Childline volunteers in Wales prepares to support children during their darkest hours this Christmas

Film of Natalie Dormer joining one of Childline’s night shifts.

• Childline counsellors at NSPCC Cymru/Wales’ Cardiff and Prestatyn sites volunteer their time this Christmas to help children
• In 2018/19 Childline in Wales delivered 646 counselling sessions to children during the 12-day period over Christmas
• Actor and Ambassador for Childline Natalie Dormer joined a night shift in London
• NSPCC ‘Light For Every Childhood’ Christmas Appeal shines a light on children needing help in December

Childline bases in Wales are preparing to help hundreds of young people across the festive period, including many struggling to cope with mental health problems.

In 2018/19 more than 600 counselling sessions were delivered by staff and volunteers from the NSPCC’s Childline bases in Prestatyn and Cardiff across a 12-day period over Christmas and New Year.

Almost a hundred counselling sessions delivered during this time by the NSPCC Cymru/Wales service were on mental or emotional health, with other young people seeking support around feeling suicidal, family relationships, self-harm and sexual abuse.

Helping to shine a light on all the children and young people contacting Childline this Christmas during their darkest hours – and the volunteers who will be supporting them –  is Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer.

The actor and ambassador for Childline, which has 12 bases across the UK, recently visited the London service at night. She said:

“The calls that came in, to be quite honest, sideswiped me. Within the first 25 minutes there were two suicide calls with counsellors helping the young people through the reoccurring thoughts that were haunting them.”

Childline is the only service available to children and young people, whatever their worry, 24/7 throughout the Christmas holidays.

One 13-year-old girl who contacted Childline during the night said:

“I feel really down tonight. I have a counsellor who I see regularly and who I would usually go to for support but I will not be able to get hold of them because it is the Christmas holidays. I was told I could speak to someone at Childline. I have anxiety and find it difficult to cope and have tried to kill myself before. I don’t want to live but don’t want to upset my family.”

Due to demand and a shortage of resources, Childline is only able to help two in every three children that contact them in December and during the rest of the year.

In response, the NSPCC Christmas Appeal ‘Light for Every Childhood’ is calling for donations and more volunteers so Childline can be there around the clock for every child and young person.

Dame Esther Rantzen, Childline founder and President, said:

“Christmas is the time of year we think about children, and most of them are happy, excited and loved. But many of the young people that contact Childline are unhappy, abused and neglected. One of them told me: ‘Christmas is like looking through a window, seeing happy families warm and loved while you are standing outside in the dark and cold.’

“For some young people, Christmas can be the hardest time of year, when their problems feel magnified, making them even more isolated than ever. At Childline we must be there for every young person that needs us. But to achieve this we urgently need the public’s help, which is why it is vital they support the NSPCC Christmas Appeal ‘Light for Every Childhood’.”

Just £4 pays for Childline to answer a call with a child in need of support, to donate visit the NSPCC website.