As well as practicing social distancing in our service centres, we also created new volunteer roles - answering emails from children and young people - to allow volunteers to work virtually. Between April and January , Childline counsellors have delivered over , counselling sessions to children and young people.
Mental and emotional health make up over a third of all the counselling sessions delivered, with concerns ranging from coping with stress and loneliness to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Childline is always here to listen. Young people also turned to the Childline website for support, advice and distraction throughout the pandemic.
Over the last year:. We want to be there for every child who needs us, no matter what their worry or how they choose to contact us. Children and young people sometimes have to wait for a Childline counsellor to be available. One example of this is the creation of Cubie, our chatbot helper that we've developed with our technology partner O2. Cubie ask s important opening questions to children and young people while they wait.
It also point s them to helpful advice, support and games around the site to try in the meantime. On average, online counselling sessions take over three times as long as over the phone — and make up around three quarters of our sessions. Donate now. You can help g ive children and young people a voice when no one else is listening. Volunteer with us. Volunteer for vital services like Childline and help us make a difference to children with no one to turn to.
Instead of simply asking a child to stop self-harming, it can be helpful to suggest something they could do instead to cope with difficult feelings. Childline also has many more self-harm coping techniques for children and young people. The wall of expression game can also be a helpful way for young people to deal with difficult feelings.
Whether it's volunteering for us, challenging yourself with an event or campaigning, there are lots of ways you can help us keep more children safe. Get involved. NSPCC Learning has resources and information to help you recognise and respond to child mental health issues.
Learn how to spot the signs a child may be struggling with their mental health, and what you can do to help. At her lowest moments, Childline helped her to feel someone cared. Read Sioned's story. The Calm Zone is a relatively new area of the site which was launched in December Early figures showed levels around 15, pageviews per month February. This includes the time taken by the counsellor to record information after the counselling session is finished. What is child abuse? Types of abuse.
Spotting the signs of child abuse. Effects of child abuse. Children's stories. Reporting abuse. Our services. How could someone injure themselves?
Any of the following methods could be used: Biting Bone breaking Burning Carving words or symbols into the skin Cutting making cuts or scratches on the skin with sharp objects such as knives, needles, razor blades, scissors, pins, fingernails, etc. However, self-inflicted injury may cause serious medical problems, including: Life-threatening blood loss Deep cuts needing stitches Infections from wounds or dirty cutting objects Increased feelings of shame, guilt and low self-esteem Unintended suicide Self-inflicted injury is usually not suicidal behavior; however, it may result in death.
Higher risk of attempted suicide Most people who injure themselves are not trying to die by suicide. However, the emotional problems and pain that lead to self-inflicted injury may lead to attempted suicide. Repeated self-inflicted injury Self-inflicted injury can become a compulsive behavior. Why would someone purposely injure themselves? What are warning signs of self-inflicted injury? Warning signs of self-inflicted injury include: Scars from burns, cuts, etc. Openly express your concern, support, and love.
Texting, Facebook, email, and cell phone calls make their friendships accessible and immediate. Additionally, the advent of social networking technologies makes an entire group of healthy friends immediately accessible with a simple text message via cell phone. Often, there is deeper meaning to adolescent self-injury than what might be readily observable.
One young woman wrote the following after her therapist asked her to define her deeper reasons for self harm. Sort of like how when you're helping someone with an eating disorder you don't obsess about their weight, you figure out why they have developed an eating disorder and deal with those issues. Most adolescents struggle with knowing who they are, but this is an even more difficult dilemma for teens engaged in cutting.
When a therapist or other caregiver helps a young woman reconnect with her identity, especially who she was as a child, it can be a powerful entry point for effective therapy and can help correct the problem. Often, the pain with which she is trying to cope has blinded her to any positive events in her past. Scrapbooks, photographs, and stories about her can be touchstones she can return to when she forgets who she is or is confused by the turmoil that the immediate pain causes in her life.
The pain threatens the very idea of their self-worth. Building on the foundation of an affirming relationship, she will be more likely to listen when we tell her what we think of her.
If we tie our stories to concrete events, to things which she cannot deny have happened, it adds credibility to our opinion of her, and she will eventually return to a more complete memory of herself. At her core, she begins to lose hope in the value she brings to the world and her family and friends.
She loses touch with the infinite part of herself — the part which cannot be measured and which is invaluable. Our relationships should be built on alliance, not compliance. As therapists and parents, we sometimes forget that our job is to influence adolescents in our care to make good decisions, not to manipulate, shame, or control them into more positive behavior. We become so anxious for the welfare of our clients and daughters, that we unthinkingly trade their individual agency for our need to reduce our own anxiety about their safety.
Authoritarian forms of relationship will eventually produce the opposite of what we want. As difficult as it is, try to keep in mind that exploring what pressures prompt your teen to self-injure is a necessary step toward healing.
Talk to your child. It can be hard to talk about such a painful topic. You may not know what you're going to say. That's OK. What you say won't be nearly as important as how you say it. To open the conversation, you might simply say that you know about the cutting, and then convey your concern, love, and your willingness to help your child stop. It will probably be hard for your teen to talk about it, too. He or she might feel embarrassed or ashamed, or worried about how you'll react or what the consequences might be.
You can help ease these worries by asking questions and listening to what your teen has to say without reacting with punishment, scolding, or lectures. Let your teen know that cutting is often related to painful experiences or intense pressures, and ask what difficult issues your teen may be facing. Your teen might not be ready to talk about it or even know why he or she cuts. Even if that's the case, explain that you want to understand and find ways to help. Don't be surprised if your teen resists your efforts to talk about cutting.
He or she might deny cutting, get angry or upset, cry, yell, or storm off. A teen might clam up or say that you just don't understand. If something like this happens, try to stay calm and patient. Don't give up — find another time to communicate and try again.
Seek professional help. It's important to seek assistance from a qualified mental health professional who can help you understand why your teen cuts, and also help your teen heal old hurts and develop new coping skills. Therapy can allow teens to tell their stories, put their difficult experiences into words, and learn skills to deal with stresses that are part of life.
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