Suicide calls to Childline at record high

ARECORD number of children have sought help from Childline over suicidal thoughts. Suicidal thoughts and feelings were one of the most common reasons for children in Wales to contact the helpline over the last year, NSPCC Cymru Wales figures have revealed, following a 20% rise in the amount of help received by those aged as young as 10.

This year a total of 769 counselling sessions were carried out for children in Wales worried about suicide compared to 614 sessions the year before.

The charity said young people were most likely to be counselled about suicidal thoughts and feelings on Monday evenings, and most children confided to counsellors online via the charity’s 1-2-1 chat service, or by email. The second most common reason children contacted the support service was for family relationships and the third most common was bullying and cyber-bullying.

Sexting was the most viewed information advice on the Childline website for the fourth year running with more than 220,000 page views – up 20% on the previous year.

Head of NSPCC Cymru Des Mannion described the news as a “blunt wake-up call”.

He said: “We have never seen figures like these before. Young people must know life is worth living and they can lead a life rich in possibilities and happiness. When they are suffering from problems it’s vital they get the right help swiftly before these issues snowball into suicidal feelings or even attempts to end their lives.”

With a 9% increase in children receiving counselling for suicide across the UK, the NSPCC warned that many children were “shouldering” their troubles and turning for help only at “crisis point”.

Speaking about his depression when he was a teenager, Steve – now aged 31 – and from Llantrisant said young people should try to seek help as soon as possible. He said: “I came from a very loving family. But as a teenager I was also living with depression which at times left me feeling suicidal.

“I started to suffer from depression when I was around 11. I started to feel really isolated and that I didn’t belong anywhere.

“The more alone I felt the more I wanted to retreat into myself and the worse the isolation got. It affected every part of my day.”