Children make record number of suicide calls to helpline

The NSPCC says a record number of children are phoning Childline to say they’re thinking of taking their own lives.

As Radio Aire calls for every school to have a counsellor, we’ve been finding out how many young people are making a call for help.

Childline’s annual report reveals 22,456 suicide counselling sessions were carried out to young people last year, which works out at 62 sessions a day.

“We do know that more young people than ever before are reaching out to us and talking about suicidal feelings,” says Darren Worth, supervisor at Childline’s base in Leeds.

“What we know from what young people tell us is that the reasons for their suicidal feelings are different for every young person. So it could be to do with family relationships, body image, exam stress.”

The number of young people calling the helpline to talk about suicidal thoughts has risen by 15 per cent compared to 2015, and Darren says children as young as 10 are now getting in touch: “We do hear from a larger number of younger children than before who are telling us about their difficult experiences, about their family difficulties, about feeling under pressure at school. And they are younger than they used to be.”

It comes as Radio Aire teams up with Morley mum Emma Oliver - whose 15-year-old son Daniel took his own life earlier this year after developing acute anxiety while revising for his GCSEs.

It seems he’s not alone, as figures from Childline also reveal the service is seeing a record number of children calling to talk about exam stress.

“(The number) has risen over 20 per cent in the last couple of years. As you would expect, around August we hear a lot more from young people who are feeling anxious about achieving the top grades. But it does go right through the year where young people are feeling they’re not quite achieving in a class, or they’re feeling under pressure in a particular subject.

“A lot of young people think it’s a different job market and that their exam results will affect the rest of their life, and I think for some young people that’s true but for a lot of young people what they maybe don’t see at the time is that there are a lot of second chances that they can be given.

“I think it is worrying that so many young people feel so distressed by things at school, and I’d encourage any young person to contact Childline 0800 11 11, or get in touch at childline.org.uk."

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