Youth Mental Health: How Child Helplines Support Children and Young People

YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

How Child Helplines Support Children and Young People

Child Helpline International Pilotenstraat 20-22 1059CJ Amsterdam The Netherlands +31(0)20 528 96 25 www.childhelplineinternational.org Contact us at: data@childhelplineinternational.org Written and edited by: Andrea Pereira, PhD, Averill Daly, Steve Erwood Data compilation: Andrea Pereira, PhD, Averill Daly, Lea Baro, Nadža Džinalija, Guillem Fernández, Natalia Papakosta, Alice Poutiainen, Isabel Trujilo Rocha Design and layout: Ashley Schultz

Disclaimer Data presented and statements made do not capture the full scope of practices and policies of all countries and cases handled by child helplines and other child protection organisations at the national level. The exact data can be requested from Child Helpline International.

Child Helpline International’s work is firmly grounded in the principles and values enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including children’s right to privacy and protection from harm. To preserve the trust and confidence children and young people place in child helplines every day, any personal details cited in case summaries have been altered and anonymised.

Acknowledgment Child helplines have a unique insight into the gap between policy and reality, making them a key actor in advocating for children’s rights. They support millions of children every year. They respond to issues ranging from serious children’s rights violations, to children who just want someone to chat to on the way home from school. What brings child helplines together is the provision of an easily accessible, confidential system that allows children themselves to tell a counsellor what is going on in their lives. Child helplines also have an insight into the direct experiences of children and young people on a larger scale than any other organisations. Therefore, the value of child helplines’ data on contacts cannot be overstated in informing and guiding policy, learning and practice. We are grateful to all of our members who have dutifully submitted their 2018-2020 data to Child Helpline International, allowing the present report to exist.

This publication was co-funded by the European Union’s Citizenship, Equality, Rights, Values Programme (20212025). The content of this publication represents only the views of Child Helpline International. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

2 | YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

CONTENTS

KEY TAKEAWAYS

4

METHODOLOGY

6

TOTAL MENTAL HEALTH CONTACTS

8

MAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS

10

REGIONS

12

VOICES OF CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

14

YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH | 3

Key Takeaways According to the WHO2,

2,066,196

TOTAL MENTAL HEALTH CONTACTS

1

That’s over 2 million times a child or young person actively reached out to our child helpline members with concerns about mental health between the years 2018 and 2020: Evidence that children and young people are turning to child helplines when they are facing mental health issues. These contacts with child helplines offer a real-time measure of distress because children and young people reach out to them spontaneously4.

one in seven

10 to 19-year-olds in the world lives with a mental disorder. That’s not including children and young people who suffer from undiagnosed or below-threshold mental health concerns. Most mental health disorders start during youth, even when they are only diagnosed during adulthood3. Child helplines play a crucial role in supporting these children and young people globally, day in, day out.

Unknown 14.5%

Boys 24.6%

Non-binary 0.7% Our members5 observed a

40% increase

in those contacts from 2019 to 2020 that were related to children and young people’s mental health.

The number of such contacts was stable between 2018 and 2019.

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Girls 60.3%

GENDER From 2018 to 2020, girls made the majority of counselling contacts relating to mental health.

Girls reached out to child helplines 60.3% of the time. By contrast, boys represented 24.6%, and non-binary children represented 0.7% of mental health contacts. The gender of the child or young person was unknown for the remaining 14.5% of contacts made.

MENTAL HEALTH: MAIN REASONS FOR CONTACT Globally, the five main sub-categories for mental health contacts accounted for three quarters (75.6%) of all mental health contacts between 2018-2020. These five main mental health sub-categories across all three years were emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems (18.3%), emotional distress – mood problems (18.2%), suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts (13.4%), problems with eating behaviour (7.0%), and self-harming behaviour (7.0%). All other mental health concerns accounted for 37.3%.

Emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems 18.3%

All other mental health concerns 37.3%

Emotional distress – mood problems 18.2%

Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts 13.4% Self-harming behaviour 5.8% Problems with eating behaviour 7.0%

See Footnotes for sources and more information

Read more about our members’ experience with mental health contacts on the Child Helpline International blog..

YOUTH YOUTH MENTALMENTAL HEALTHHEALTH | 5 | 5

Methodology METHODOLOGY Every year we invite our child helpline members to submit data about the contacts they receive from children and young people. They do so by filling in online annual surveys (using Qualtrics), which are available in English, French and Spanish. This report utilises data from the three most recent surveys, covering the years 2018, 2019 and 2020.

In 2018, our data framework contained 36 categories relating to the mental health of children and young people. After a simplification of our framework, in 2019 it included 10 categories related to mental health, and our final and current data framework in 2020 includes 12 categories related to mental health. For all categories, we requested that the child helplines provide the number of contacts received each year, disaggregated by the gender of the child or young person concerned.

RESPONDENTS We obtained data from 103 unique child helplines who submitted data on contacts relating to mental health in at least one of our annual data collections covering 2018 to 2020. These child helplines represent 92 countries and territories across five different regions around the world.

Region Africa

Americas & The Caribbean Asia-Pacific

Child helplines who responded 20 17

16

Europe

42

TOTAL

103

Middle East & North Africa

8

Of these 103 who submitted data during the period, 56 child helplines submitted data for all three annual surveys. These child helplines represent 54 countries and territories across five regions.

Region Africa

Americas & The Caribbean Asia-Pacific

7 5 9

Europe

33

TOTAL

56

Middle East & North Africa

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Consistently responding child helplines

2

The countries and territories where the respondent child helplines were located in each region for any given year between 2018 and 2020 are listed below. Those countries where a child helpline consistently submitted data in 2018, 2019 and 2020 are shown in italics.

•

•

Africa: Burundi, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Americas & The Caribbean: Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and the USA.

•

Asia-Pacific: Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

•

Europe: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

•

Middle East & North Africa: Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

In this report, the number of respondents is reported for each analysis.

YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH | 7

Total Mental Health Contacts GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH CONTACTS OVER TIME Globally, the number of contacts relating to mental health remained consistent between 2018 and 2019, then drastically increased in 2020. This increase in contacts relating to mental health is consistent with observations that the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in mental health problems among children and young people globally6, and suggests that child helplines are a resource children turn to when such concerns emerge. This increase is also consistent with the overall increase in child helpline contacts observed globally in 2020 compared to 2019 (from 25% to 31% increase depending on available data)7,8, a trend that was observed for different kinds of helplines9.

GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH CONTACTS BETWEEN 2018 -2020

700,000

673,297 (+40.8%)

600,000 500,000 400,000

483,344

478,168 (-1.1%)

2018

2019

300,000 200,000 100,000 0

2020

1,634,809 in total for all three years

The analyses presented on these pages are based on the data from the 56 unique child helplines who submitted their data in all three annual surveys between 2018 and 2020.

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REGIONAL MENTAL HEALTH CONTACTS OVER TIME Some important regional differences can be noted when looking at the number of contacts relating to mental health that were received between 2018 and 2020. The number of contacts increased in four regions and decreased in one. More specifically, the responding child helplines in two of the regions saw a drastic increase in the number of contacts relating to mental health: the African region and the Americas & The Caribbean. During this same period, the responding child helplines in the Asia-Pacific and European regions both saw moderate increases in the number of contacts received relating to mental health. Finally, the Middle East & North Africa region saw a large decrease in the number of contacts relating to mental health received between 2018 and 2020 – however, this is based on data from only two responding child helplines.

