BRIS – Children’s Rights in Society

BRIS COUNSELLING CENTRES STRENGTHEN OUR SUPPORT CHAIN AND ALLOW US TO STAY AT THE CHILD’S SIDE FOR LONGER

Bris – Children’s Rights in Society has long worked to provide digital information and support online or by phone. Now physical counselling centres will enable vulnerable children and young people to get more in-depth support. The counselling centres are part of Bris’s development towards covering a much wider geographical area, among other things.

“Being able to tell someone is the first step to change. One of Bris’s most important roles is to be there for children who need to tell someone how they’re feeling.”

Secretary-general Magnus Jägerskog and social worker Somaya Ghanem are working to establish Bris counselling centres. So how are Sweden’s young people feeling right now?

Magnus: –Sweden is in many ways an extremely good country in which to grow up and spend your childhood. But at the same time, many children have mental health problems. We are also seeing a growing alienation affecting many. The past year has been a very special one and for children who already had mental health problems or were in a vulnerable situation before the pandemic, it’s been tough.

We’ve never given support to as many children as we did in 2020. Most of all, there’s been an increase in calls about problems such as anxiety and depression. And I think these are going to increase even more in 2021.

So more and more children are having mental health problems. Why do you think that’s the case?

Magnus: –That’s a broad question. In a shortterm perspective the pandemic is having an effect, of course – but in the longer term various social factors are involved. For example, there’s a close link between how you feel and how you’re doing at school. Increasing alienation also contributes. More polarisation and growing gaps. That’s dangerous for many different reasons. From a children’s rights perspective, it results in children not being given the conditions for a good start in life. It’s also important to work for equal opportunities at school and access to an equal world.

Somaya: –At an overall level, it’s a question of how we build our society and which resources we put into what. How we invest in schools and welfare. It’s about political decisions. Cuts affect children – that’s just a fact. But we also see that child and adolescent psychiatry has become more specialised. In some cases, that results in higher entry barriers and makes it harder to get help.

Magnus: –Yes, being able to tell someone is the first step towards change. That’s one of Bris’s most important roles: to be there for children who need to tell someone how they really feel.

What has the pandemic meant for children and young people in Sweden?

Magnus: –I don’t think anyone really knows the full answer to that yet. For many, I think it will have been a strange period but that they still come through well. For others, it may have major consequences related to mental health, vulnerability and schooling. Children who were already having a tough time in some way before are finding things even worse. The fact that the number of calls we received about anxiety, family conflict and violence increased substantially in 2020 indicates that. We know that many children need

someone to talk to. To meet that need we extended our opening hours and boosted our staffing numbers last year – which we were able to do using support from the Erling-Persson Foundation, among others. Just very recently we started staying open 24 hours a day.

And now you’re starting Bris counselling centres. What does that involve?

Somaya: –Bris has offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Umeå and Linköping. Those can be developed into counselling centres where young people can quite simply meet us, and each other, in person. Plus we can also arrange family mediation, talks and training there. This donation will enable us to open counselling centres at all five offices: Stockholm and Malmö in the spring, Gothenburg and Linköping in the autumn, and then Umeå towards the end of the year – in November/December.

Magnus: –Bris counselling centres will be a regional link in a long chain of support. If the first links are digital information and support by phone or online, the counselling centres will allow us to provide more in-depth support and to meet people in person. Now we can pick up on what people want, so if a young person says, for example, ‘I want someone to help me talk to my social worker because they’re not listening to me’, we can come along with them. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.

So there are children and young people who need help to get help?

Magnus: –Yes, definitely. It’s not always easy for a child to navigate and find their way through all of society’s functions. We can play an important part in guiding children as to where they can turn. Last year calls to Bris about child and adolescent psychiatry were up 44 percent and calls about health among school students increased by 18 percent. Children are telling us how difficult it is to get contact and support. Processes have been put on hold and so on.

What does that say about our society?

Somaya: –When the Convention on the Rights of the Child became part of Swedish law, this set out even more clearly that society is to meet children’s needs in respect of health and a good situation in life. That’s a big undertaking. And while it’s true that the state has responsibility for this, we need to have more people involved if we can.

