Young callers to Kids Helpline skyrockets

New data released by Kids Helpline shows seven times more young people are seeking help for mental health issues than they were 20 years ago.

Australian children as young as five are seeking help for mental health issues more than ever before, according to the latest figures from Kids Helpline.

The annual Insights Report, released on Tuesday, showed a total of 209,803 young people spoke to a counsellor at the service in 2015.

Twenty-two per cent wanted help with mental health issues, while another 19 per cent were struggling with family relationships.

The number of young people wanting strategies to cope with their mental and emotional wellbeing skyrocketed from 15,361 in 1996 to 111,529 in 2015.

Chief executive Tracy Adams put the seven-fold increase down to greater awareness rather than the emergence of a crisis.

"A lot of young people today have grown up knowing if your emotional wellbeing is suffering ... it is okay to seek help," she said.

"We're seeing help-seeking behaviours being normalised.

"What we'd like to see is more of that."

The report showed about 100 children per week contacted Kids Helpline in 2015 to get help about domestic violence and child abuse.

Police, ambulance and other services were contacted by staff in 1720 cases where there were immediate concerns about the child's safety, primarily relating to abuse.

Ms Adams called on young people to contact the organisation before they found themselves in an emergency situation.

She also urged parents to encourage their children to contact the service, given five to 12-year-olds made up 12 per cent of young people looking for help.

Ms Adams said their problems often related to family separation.

"Unfortunately we have had some very young children, as young as seven and eight, who have rung up with some very, very serious issues," she said.

"It's certainly not a position we want any child to be in."

Kids Helpline is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016, since first starting in Queensland in 1991.


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Source: AAP


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