Childline’s 24-hour confidential online and telephone counselling service provides children and young people across the UK with emotional support.
In recent years, Childline has seen growing demand for its online counselling and an increase in the level of risk and complexity in issues presented by young people, particularly around mental health.
To meet the needs of young people, an enhanced counselling model was developed. It retains the core principles of Childline counselling whilst drawing on elements of established therapeutic practices to provide counsellors with a greater range of tools and techniques to support young people.
This evidence briefing looks at the implementation of the enhanced counselling model in two Childline bases and considers:
- practitioners’ experiences of using the enhanced counselling model
- early impressions on the effectiveness of the enhanced model
- factors that supported or hindered implementation of the enhanced model.
Evidence was gathered from focus groups and surveys with Childline counsellors and supervisors, and a feedback survey with young people.
Authors: Chloe Gill and Caroline Elliot
Published: 2022