What children and young people talked to Childline about last year
Our Childline service gives children and young people a safe and confidential space to talk, be listened to and get support.
Our annual review explores what children and young people are telling Childline during counselling sessions. It looks at who is contacting Childline, why, when and how. It includes a closer look at some of the biggest issues of the year.
Key findings from the Childline annual review 2018/19
How many children and young people contacted Childline
- In 2018/19, Childline provided over 250,000 counselling sessions to children and young people.
- The Childline website received over 3.5 million visits.
What children and young people talk to Childline about
- The top three concerns young people were counselled about were mental and emotional health; family relationships; and suicidal thoughts and feelings.
- The top three concerns on the Childline message boards were: sex and sexual health; self-harm; and relationships.
- There were over 109,000 counselling sessions about mental and emotional health and wellbeing issues (including self-harm and suicidal thoughts or feelings).
- There were over 5,100 counselling sessions about loneliness and over 5,900 counselling sessions about confidence issues.
- There were over 19,800 counselling sessions where a child or young person’s main concern was abuse (this includes sexual, physical or emotional abuse and neglect).
- There were 4,500 counselling sessions about child sexual exploitation.
How Childline is supporting children
- Nearly 1,500 Childline volunteers gave over 170,000 hours of their time to supporting children and young people in 2018/19 .
- New initiatives for 2018/19 included: a streamlined volunteering process to make it easier to become a volunteer; new volunteering shifts to increase capacity during peak times; and new tools on the Childline website to empower young people to develop coping strategies or to engage with us in different ways whilst waiting to speak to a counsellor.
Quotes
“I am so immensely grateful that you were there to listen without telling me I am lying, judging me or making me feel worse about myself and that is the amazing thing about these chats, they can save lives.”
Girl, 14, Belfast Childline base
“Little did I know that not only would being a part of such an amazing organisation be so rewarding, but it would also transform so many other areas of my life. Being at Childline has helped me develop skills that I am able to carry through all aspects of life and work.”
Matt, Childline volunteer
Citation
NSPCC (2019) Childline annual review 2018/19. London: NSPCC.