NSPCC NI urges Q Radio listeners to 'Shorten the Q' for Childline

By Hannah Spratt

Childline carried out 509 counselling sessions with children in Northern Ireland about online and offline sexual abuse over the last two years

-Growing pressure and increase in children getting in touch online mean that only three out of every four contacts are answered.

-NSPCC Northern Ireland is appealing to Q Radio listeners to donate to Childline today (2 nd Feb) to help ‘Shorten the Q’ and ensure they can be there for every child.

NSPCC has revealed today that its Childline service has counselled over 500* children from Northern Ireland about sexual abuse, including online sexual abuse, over the last two years.

With children spending more and more time online, the charity says it is seeing an increase in issues as a result of children spending more time in the online world. The rise of smart phone and tablet use, along with the rise in ‘selfie culture’ and social media use could be fuelling the issue with children being put at greater risk of grooming and exploitation by online predators.

With the need for Childline as great today as when it began in 1986, dedicated volunteer counsellors in Northern Ireland’s Belfast and Foyle bases give up their time every week to ensure they can be there for as many children as possible. As well as dealing with the difficult subject of sexual abuse, counsellors help children with a host of other topics including physical abuse, self-harm and suicide, family problems and bullying. Last year (2016-17) a total of 5,230 counselling sessions were held with children contacting Childline from Northern Ireland.

However, due to the rising demand for online, evening and night-time counselling the NSPCC service can now only respond to three in every four contacts from young people who need its help. So the children’s charity is asking Q radio listeners to donate today and ‘Shorten the Q’ to help as many Children from Northern Ireland get the help they need, when they need it. A £4 donation could pay for a counsellor to answer a call, and all listeners have to do to back the campaign is text NICHILD to 70744 to donate.