Between April 2023 and March 2024 the NSPCC Childline bases in Northern Ireland delivered 22,196 counselling sessions to children across the UK. This is an average of 427 a week. The two Northern Ireland bases, Foyle and Belfast, delivered 12% of all Childline counselling sessions in the UK in 2023/24.
A young girl’s parents are sentenced to time in prison, she and her brothers and sisters are farmed out to relatives. It isn’t perfect and before long it’s decided they should be fostered. Worried about her parents, fearful for her siblings and being bullied at school, she runs away. It’s a rough and dangerous existence until she hears about NSPCC Childline. She is so desperate she phones the number and her life is changed.
“The support I got helped to build my confidence and made me feel as though I could stand up for myself,” she says. “I now understand my rights and how I should be treated. I feel less anxious which means I can be more at ease to concentrate on being a teenager, having fun and doing well at school.”
At the other end of her phone call was a volunteer. What makes a woman with her own beauty salon in Comber, Co Down retire to become a volunteer with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children?
“An ad on radio looking for people to come forward and learn more about this service and now, nine years later, I’m Childline volunteer engagement lead, working with members of the public who volunteer to help children in distress,” explains Gillian Mills.
Childline is a universal listening service for anyone under the age of 19. It’s available 12 months of the year, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. But what does it mean to offer yourself, what does it entail? would I be able to do it successfully?
Consider Offering Your Time
Gillian is reassuring and invites you to find out for yourself. “First of all email me and I’ll guide you through the application and training procedure which lasts 12 weeks, three-and-a-half hours each week online,” she explains.
“There are 12 centres in the UK which means the first available volunteer will pick up the phone, it won’t always be a local voice but a qualified councillor offers the same listening ear wherever they are living.
“With the huge volume of calls every day the NSPCC is always looking for Childline volunteers to deal with the calls, whether it’s a phone call, an email, or a chat online or via the website, At busy times you may have to hold on but you will be answered. It’s free and, most importantly, entirely confidential.”
If you look behind the statistics there is great pain and sadness for many children. If only they had known about Childline when their young lives were going through torment it might have saved them such fear and distress.
That’s the importance of getting the message of Childline out to our young people who will benefit from using this listening service. The terrible suffering of 10-year-old Sara Sharif stunned everyone and again drew attention to the subject of child abuse and, in this instance, torture.
If you look behind the statistics there is great pain and sadness for many children. If only they had known about Childline when their young lives were going through torment it might have saved them such fear and distress
Gillian Sends This Message
“Please, if you ever have any concerns about a child, report it to the Adult Helpline by phone - 0808 800 5000 - or by email.” (The email address is help@NSPCC.org.uk).
And another please: “We need volunteers to help children in distress. I made the phone call to offer myself as a volunteer and it was the best phone call I’ve ever made. If you want to talk to me about volunteering my address is gillian.mills@nspcc.org.uk.”
Calls to Childline, whether on the phone or online are free, confidential and no record appears on the phone bill. Many young people prefer to text, typing their concerns rather than speaking out loud where they might be overheard at home, in school or on the bus.”
I asked Gillian about the effect such calls might have on the volunteer. “Certainly it’s challenging, calls could be about a lost pet which is causing a consuming concern but more often it’s a fall out at home, friendship and school issues, mental or emotional health, abuse of some kind and so often bullying,” she says.
“It obviously affects you but if you are disturbed by a call, there’s always a staff practitioner in the room to give advice and reassurance. This may be in the Belfast office or in Foyle. A call isn’t always concluded as you’d like it to but when you get a ‘Thank you for listening to me’, it’s so rewarding.”
For young people in distress Childline phone number is 0800 1111. More details at childline.org.uk
