Media Centre

The COVID-19 lockdown and containment measures, along with other aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, has impacted on the mental health of Australian children and young people.

Kids Helpline, a service of yourtown, has announced extra counsellors have been engaged to respond to increased demand from children and young people. Children and young people are contacting Kids Helpline in increasing numbers relating to significant issues around child abuse, mental health, self-harm and suicidality. 

New data has revealed that children and young people are contacting Kids Helpline in increasing numbers regarding Child abuse, Mental Health, Self-harm and Suicidality. Calls regarding these significant issues accounted for 48.4% of all contacts in 2020 compared to 45.5% of all contacts through the same three-month period in 2019.

With the majority of Queensland public school students returning to school next week, yourtown is calling on parents and carers to take this time to look after their own mental wellbeing.

Kids Helpline, a service of yourtown, says contacts about child abuse and suicidal concerns have spiked in the past four months during the coronavirus crisis.

Kids Helpline, a service of yourtown, has expanded by opening a purpose-built Counselling Centre in western Sydney this week to support children and young people with what is unfolding as a tumultuous year from bushfires to COVID-19. 

An initial 15 professional counsellors have been employed as part of the full capacity expected to double this number of qualified Counsellors, Supervisors and support staff by the end of May.

Kids Helpline has been hit with a sharp spike for mental health counselling, with children and young people attempting to contact the service every 69 seconds.

“This is an extraordinary moment in time as we face unprecedented demand on our counselling service. We are currently experiencing a 40% increase over the same time last year from children and young people,” said yourtown Chief Executive Officer Tracy Adams.

Kids Helpline, a service of yourtown welcomes the Federal Government’s funding boost of $2 Million to help Kids Helpline deal with the rise in demand.

yourtown Chief Executive Officer Tracy Adams, commended Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt for his commitment to support mental health services and his investment in Kids Helpline.
 

As the situation around COVID-19 continues to develop, yourtown is reminding children and young people that Kids Helpline is available to children and young people experiencing anxiety or concerns through these challenging times.

Kids Helpline is Australia’s only national 24/7 counselling and support service, specifically for children and young people aged 5 to 25 years. Visit www.kidshelpline.com.au or free call 1800 55 1800. 

“The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (Friday March 20) is an opportunity to share anti-bullying strategies and ‘take a stand together’, beginning with how we behave particularly around our children,” said yourtown Chief Executive Officer Tracy Adams.

Kids Helpline, a service of yourtown, stated that evidence suggests bullying is a learned behaviour and it is critical that parents role model positive behaviours to break the cycle of bullying.