(3) educational and research nonprofit founded in 2009, Youth Crisis Line (YCL) launched in late 2015. Since its inception it had received thousands of calls from throughout the United States, and with the grace of Allah (swt) helped stabilize dozens of suicidal individuals who called ILIA through the line.

The YCL has received calls from youth as young as 13 years of age and from youth care takers such as parents, grandparents and teachers as old as 70+ years of age. Most callers report issues such as bullying, sexual abuse, suicidal thoughts or attempts, parental relations challenges, parent divorce, teen pregnancy, youth employment, homelessness and school academic challenges.

ILIA and all its programs and services including the YCL are open to all individuals who meet program objectives and admission requirements regardless of background, religion, belief, race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, age, marital status, disability, and status as a veteran. The YCL does not screen callers, nor does it have any criteria needed for callers to meet to be eligible to contact the YCL. The YCL receives request via text messaging, voice calls, instagram, twitter, email, anonymous non real-time web postings and looks forward to offer real-time anonymous texting in the near future.

How it Started

Youth Crisis Line (YCL), the first Muslim operated crisis line addressing the needs of youth of all backgrounds across America opened its lines in Sept of 2015 when it received a call from a young female adult of 17-years of age from an unknown location in the southwest region of the USA. Suffering from sexual abuse by her father in silence, and no where to go she emailed our youth development organization asking for help. Her call was the spark that made this service a reality. With the grace of God (Allah), the Crisis Line team stabilized her over a few weeks, until she was able to get back to school and eventually gradate that school year and move on to college.

Do Not Be a Statistic

The ILIA Youth Crisis Line has been serving youth of all faiths and backgrounds in more than 10 areas covering over 50 specialized areas of crisis


Types of Crises Handled

Our Counselors are Experienced in these Specializations:

Faith & Identity

  • Doubts about Faith

  • Conflict with Non-Muslim Parents

  • Doubts about Purpose in Life

  • Inconsistent Practicing

  • Questions about Dos and Don’ts

  • LGBT conflicts with Parents


Abuse

  • Bullying

  • Incest

  • Sexual Partner

  • Physical Domestic

  • Mental Abuse

  • Bondage

  • Kidnapping


Addiction

  • Alcohol

  • Marijuana

  • Pills

  • Cocaine

  • Opioids

  • Pornography

  • Sexual Activity

  • Tobacco


Criminal

  • Assault

  • Theft

  • Robbery

  • Murder

  • Human Trafficking

  • Drug Dealing

  • Traffic


Homelessness

  • Parent Abandoned

  • Poor

  • No family

  • Refugee

  • Mentally Unstable

  • Lost Income


Work

  • Discrimination

  • Bullying

  • Low Performance

  • Fired

  • Unemployed

  • Underemployed

Mental Health

  • ADHD / ADD

  • Paranoid Personality Disorder

  • Depression

  • Bipolar Anxiety

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

  • Asperger’s

  • Autism

  • Unwanted Same Gender Attraction

  • Homosexuality

  • Dyslexia

  • Eating Disorder

  • Schizophrenia

  • Hoarding

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder

  • Factitious Disorder


Poverty

  • Poor Family

  • Lost Income

  • Unable to Work

  • Gambling Drugs

  • Drinking

  • Prostitution


School Issues

  • Homework

  • Peer Pressure

  • Teacher Relations

  • Discrimination

  • Poor Academics

  • Learning Disability


Suicide

  • Death of loved one

  • Serious illness

  • Accident

  • Chronic Pain

  • Emotional Pain

  • Loss of Hope

  • Abuse

  • Serious Loss / Failure

  • Victimized

  • Traumatized

  • Drug influence