Annual Insights

At yourtown, we are committed to safeguarding and empowering children and young people. The 2024 yourtown annual report celebrates and acknowledges the achievements we have made on this journey, and documents where we plan to go next.

In the last year, we responded to hundreds of thousands of calls for support. On top of that, with a reach of over five million, we are proud of our role in making high-quality resources available to the community.

We also recognise that there is a long way to go. There remains a gap between demand and response capability, especially within our Kids Helpline service, and we are working to increase funding and introduce new technologies.

We want to say thank you to all those who have supported, contributed to, and been part of our work over the last financial year. We have achieved much together and are excited by what we will again achieve in 2025. Let's continue to change the lives of young people and children. We hope you will be part of this journey.

yourtown's 2024-2026 Youth Engagement Strategy reflects our unwavering commitment to empowering and uplifting young people. As it should be, this strategy was codeveloped with young people, reflecting their perspectives and hopes for the way we work together to make an impact as an organisation and as a community.

Data released today from Kids Helpline gives new insight into the mental health concerns of children and young people across Australia, while giving voice to First Nations and LGBTQIA+SB mental health and wellbeing issues. 

Results from the 2023 Kids Helpline Impact Report, published today, indicates mental health and emotional wellbeing tops the ranking across the nation accounting for (49.7%) of all counselling sessions for children and young people aged 5-25 years of age. 

The report also highlights an alarming upward trend in suicide-related concerns of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children and young people over the past 5 years.

The 2022-23 yourtown Annual Report celebrates the achievements of our organisation, acknowledges the unwavering commitment of our community supporters, corporate partners, donors, and government stakeholders, and outlines our impact in helping young people to realise they have the ability to tackle whatever life throws at them.

Over this last financial year we have remained relentless in our pursuit of helping young people access the services and supports they need.  It is an extraordinary privilege to see so many young people being supported every day from across Australia, from getting help from our Kids Helpline counsellors, seeing lives transformed through our refuges, and celebrating those young people who graduate from a training program or get a job – sometimes for the very first time.

Despite the challenges of the past year, we believe important things take time and persistence.

We have the courage to lean into the uncomfortable and continue to help young people when they are at their most vulnerable and support them in identifying and creating the path they want for themselves.

Welcome to our 2022-23 Annual Report, we hope you enjoy reading more about yourtown.

yourtown is committed to connecting with children and young people and the community in deeper, more meaningful, and empowering ways – generating a ripple effect of positive impacts. This RAP provides a roadmap for the next steps in our journey towards reconciliation, setting a strong agenda for yourtown, and ensuring clear priorities, direction, and accountability in our reconciliation journey. Our desire is to walk together with our First Nations young people, standing shoulder to shoulder with them, doing all that we can to empower them to identify, create and walk the path that they want for themselves.

For over 32 years yourtown has continued our critical work to provide free professional counselling and support 24/7 for children and young people aged 5 – 25 in Australia, through our Kids Helpline service.

In 2022, that saw Kids Helpline contacted by close to 400,000 children and young people, with millions more using our self-help resources.

The annual Kids Helpline Impact Report for 2022, highlights that demand continues to exceed capacity with only two in five children and young people able to get through to a counsellor.

With nearly 70% of all counselling sessions provided outside normal business hours, late in the evening or over the weekend, Kids Helpline's professional counsellors are often the last line of support when there is limited after-hours mental health support available.

The 2021/2022 yourtown Annual Report celebrates the achievements of our organisation, acknowledges the unwavering commitment of our community supporters, corporate partners, donors, and government stakeholders, and honours the expertise and dedication of yourtown team members.

Over the past 12 months yourtown, just like the community we serve, has had our resilience and capabilities challenged and strengthened. From the pandemic to the flooding event in Brisbane earlier this year which impacted our Head Office operations, the yourtown team has maintained their commitment, in difficult circumstances, to address the escalating demands on our service.

This Annual Report provides an opportunity to share our achievements, and by doing so, showcase our commitment in supporting children and young people through high impact service offerings, and effective advocacy.

Kids Helpline’s professional counselling workforce provided almost 100,000 counselling sessions during 2021 for children and young people, of which nearly 70% specifically related to mental health, emotional wellbeing or suicide related concerns.

The Kids Helpline Insights 2021 report highlights that more than 16% of the concerns young people raised with Kids Helpline counsellors were related to suicide. 

Kids Helpline counsellors worked with police, ambulance and child protection to support young people in imminent danger by providing emergency intervention assistance 16 times a day on average in 2021. This was an increase of 109% compared to 2020.

Crucial insights from the pandemic years have led us to an exciting and vital evolution of Kids Helpline. We are embarking on a significant transformation in how we deliver virtual services across digital platforms that support children and young people in Australia.

It goes without saying that 2020/21 has been a year like no other, and one that will continue to shape how we support children and young people to navigate the years to come.

yourtown celebrated its 60 year milestone in 2021, and remains an organisation that is accessible to all children and young people at whatever point in their lives that they may need help, but at all times on their terms. 

