Ask Sam letter

Hi there,

Thank you for this question! It's a great chance to talk about Childline as other young people might not be aware of everything they can do here. Childline has been around over 30 years, it started as just a phoneline but now young people can contact or get support in many ways.

This website is full of information. You can scroll through the different categories or type into the search bar to find what you are looking for, read advice and watch videos. A more recent addition is Cubie, Childline's chat bot that can help guide you to the right place on the site.

~Games~- There is hopefully something for everyone to enjoy such as racing, sports, arcade, puzzles, quizzes, games to be creative and games to be relaxing.

~Toolbox~- Apart from the games, you will also see other activities and self help tools such as the conversation starter, mental health first aid kit, calm zone and self harm tool.

And just like writing to Ask Sam, you do not need a Childline account to use any of these.

~Signing up~ to an account is easy and you do not need to give any personal information. Once you have an account you will have your own locker where you can personalise it, save pages and access even more.

With an account you will be able to write in your mood journal, write to other young people on the message boards, and create and share images. The message boards are Childline's online community where young people all support each other and share the things they like to do.

For those that want to speak to a counsellor, with an account you can use ~1-2-1 chat~ or send an ~email~. Anyone with or without an account can also call Childline for free on 0800 1111 - you don't need to have credit.

There's also the Deaf Zone that has advice and support in English and BSL, and there's information in Welsh. The whole site can be translated into different languages and you can customise how the site looks and feels, so that it's accessible for everyone.

Childline is confidential. You can read the ~confidentiality promise~. Childline is also open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and every young person in the UK is welcome to use Childline up until their 19th birthday.

Take care

Sam