Glasgow Warriors support Childline recruitment drive

Glasgow Warriors players, from the West Clan, will visit the city’s Childline base next Wednesday (November 15) meeting volunteer counsellors and finding out how they help children and young people across the UK.

Childline Glasgow, run by UK-wide child protection charity NSPCC, saw a 40 per cent reduction in the number of volunteers during the pandemic. Since the lockdowns ended, rebuilding this network has been steady but challenging.

This means Childline now have less counsellors available to take calls. All while demand for the free helpline continues to grow, and they urgently need new volunteers.

On average, a child contacts Childline every 45 seconds. The service has seen an increase in contacts from children about their mental and emotional health and wellbeing in recent years.

There were 105,366 counselling sessions in 2022/23 about mental/emotional health, suicide, or self-harm, making up 55 per cent of all counselling sessions.

In 2022/23, Childline delivered almost 200,000 in-depth counselling sessions to children and young people across the UK. The Glasgow base helped in delivering 16,010 of those counselling sessions.

More than half of all counselling sessions delivered by Childline to children in Scotland last year focused on young people struggling with mental health issues.

In 2022/23 the NSPCC service delivered at least 4,627 counselling sessions to children living in Scotland on mental and emotional health and wellbeing. Of these, 1,310 were specifically related to stress and anxiety.

The Glasgow base needs to double its current number of volunteers to 210. This is so they can continue to be there for children 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

With the charity being based in the city, Glasgow Warriors wanted to support this drive as they continue to support causes that align with the club’s values and vision “to make a tangible difference in the lives of people in the city”.

Childline would particularly like to encourage men to apply. They currently only have 14 male counsellors, while there are 96 women. Many of these volunteers are unable to do regular shifts.

Call to Action

If you are interested in volunteering, email: volunteerrecruitment@nspcc.org.uk

For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/3FTC2kh

Childline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by calling 0800 1111 or a 1-2-1 chat is available online, by visiting: www.childline.org.uk where children can get support from their peers on message-boards and use expert resources to help them through any issue they are concerned about.

Background

- - Childline was founded by Dame Esther Rantzen in 1986
  - Young people call Childline for a variety of reasons but some of the most common things include problems with family relationships, exam stress, friendship issues, sex, relationships and puberty, suicidal thoughts or feelings, bullying, sexuality, gender and identity issues, sexual abuse, self-harm and mental/emotional health
  - The role of a volunteer counsellor involves giving invaluable time to a vulnerable child or young person who needs help, allowing them the space and time to talk, listening and validating or acknowledging their feelings and helping them to think about and explore their options
  - The NSPCC provides full training to Childline counsellors, so it does not matter what a person’s background is because volunteers will be equipped with all the skills they need. In addition, supervisors are always on hand to guide the counsellors through contacts with a child.