It was also a year where we celebrated 30 years of Kids Helpline, and despite three decades of being there 24/7, the pandemic highlighted that we have to keep focused on not only being there, but to do so for increasing numbers.

This report provides an opportunity to share our achievements and aspirations, and by doing so showcase our commitment in supporting young people through high impact programs, and effective advocacy.

2020 was a year like no other! Contacts to Kids Helpline from children and young people were up 20%, with one in four seeking help about mental health or emotional wellbeing.

Our annual Kids Helpline Insights Report shines light on the key issues that young people across Australia contacted us about. 

This year, we're also celebrating Kids Helpline's 30th birthday!

Our 'Celebrating a Milestone' report is a deep dive into the rich history of our service over 30 years - from our famous friends on cereal boxes, to our bright future in the digital space.

In the past financial year we’ve delivered another record year of growth despite the challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

yourtown has provided the resources to address the escalating demand on our services which has been critical to children and young people in these uncertain times.

Our fundamental services have been enhanced through community funding support through higher than average Art Union Draw ticket sales, and additional government funding to allow us to offer greater accessibility to our services.

The impact of the pandemic on operations, earnings, and the outlook to continue to safeguard children and young people has not been compromised. This report provides an opportunity to share our achievements and aspirations, and by doing so showcase our commitment to achieving our Mission.

This annual report provides insights into how Kids Helpline works, who we help, how we are funded, how we have evolved, and critically highlights some of the key issues children and young people across Australia engage with us about.

The past financial year has been one of our busiest yet and we have endeavoured to capture as much of that activity as possible in this report. The number of our generous supporters has grown, our engagement with stakeholders has been enhanced resulting in more funding and new partnerships, and our financial position remains strong.

yourtown received almost 190,000 contacts from those reaching out for help in 2018-19. In addition to our direct service work, we continued to make great progress with our advocacy by providing a national voice for young people to ensure they are valued, their human rights respected, and their needs and issues acknowledged in social policy. 

Our challenge this year has been to ensure greater accessibility to our services and we continue to develop resources that make a real difference.

At yourtown, we respect diversity and are inclusive of all people irrespective of their culture, gender, sexuality, values, beliefs and experiences. In our Reconciliation Action Plan, we outline our vision for reconciliation and our commitment to ensuring that young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have equitable access to social and economic opportunities and can participate fully in society.

Our annual publication provides valuable insights into the issues impacting the lives of children and young people. It highlights how they contact us, help-seeking and counselling trends.

Since 1961, we've been tackling the issues impacting young people in Australia. Today, our focus continues to be on ensuring that the programs and services we deliver to children, young people and families are relevant, welcoming and inclusive, and most importantly deliver results.

In 2017-18, we received close to 200,000 contacts from those reaching out for help. The high demand for many of our services, including Kids Helpline, has meant that we need to find ways to extend and expand our reach to the most vulnerable in our communities. Achieving adequate financial resources is crucial to creating a sustainable future.

This year we achieved a very strong financial result and our surplus means that in the coming 12 months we can introduce new programs and develop new Service Models. 

Our annual publication provides valuable insights into the issues impacting the lives of children and young people. It highlights how they contact us, help-seeking and counselling trends.

Our Reconciliation Action Plan has been developed by staff from across yourtown who represent our commitment not only to developing the plan, but to weaving reconciliation through all elements of our work. We see it as a means of advancing all dimensions of reconciliation through practical actions.

yourtown is known for tackling the issues that matter most and our work this year continued to demonstrate this commitment. We did not shy away from taking on the big issues like child protection, long-term youth unemployment, suicidality, and family and domestic violence, but we did not do this alone.

It's together and by association that we give life to our Mission and Vision. We listen to the young people we help and work with our supporters, partners and other industry professionals to share what we know, to learn, to innovate, and to provide the very best service we can for young people across Australia.

Our annual publication provides valuable insights into the issues impacting the lives of children and young people. It highlights how they contact us, help-seeking and counselling trends and our work with others to address national issues like youth self-harm, suicide, mental health and online safety.

For the highlights, view our digital report.

This year was a landmark year for the organisation, from launching our new name and creative identity, to delivering new models of service delivery and expanding our presence into new communities. It’s been a year that reflects much of what our organisation aims to represent - courage, belief and commitment to creating brighter futures for young people across Australia.

Parentline has been strengthening parents and families for 20 years, assisting hundreds of thousands of parents and carers since 1996. This report provides valuable insights into issues affecting families over the last 20 years.

This annual publication is an overview of the key issues that parents, carers and family members sought help or support for through telephone, email and web counselling in 2015. It details the diversity of Parentline contacts, their main concerns and the nature of those concerns. It also talks about our counselling service and other work we do in the community.

Our annual publication provides valuable insights into the issues impacting the lives of children and young people. It highlights how they contact us, help-seeking and counselling trends and our work with others to address national issues like youth self-harm, suicide, mental health and online safety.

In 2014, yourtown reported on client satisfaction with the Parentline service. The annual survey also focused on effectiveness of the service and how it assists parents with a number of factors. yourtown is committed to ensuring that all services meet client needs and are evidence-based in their practice.