NUMBER OF CONTACTS RECEIVED RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH (% OF CONTACTS RECEIVED BY THE REGION) Region

2018

Africa

1,597 (0.3%)

Asia-Pacific

46,647 (9.7%)

Americas & The Caribbean

9,180 (1.9%)

2019

2020

3,602 (0.8%)

5,264 (0.8%)

11,196 (2.3%)

22,101 (3.3%)

50,897 (10.6%)

75,888 (11.3%)

Europe

399,995 (82.8%)

409,950 (85.7%)

568,124 (84.4%)

TOTAL

483,344 (100%)

478,168 (100%)

673,297 (100%)

MENA

25,925 (5.4%)

2,523 (0.5%)

1,920 (0.3%)

Percentage Changes Across Three Years 2018-2020

250%

200%

150%

100%

50%

0% 2018 -50%

-100%

-150%

2019

2020

Africa Americas & The Caribbean Asia-Pacific Europe MENA YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH | 9

Main Mental Health Concerns The main mental health concerns10 raised by children and young people globally across all of three years analysed were emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems (18.3%), emotional distress – mood problems (18.2%), suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts (13.4%) and problems with eating behaviour (7%)11. These findings are consistent with what we know about these mental health issues: globally, depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders are the leading causes of suffering and disability among 10 to 19-year-olds12.

In order to look at the evolution of these mental health concerns over time (2018-2020), we focused on the child helplines who consistently submitted data for all three years. We can note that: • The main mental health concerns changed each year and included seven different concerns. There was no single concern that was consistently the largest for all of the three years. The main concerns were emotional distress – mood problems in 2018, emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems in 2019 and problems with eating behaviour in 2020. These findings make sense given that anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health disorder among young people with recent estimates for 5 to 17-year-olds of 3% globally13. In addition, the prevalence for depression is also high, with 1.1% to 2.8% of 10 to 19-year-olds.14 • The largest change occurred in 2020, when problems with eating behaviour rose above all other contacts relating to mental health. In previous years this had not featured at all as one of the five main reasons for contact identified. This is concerning: We know that eating disorders very commonly emerge during adolescence, and girls are particularly at risk. Anorexia nervosa can have severe consequences and even lead to death: it has the highest mortality of any mental health disorder.

• Ranking as either the 4th or 5th largest mental health concern in each of the three years, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts consistently remained an important mental health concern raised by children and young people when they reached out to child helplines. This should be considered together with contacts relating to self-harming behaviour, which also remained stable as either the 5th or 6th largest mental health concern each year. Given that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among adolescent boys and the third leading cause among adolescent girls15, we are happy that child helplines are there to prevent suicide by supporting children and young people suffering from suicidal ideation.

• Remaining stable throughout the period, addictive behaviours and substance use ranked as either the 6th or 7th largest mental health concern each year.

Substance use is a risk-taking behaviour that often starts during adolescence, with an estimated prevalence of heavy episodic drinking among young people between 15 and 19 years of 13.6%. Many adult smokers smoked their first cigarette before the age of 18.16 Young people are considered a high-risk group by the World Health Organisation for both alcohol and tobacco consumption.17 • Most mental health concerns saw a decrease in their percentage of mental health contacts between 2018 and 2020, except for problems with eating behaviour and unspecified/other concerns. This decrease was largest for emotional distress – mood problems, which accounted for a quarter (24.9%) of the contacts relating to mental health in 2018 and by 2020 accounted for only 15.2%.

This decrease could potentially be the result of different data frameworks and categorisations being used in 2018 compared to 2020, especially as unspecified/ other concerns appears to have increased.

