Childline is doing its best to follow the government’s advice about the coronavirus to keep our staff and volunteers safe.

To help make sure we can keep offering a service to children and young people, we’ve made the difficult decision to only offer counsellor support from 7:30am–midnight from Monday to Friday, and 9am–midnight at weekends.

This can feel like a scary time, Childline’s volunteers and staff still want to support you. Even if you can’t talk to someone, Childline has lots of information and advice to help you cope.

Read our message about what’s happening.

There are still lots of ways to get support from Childline:

• use the message boards to talk to other children and young people
• send a message to a counsellor from your locker
• find new ways to cope using the Calm Zone
• get advice on getting to sleep.

Sending a message is free, and we’ll usually reply within a day. Writing to a counsellor can give you the space to say what you want and ask questions.

You can say as much or as little as you feel able to. If you’re not sure what to write, you could start by including:

• a little about yourself, like your name and how old you are
• what’s been happening or what’s on your mind, and how it makes you feel
• any questions you might have, and what you’d like to happen in the future
• a title that says what you’d like to talk about.

You don’t need to write a lot if you don’t want to, but it can help to include all the information the counsellor might need to know – if a counsellor needs to ask for more information, it can take longer to get help.

Writing an email can help you to get out your feelings, don’t forget you can use your mood journal to record how you’re feeling any time.

If you need support tonight, there are other organisations that can help:

Shout – You can text Shout for support on 85258

The Mix – Support for anyone under 25

In an emergency, you should always speak to an adult you trust or call 999.