Bupa congratulates Kids Helpline on taking 8 millionth call
Kids Helpline last week responded to its 8 millionth request for help from a young person in Australia.
This marks a significant milestone for the Kids Helpline and the fantastic work they do to help support young people aged 5 to 25 with free private and confidential 24/7 phone and online counselling services.
The 8 millionth call came through via phone late on Monday afternoon last week.
Bupa proudly supports the invaluable work of Kids Helpline and its counsellors, who provide care and understanding to young Australians when they need it most.
“Since the launch of the service in 1991 a young person has attempted to contact Kids Helpline every 56 seconds and on average we manage to deal with around 800 calls or online requests for help every day,” said yourtown/Kids Helpline CEO Tracy Adams.
“We want to take a moment to recognise our dedicated counsellors and the teams behind the call centre, as well as the community, who fund more than three-quarters of our service by buying tickets in the yourtown Art Union prize draws,” said Ms Adams.
“While the 8 million figure is an important milestone for us, we know our work isn’t done. While we do our very best with the resources we have, more than 186,000 calls and requests for help have already gone unanswered this year alone.”
For 21-year-old Molly, the Kids Helpline service has been vital for her very survival, having called the counsellors numerous times when suffering serious mental health issues.
"There are times I know I wouldn’t have made it through to the next morning if I hadn’t been able to call Kids Helpline. The counsellors have helped me calm down and are able to get me thinking reasonably again. There’s no way I would be here today if it wasn’t for the service,” explains Molly.
Molly’s mother Sue agrees: “I will always be eternally grateful to Kids Helpline. Without them I doubt we would still have our beautiful daughter.”
The top five reasons young people contacted Kids Helpline in 2017 were: mental health issues, family relationships, emotional wellbeing, suicidal thoughts and dating/partner relationships.
Bupa partners with Kids Helpline to provide the Kids Helpline @ School (KAS) Wellbeing program. The free program is delivered in primary schools around Australia by professional Kids Helpline counsellors, connecting the counsellor to the classroom using video technology, and covers a range of topics including bullying, anxiety, building resilience and promoting help seeking behaviours.
Jane Power, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer at Bupa A&NZ is pleased that Bupa are supporting the @ School Wellbeing program.
“Most importantly, it connects children to the Kids helpline service, so that they know no matter the problem or where they are based, there is someone there to listen and guide them,” says Ms Power.
The partnership is well on its way to achieving its target of rolling its in-school education program to 10,000 children this year. Register for the free school program.
Read the Kids Helpline press release in full.
UP NEXT:
Kids Helpline and Bupa to take on mental health and bullying in schools program
Bupa Australia and Kids Helpline inspire resilience through schools program