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GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS (2018-2020) Mental Health Concern

2018

2019

2020

Addictive behaviours and substance use

6 (6.2%)

7 (5.5%)

Concerns about the self

8 (4.1%)

5 (9.7%)

Emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems

2 (20.0%)

2 (18.5%)

4 (14.1%)

Emotional distress – mood problems

1 (24.9%)

3 (17.8%)

3 (15.2%)

Problems with eating behaviour

9 (2.9%)

8 (3.1%)

Self-harming behaviour

5 (7.1%)

6 (6.8%)

2 (15.9%)

Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts

4 (12.3%)

4 (13.6%)

5 (10.7%)

Unspecified/other

3 (16.6%)

1 (22.7%)

1 (25.8%)

Behavioural problems

Emotional distress – anger problems

-

-

7 (4.2%)

Neurodevelopmental concerns

Traumatic distress

9 (2.3%)

10 (1.7%)

-

-

-

7 (3.4%)

10 (2.3%) 9 (3.1%)

8 (3.4%)

12 (0.3%) 6 (5.3%)

11 (0.6%)

The entries highlighted above indicate those mental health concerns that emerged as one of the five main concerns in any of the three years that were analysed.

Main Changes in Concerns Across Three Years 2018-2020

30%

25%

25.8%

24.9% 22.7%

20%

20.0% 16.6%

15% 12.3% 10%

18.5% 17.8%

15.9%

13.6%

15.2% 14.1%

9.7%

10.7%

6.8%

5.3%

7.1% 5%

4.1% 2.9%

0%

2018

3.1% 2019

3.1%

2020

Concerns about the self

Self-harming behaviour

Emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems

Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts

Emotional distress – mood problems

Unspecified/other

Problems with eating behaviour YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH | 11

Regions

Each region18 has specificities in the mental health concerns that were raised by the children and young people who reached out to our child helpline members. Below, we outline these specificities, focusing on the differences from the analyses on the global data presented above.

It is difficult to find estimates of the prevalence of behavioural problems, because of the lack of clear diagnostic criteria. Several studies showed that irritation, anger, and behavioural problems increased among children during the Covid-19 pandemic19.

AFRICA: MAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS ACROSS 2018-2020 In Africa, mental health contacts mostly concerned addictive behaviours and substance use. In addition, behavioural problems and emotional distress – anger problems also emerged as main mental health concerns for contacts in the region.

All other mental health concerns 15.8%

Addictive behaviours and substance use 40.4%

Emotional distress – mood problems 7.7% Emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems 8.1% Behavioural problems 10.6%

Emotional distress – anger problems 17.5%

AMERICAS & THE CARIBBEAN: MAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS ACROSS 2018-2020 In the Americas & The Caribbean, mental health contacts primarily concerned addictive behaviours and substance use. In addition, behavioural problems also emerged as one of the main mental health concerns in the region.

All other mental health concerns 24.5% Emotional distress – anger problems 3.4% Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts 6.6% Behavioural problems 12.8%

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Addictive behaviours and substance use 31.8%

Emotional distress – mood problems 20.9%

ASIA-PACIFIC: MAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS ACROSS 2018-2020 In Asia-Pacific, addictive behaviours and substance use and self-harming behaviour emerged as main reasons for contacts. In addition, it appeared that child helplines in this region received proportionally more contacts with relation to Suicidal ideation, compared to global findings.

Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts 15.8% All other mental health concerns 59.8%

Addictive behaviours and substance use 7.7% Self-harming behaviour 6.3% Emotional distress – mood problems 6.1% Concerns about the self 4.3%

EUROPE: MAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS ACROSS 2018-2020 Contacts received in the European region account for around 82-85% of the global mental health contacts each year. Therefore, the main mental health concerns in Europe are also very much in line with the main concerns at the global level.

It is of note that Europe is one of the two regions where problems with eating behaviour emerges as one of main mental health concerns.

All other mental health concerns 32.5%

Self-harming behaviour 6.6% Problems with eating behaviour 9.6%

Emotional distress – mood problems 20.0%

Emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems 19.5% Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts 11.9%

MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA: MAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS ACROSS 2018-2020 In the Middle East & North Africa region, the main subcategories of mental health contacts aligned with the main sub-categories at the global level, but in a different order: it appears that the child helplines in this region received more than twice the amount of contacts relating to mood problems, compared to global findings.

