Esther: Family values can stem tide of suicide kids
CHILDLINE founder Esther Rantzen yesterday called for a return to traditional family values as she revealed the charity gets more calls from depressed children than from those who have been abused.
She said parents’ increasingly busy lives coupled with social media are causing a generation to grow up feeling ‘anxious and isolated’.
Last year, the charity handled 21,800 calls relating to alleged child abuse, but 22,400 calls from children contemplating suicide.
Blaming the rise of the ‘like’ culture, the former television presenter said the problem was a world away from the issues facing young people when she set up the charity in 1986.
Yesterday, she visited Childline’s Glasgow base where she met teenage volunteers. Dame Esther said: ‘When we opened in 1986, the single biggest problem children brought to us was sexual abuse.
‘That is still in the top ten problems we are hearing about, but now it’s joined by anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders and self-harm, so there’s a lot more going on in terms of mental health issues than in the early days.’
Childline has 12 UK centres, including Glasgow and Aberdeen. In the past year, the Scottish centres conducted 49,215 counselling sessions with young people.
Dame Esther said families sitting down and eating together could help children with mental health problems.
She added: ‘What makes a child feel suicidal? It could be