'We are the 4th emergency service' - Childline urges funding boost

Hits Radio Manchester is spending the week looking at the role of Childline in Greater Manchester. Hundreds of volunteers currently give hours a week to man the phones and the online chat service from the dedicated base in Salford.

But bosses are warning that the pressure to meet the needs of young people is growing, but without more funding they will not be able to meet them.

Since it launched 32 years ago, Childline has evolved to become the only dedicated helpline for children and young people across the country.

Last year, the service answered 295,202 calls and online counselling enquiries.

"For me, we are an emergency service because we have to be there when all else fails"

Dame Esther Rantzen founded Childline 32 years ago. Since then, she says she has seen the service have to adapt to deal with numerous different issues:

"I knew there was a huge demand and it would be effective. Did I know we'd be able to use the internet? No of course I didn't, I had no idea the internet would exist, now of course they have mobile phones. There's all kinds of ways the service has changed but I always knew there would be a need for it.

"We have to change all the time. We have to be flexible, we have to stay in touch with young people and give them what they need, or more specifically what they want, because it's no good us providing a recipe for what they need if it's not a recipe for what they trust. Our service has radically changed, our consellors have radically changed so they can counsell people online. We now get so many calls about self harm, depression and anxiety and other mental health issues. But we still have the same issues we've dealt with from the beginning, like abuse and bullying.

"We retrain constantly, because we now have so many children who have to deal with issues of contemplating suicide. We receive so many more suicidal calls than ever we did.

I think the public will always believe that children are crucial and precious and will help us to reach out to them. We'll always need those wonderful volunteers who will be there day and night and will help them with what they want."

Recently, 22,000 people backed a petition to give CHildline more Government funding. Theresa May was urged to assign part of a £300 million cash pot for mental health as a result of a Green Paper review.

When asked what she thought of suggestions Childline was the forth emergency service, Dame Esther said:

"I certainly think children turn to us when they have nowhere else to turn and I think that makes us a certain emergency serviuce for them. Whether they're in immediate danger or whether they just need somewhere to turn, we have to be there 24/7 so yes, we are. For me, we are an emergency service because we have to be there when all else fails."

All this week, Hits Radio Manchester will be looking at the role Childline plays in and around Greater Manchester.