All other mental health concerns 22.3% Addictive behaviours and substance use 3.2% Problems with eating behaviour 4.7% Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts 5.2%

Emotional distress – mood problems 41.2%

Emotional distress – fear and anxiety problems 23.4% YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH | 13

Voices of Children & Young People MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA (2018)

“I KEEP WETTING THE BED. I’M AFRAID TO GO TO SLEEP...”

A 15-year-old boy living in a conflict zone contacted the child helpline and described the nightmares he was having. These nightmares were causing him to wet the bed. “This is very embarrassing for me. I’m afraid to go to sleep, in case it happens again.”

All of this, in turn, was adding insomnia to the mental health issues he was already having to deal with. The child helpline counsellor talked through his worries with him, and they discussed ways he could address his fear about wetting the bed.

After speaking with him several times, the counsellor was finally able to help him understand why the bedwetting was happening, and helped him work through his trauma to stop him having any more nightmares.

EUROPE (2020)

“I’M NEVER GOING TO GET BETTER. I JUST WANT TO DIE...”

A counsellor received a call from a young person who explained that they felt completely hopeless, as no-one was able to help them with their problems. When the counsellor asked who it was they were trying to get help and support from, the caller explained: “I’ve been struggling with anxiety, depression and an eating disorder for several years.”

Previously they have been supported by the health services and their local eating disorder clinic. “But they discharged me once I had started gaining weight again, and seemed to be more stable. I still didn’t feel particularly well, though...” Having now reached the age of 17, the young person was now in the process of moving from children’s mental health services to adult mental health services, and while undergoing this transition, wasn’t receiving any help at all. “They’ve told me I just have to wait. Or, that I should try self-help techniques.” The caller revealed that their weight was dropping once again. “I don’t feel like I’m ever going to recover. I just want to die, I just want all of this to come to an end, and for the upset and distress I’m causing my family to be over...”

The counsellor asked the caller if they were making plans to end their life, and the caller confirmed this was the case. However, the caller also went on to express a hope that, one day, they would be able to help others who were struggling with the same issues.

The counsellor praised this and suggested this meant that the caller still had very good reasons to carry on living. The caller agreed to abandon their suicide plan, and told the counsellor that their conversation had helped make them feel that they were in control of their life a bit more.

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AMERICAS & THE CARIBBEAN (2018)

“I’M FINDING IT HARD TO TELL ANYONE HOW I REALLY FEEL...”

A 16-year-old boy called, requesting information about the child helpline and its services. The counsellor explained how the child helpline provided help and support to children and young people, and invited him to share any doubts or problems he had that they might be able to help him with. The teenager simply replied, “I don’t know how to say it,” and fell silent. The counsellor indicated their willingness to listen to him, and the teenager eventually began to tell her that he was at school, and that he lived with his mother, stepfather and a younger brother. He suffered from anxiety and depression. “I’ve been getting help at the health centre where my mother works, but I don’t think it’s really helping much.” He found it difficult to open up to others, but the counsellor reassured him that trying to express himself would help him to feel better. The counsellor explained how anxiety and depression could affect different aspects of his life, and advised him that his problems required professional help. She offered him the address of a specialised psychological centre in his area where he could talk with a professional face-to-face.

The teenager indicated their interest in doing this, and thanked the counsellor for the information.

AFRICA (2020)

“HIS DRUG USE IS RUINING HIS LIFE...”

A woman called the child helpline seeking assistance on behalf of her 17-year-old grandson. She reported that he had been using drugs and was hallucinating and was becoming violent. “He’s had to drop out of school because of this. At one point, he ran away to stay with an uncle.” In 2019, he had been committed to a Government Rehabilitation School because of his behaviour but had been released three months later.

“I made arrangements for him to have counselling services through an NGO, but there hasn’t been much improvement.”

The counsellor expressed their appreciation of the woman’s concern for her grandson and suggested that she consider admitting him to a rehabilitation centre that could professionally manage cases of substance dependence.

