1-2-1 counsellor chat

Childline at night

Between midnight and 7:30am Childline works slightly differently. We have fewer counsellors during the night so it might take a long time to get through.

In an emergency you should phone 999.

When you get through

When you get through to a counsellor, you might be asked a few questions about your safety like where you are and if you feel someone might harm you, or if you might harm yourself.

Stuff we'd ask about your safety

If you're worried or need support at night, you could try asking an adult you trust for help.

If you contact us, we'd want to make sure you're safe. So we might ask you where you are and who you're with, as well as how you're feeling.

We might feel that you're unsafe if you're:

thinking about running away tonight
out and don't want to go home
out alone late at night with no shelter, food or drink
having thoughts or urges to self-harm or are feeling suicidal
harming yourself
taking or are thinking about taking drugs or a lot of alcohol
at risk of being abused overnight
out with a gang, or at risk of being forced to commit a crime or getting hurt.

We want to support you and help you find ways to cope. And we'd always try to let you know if we need to get help to you in an emergency.

Wait time:
Amber

It can take a very long time to get through to a counsellor at night. If you need help right now, enter the waiting room and we will be with you as soon as possible.

Enter waiting room

Things you can do now:

If you can, try to contact us after 7.30am when we have more counsellors. They will be able to spend more time helping you.

You can try:

talking to an adult you trust
sending an email to a Childline counsellor, who will email you back within 24 hours
reading letters to Sam – there might be someone asking about a problem similar to yours
getting support from other young people on our message boards.

Childline at night

When you get through

Stuff we'd ask about your safety

Wait time: Amber

Wait time:
Amber