NSPCC launches Call for Help campaign to handle increased December calls
Howard Lake | 20 November 2014 | News
The NSPCC has today launched its Call for Help campaign to help its ChildLine service respond to the anticipated rise in the volumes of calls from children and young people in December and over Christmas.
In December 2013 trained ChildLine counsellors carried out almost 23,000 counselling sessions. The most common reason (13% of all sessions) for contacting ChildLine was family relationship issues, from worries relating to parents separating to wanting to leave home after family arguments.
In the same month over 1,600 children and young people contacted ChildLine feeling suicidal, a 38% increase on December 2012. Similarly there was a 36% increase in counselling sessions on the subject of low self-esteem and unhappiness.
Not surprisingly, for many, Christmas Day is a particularly difficult time. ChildLine reported a 24% increase in the number of counselling sessions on Christmas Day 2013 compared to December 2012.
The NSPCC Call for Help campaign invites people to text HOPE to 70744 to donate £4. It aims to raise £930,000.
Director of ChildLine, Peter Liver, explained the reason behind the NSPCC’s Call for Help appeal. He said:
“This year, hundreds of ChildLine counsellors will be spending Christmas Day not with their families, but seeing the other side of the festive season. We’ll be talking to children and young people for whom Christmas can be a truly miserable time, listening to them, providing advice and support and being there for them when they can’t talk to anyone else about what they’re going through.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that ChildLine really could be the difference between life and death for some children this Christmas”.
The NSPCC’s ChildLine service is free, confidential, and operates 24-hours a day, and will be open throughout the festive season.
Texts cost £4 plus one standard network message charge, and you must have the bill payers’ permission to use this service. The NSPCC expects to receive approximately £3.99 per message depending on your network.
Photography by Alex Hansen. The child pictured is a model.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.