Some options were provided for her, and in case she needed further support she was put in touch with a helpline that specifically helped with cases of drugs and substance abuse.

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ASIA-PACIFIC (2020)

“THINGS HAVE NEVER FELT THIS BAD BEFORE...

A young person called the child helpline, and said she was planning to commit suicide. “I’ve self-harmed before, but things have never felt this bad... The world is messed up and bad things are happening ... I’d rather kill myself now than die in a way I have no control over.” She had thought about sharing her feelings with her parents, but was worried that this would simply scare them and wouldn’t help in any way.

The counsellor asked her if she had any friends of her own age she could talk with. She said that her school had been tough and that most of her schoolmates gossiped about her and made fun of her weight. “However, there is one girl who’s also a bit quiet, doesn’t really seem to fit in anywhere. We’ve been enjoying preparing our lunches together...”

The girl and the counsellor talked about ways in which she could build upon her friendship with this other girl. They had already found a few ways of spending more time with each, as it made both of them feel better about themselves. The counsellor encouraged her to continue strengthening this new friendship, as it was helping to distract her from thoughts of suicide. The counsellor also urged the girl to call the child helpline again, at any time she felt she needed to talk to someone.

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Endnotes Unless specified, the analyses on this page are based on data from 103 unique child helplines who submitted contacts related to Mental Health to at least one of our annual data collections from 2018 to 2020.

1

World Health Organization, Adolescent mental health, accessed on 11 April 2022 at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ adolescent-mental-health

2

Patel V, Flisher AJ, Hetrick S & McGorry P (2007). Mental health of young people: a global public-health challenge. The Lancet, 369; 1302-13. doi: 10.1016/S0140- 6736(07)60368-7

3

Brülhart M, Klotzbücher V, Lalive R & Reich SK (2021). Mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic as revealed by helpline calls.

Nature. 600, 121-140. Doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04099-6

4

This analysis is based on the data from 56 unique child helplines submitted data for all three annual surveys between 2018-20206

5

Sharma M, Idele P, Manzini A, Aladro CP, Ipince A, Olsson G, Banati P, Anthony D (2012). Life in Lockdown: Child and adolescent mental health and well-being in the time of COVID-19, UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, Florence.

6

Pereira A, Daly A & Erwood S (2021). Voices during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Child Helpline International – Amsterdam.

7

Petrowski N, Cappa C, Pereira A, Mason H, Daban RA (2020).

Violence against children during COVID-19 Assessing and understanding change in use of helplines, Child Abuse and amp; Neglect (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104757

8

9

Brülhart M, Klotzbücher V, Lalive R & Reich SK (2021). Op. cit.

These analyses are based on data from 56 unique child helplines submitted data for all three annual surveys between 2018-2020.

10

Excluding Unspecified/other contacts which was the main reason (20.3%)

11

12

World Health Organization. Op. cit.

Erskine HE, Baxter AJ, Patton G et al. (2016). The Global Coverage of Prevalence Data for Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents.

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2016;26(4):395–402. doi:10.1017/ S2045796015001158 13

14

World Health Organization. Op. cit.

Patton GC, Coffey C, Sawyer SM et al. (2009). Global Patterns of Mortality in Young People: A systematic analysis of population health data. The Lancet. 2009;374(9693):881–892. doi:10.1016/S01406736(09)60741-8 15

16

World Health Organization. Op. cit.

Sharma M, Idele P, Manzini A, Aladro CP, Ipince A, Olsson G, Banati P, Anthony D (2012). Op. cit.

17

These analyses are based on data from 56 unique child helplines submitted data for all three annual surveys between 2018-2020.

18

Sharma M, Idele P, Manzini A, Aladro CP, Ipince A, Olsson G, Banati P, Anthony D (2012). Op. cit.

19

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Acknowledgements We would like to thank all of our child helpline members, past and present, who submitted the data upon which this report is based.

It would not have been possible without them!