Magnus: –There are gaps in society’s support. Bris has been working to strengthen children’s rights since 1971. Our helpline was one of the first in the world when it opened in 1980. From all the contacts we’ve had with children, it’s become very clear how crucial it is that they get support for their situation in life. We can’t replace what society does, but we can supplement it. Bris is on the child’s side and the child must be able to rely on the fact that we always will be, whatever the matter. And I believe those who come into contact with us do feel that. We’re a non-profit organisation and I think that’s crucial.

So you’re going to start Bris counselling centres in five cities. What will happen then – will there be more?

Magnus: –We don’t see this as a project. The donation will go towards starting a new line of activities that will stay in place for a long time. It’s one part of a fairly extensive development of our activities, one purpose of which is to cover a much wider geographical area.

“Now we can go along with young people who say ‘I want someone to help me talk to my social worker because they’re not listening to me’.”

Somaya: –It’s very much in development. We don’t have all the answers in advance. We don’t know exactly which children will come to the counselling centres or what kind of problems they’ll have. We can guess and we have theories, but we won’t know until we’re actually up and running.

Part of the donation is also to go towards holding an international conference in Stockholm. What is that, and when will it be?

Magnus: –There’s a global organisation called Child Helpline International. It’s an umbrella organisation for 180 helplines in 140 countries. Bris was involved in founding it in 2003. In September 2020 Bris was to have hosted Child Helpline International’s tenth international conference. It was postponed because of the effects of the pandemic, but we hope we’ll finally be able to hold it in September 2022.

The theme of the conference is ‘Countdown to 2030’ – in other words, the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We’ll discuss what we as children’s rights organisations can do to contribute to the goals being achieved. Around 250 participants from more than a hundred countries will come here. The international conference will conclude with the ‘Stockholm Declaration’ – collective recommendations by the helplines to the governments of the world regarding what needs to be done to reduce the vulnerability of children by 2030.

For the original date we had booked Queen Silvia of Sweden, the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children Dr Najat Maalla M’jid, and Klas Bergling of the Tim Bergling Foundation. We’re now working to enable them to come for the new date instead.

How do Bris and other helplines make a difference for children and young people?

Somaya: –If society is to be able to live up the Convention on the Rights of the Child fully, we need to help as many people as possible. As I said, not every child has someone who will take the time, who will listen, who can give them guidance and support. And then, of course, it’s extremely important that young people are aware that we exist and know that they can rely on us to be on their side. Among secondary school aged children, just over 95 percent are aware of us. Last year 31,497 young people contacted us. With Bris drop-in centres we’ll be able to help them even more.

16%

In 2020 Bris had 31,497 therapeutic contacts with children up to the age of 18. That’s an increase of 16 percent on 2019.

2020

During the year children’s access to protective factors, such as safe social contexts and relationships with those their own age and safe adults outside the home, has been limited. At the same time, risk factors for vulnerability have increased as many parents have lost their jobs or otherwise been affected by economic uncertainty or a deterioration in their financial situation as a result of the pandemic.

1 in 3

In July 2020 just less than a third of Sweden’s regions were able to offer an appointment for an initial assessment within child and adolescent psychiatry within the time frame set out in the care guarantee.

ABOUT THE PROJECT Recipient: Bris – Children’s Rights in Society. One of Sweden’s leading children’s rights organisations, started in 1971. Offers professional support to all children up to 18 years old, and targeted support for children and families in particularly vulnerable situations. In 2020 Bris had 31,497 therapeutic contacts with children via chat, phone and email.

Title: Bris counselling centres and holding of the tenth conference of Child Helpline International.

What it involves: Support activities involving local counselling centres, so that Bris can go further in helping children in vulnerable situations than it has been able to do to date. The donation also covers support for Bris to host the tenth conference of Child Helpline International.

Funding: The Erling-Persson Foundation is supporting the Bris counselling centres project with SEK 6.5 million over two and a half years. Bris has also been awarded a donation of SEK 1 million towards hosting the tenth conference of Child Helpline International.