Kids Helpline, a service of yourtown, is Australia’s only national 24/7 counselling and support service specifically for children and young people aged 5 to 25 years, including in Hume and Whittlesea.
The organisation is seeing a significant increase in suicide related contacts requiring an urgent “duty of care” response.
yourtown chief executive Tracy Adams said Kids Helpline provided 4,608 duty of care interventions between July 1 last year and June 30, 2023.
“Of these duty of care responses, 2,000 were undertaken where young people were at immediate risk of suicide and required emergency intervention. This is higher than we have ever experienced,” she said.
“A duty of care intervention is where Kids Helpline contacts police, child safety or ambulance when a child or young person is deemed to be at imminent risk.
“We need to take this opportunity to raise awareness of suicide and to promote action that will reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts by children and young children. Kids Helpline website has resources to learn more about suicide prevention.
“Our hope is to encourage conversations and spread awareness in an effort to prevent youth suicide.
New data states that suicide-related contacts from young people to Kids Helpline have increased steadily since 2018 and remain higher than pre-COVID-19 levels.
Suicide-related contacts from Victoria have increased from 14.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent from 2018 to 2022 and have become more prevalent than the rest of Australia since 2021.
Ms Adams said early intervention is critical.
“With timely intervention, young people experiencing mental distress and suicidal ideations may be able to bounce back. We need to have children and young people stay connected, and as a community, we need to continue to normalise help-seeking,” she said.
“Each and every one of us can play a role in suicide prevention. We can create hope for young people by reaching out and showing that we care, and I encourage all people to take
the opportunity today to do so,” said Ms Adams.
Details: 1800 55 1800 or www.kidshelpline.com.au
