Life issues

Advice about helping a friend

When one of your friends is having problems or is upset it can make you unhappy too. If you are worried about someone, it can help to talk to someone about it. Read more about Advice about helping a friend

Peer pressure

Peer pressure is feeling like you have to do something just because all your friends are doing it. Read more about Peer pressure

Disability

A person with a disability is someone who is physically or mentally unable to carry out some usual day to day activities like eating, walking or washing.  They may have problems with their sight, hearing, speech, memory or mobility (such as walking). Read more about Disability

Depression and feeling sad

Many young people feel sad or down from time to time when life seems like it's horrible and no one understands you, and it’s normal to feel like this. If you feel like the sad thoughts and feelings are stopping you from being happy, enjoying your life, or making you feel that life isn’t worth living, then it might help to talk to someone who can listen without judging you.

Some adults don’t realise that children and young people get just as upset and sad as they do. This can make it hard to get adults to listen and take you seriously when you are feeling down. Talking to ChildLine about how you feel can help to start dealing with difficult feelings.

Puberty

Puberty is the change that your body goes through as you grow up, which makes you a grown up and gets your body ready to have babies in the future.

Friends

Friends help each other when they are not feeling happy and are there to talk to and have a laugh with. Sometimes friends fall out and this can be upsetting. Read more about Friends

How you look

Body image is what you think about your own body and how you feel about the way you look. Some people are happy with how they look and some people are not. Read more about How you look

Loneliness and isolation

Feeling lonely or isolated sometimes is normal, and people do go through periods of feeling like this throughout their lives.  If the feelings of loneliness and isolation begin to take over, and turn into feelings of despair, or even depression, then this is a more serious. Read more about Loneliness and isolation

Relationships

Having a boyfriend or girlfriend for the first time is really exciting, but it can be scary too. It's normal to have worries about it and what will happen in the future. Taking a chance is part of life and it's also part of relationships, but it's important to stay safe and happy. Read more about Relationships

When someone dies

Bereavement is the word used to describe the loss that people feel when someone close to them dies. Grief is the emotion that people go through as a result of the loss of someone they loved. Read more about When someone dies

Making decisions/Your future

A New Year is often a time for choices.  If you are doing exams this year like GCSEs or A Levels, it’s the start of the last few months of work.  It is also the time when you start thinking about what you are going to do next.  Even if you aren’t doing exams, you might have some choices about your future to make. Read more about Making decisions/Your future

The credit crunch and recession

In the past few years the UK has been making lots of money by selling things made here, like cars and food, to the rest of the world. An economy is how a country organises the way it sells products to other countries and buys items from them. The more things the UK sells, the more money it makes and the more products it can buy from other countries, and this makes the economy grow. Read more about The credit crunch and recession

Christmas

Christmas can be an exciting time of year, whether or not you are religious. It’s a happy time when friends and family get together and celebrate.  There are the holidays to look forward to and presents! Read more about Christmas

New year's resolutions

A new year is often the time when people make changes or resolutions about things they want to change.  Maybe you want to do more exercise, work harder, learn a new skill or get your five fruit and vegetables a day. Read more about New year's resolutions