Africa Burundi Eswatini

Yaga Ndakumva SWAGAA 951 Helpline Ministry of Education

Ethiopia

Adama Child Helpline

Kenya

Childline Kenya

Lesotho

Child Helpline Lesotho

Malawi

Tithandizane Helpline 116

Mauritania

AMSME Mauritania

Mauritius

Child Helpline Mauritius

Mozambique

Linha Fala Criança

Namibia

Childline Namibia

Nigeria

HDI Nigeria Child Helpline Cece Yara Child Helpline

Senegal

Centre GINDDI - Âllo 116

Somalia

WAAPO Child Hotline

South Africa

Childline South Africa

Tanzania

Tanzania National Child Helpline

Uganda

Sauti 116

Zambia

Childline Zambia

Zimbabwe

Childline Zimbabwe

Middle East & North Africa Algeria Iraq Jordan Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Yemen

18 | YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

Je t’ecoute 3033 116 Child Helpline JRF 110 Helpline Sawa 121 Hotline 919 Saudi Child Helpline 116111 DFWAC Helpline Helpline for Psychological & Legal Aid

Americas & The Caribbean

Europe

Argentina

Albania

Aruba Brazil Canada Chile Colombia

Línea 102 CaBA Telefon Pa Hubentud Safernet Brasil Kids Help Phone Fonoinfancia Línea Libre ICBF Colombia - Línea 141 Línea 106 Corpolatin

Costa Rica

Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI)

Curaçao

Telefon pa mucha i hoben 918

Peru Suriname Trinidad & Tobago

Télefono ANAR Kinder en Jongeren Telefoon Childline Trinidad & Tobago

Uruguay

Línea Azul

USA

National Runaway Safeline

Asia-Pacific Australia Bangladesh Brunei Cambodia Hong Kong India Japan Kazakhstan Maldives Mongolia Nepal New Zealand Philippines Singapore Thailand

National Child Abuse Hotline Boys Town National Hotline

Kids Helpline Child Helpline 1098 Talian ANAK 121 Child Helpline Cambodia Parent-Child Support Line Childline India Childline Japan Telefon 150 Child Help Line 1412 Child Helpline 108 Child Helpline 1098 0800 What’s Up? Kidsline Bantay Bata 163 Tinkle Friend Helpline Childline Thailand - Saidek 1387

Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Croatia Cyprus Czechia Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenial Spain Sweden Switzerland

ALO 116 147 Rat auf Draht Azerbaijan Child Helpline Jongerenlijn AWEL Plavi Telefon Hrabritelefon Call 116111 Cyprus Linka Bezpeči BørneTelefonen Lasten ja Nuorten Puhelin ja Netti 119 - Âllo Enfance en Danger Kinder und Jugendtelefon The Smile of the Child Together for Children Lelkisegély-vonal Hjálparsíminn 1717 ISPCC Childline ERAN NATAL Telefono Azzurro Uzticibas Talrunis Vaiku Linija Kanner Jugendtelefon (KJT) Kellimni.com Telefonul Copilului 116111 De Kindertelefoon SOS Helpline for Children & Youth Kors På Halsen Alarmtelefonen for barn og unge Telefon Zaufania SOS Criança Telefonul Copilului 116111 NADEL Linka Detskej Istoty TOM Télefono ANAR BRIS Pro Juventute

Ukraine

La Strada

United Kingdom

BEAT

Childline UK HopelineUK

YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH | 19

Every child has a voice.

No child should be left unheard.

Child Helpline International is a collective impact organisation with 168 members in 141 countries and territories around the world (as of May 2022).

We coordinate information, viewpoints, knowledge and data from our child helpline members, partners and external sources. This exceptional resource is used to help and support child protection systems globally, regionally and nationally, and to help our members advocate for the rights of children and amplify their voices.

Child Helpline International Pilotenstraat 20-22 1059CJ Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 (0)20 528 9625 www.childhelplineinternational.org