Abstract
Counselling helplines or hotlines are key support services for young people with mental health concerns or in suicide and self-harm crises. We aimed to describe young peoples’ use of a national youth helpline (Kids Helpline, Australia, KHL) to understand how usage changed over time. A descriptive analysis was conducted on 1,415,228 answered contacts between 2012–2018. We described the trend of service usage over the observed period, the types of youth who used the service, and the problems young people contacted the service about. Phone (APC = −9.1, KHL: −10.4 to −7.8, p < 0.001) and email (APC = −13.7, 95%CI: −17.1 to −10.2, p < 0.001) contacts decreased over time whereas webchat contacts increased (APC = 16.7, 95%CI: 11.7 to 22.0, p < 0.001). With this increase in webchat contacts, there was an associated increase in total webchat contact duration. Concerns raised in contacts to the service were primarily related to emotional wellbeing and mental health concerns (53.2% phone, 57.3% webchat, 58.2% email) followed by social relationship issues (20.4% phone, 20.3% webchat, 16.8% email) and family relationships (19.4% phone, 17.2% webchat, 21.8% email). The increased preference for online text-based information and counselling services can help inform development of services for young people and allocation of staff/service training and resources.
Highlights
Many mental health conditions first present at a young age [1]
Australian study reported that nearly one in seven (13.9%) young people aged 4–17 years were assessed as having a mental health disorder in the previous 12 months [2]
Perceived barriers to help-seeking for emotional well-being and mental health concerns, barriers were related to individual factors, social factors, relationship factors, and systemic/structural factors [6]
Summary
Australian study reported that nearly one in seven (13.9%) young people aged 4–17 years were assessed as having a mental health disorder in the previous 12 months [2]. Helplines can be a critical first point of contact in the prevention and care for young people with psychosocial concerns and those at risk of suicide. They provide confidential information and emotional support for people with various psychosocial concerns (e.g., emotional wellbeing, violence and abuse, social relationships [8]) and crisis intervention for individuals experiencing suicidal crisis [9].
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