Contacting Childline

On Tuesday 17th December and Wednesday 18th December you won’t be able to speak to a counsellor online or on the phone from 2am-7:15am while we make some important improvements to our service.

You’ll still be able to send us a message and get support on our website.

Get more information about how we’re improving Childline.

Speaking to Childline

Childline is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so you can speak to us any time.

Our counsellors are here to listen and support you with anything you’d like to talk about. You can call us for free on 0800 1111 or speak online using the 1-2-1 chats. If you’re deaf, you can also use BSL via an interpreter.

You can also send us a message after signing up for a private Childline account. We’ll answer your message within a day.

Sending us a message

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 to 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.

We’re free and confidential

Calling us is free from most landlines and mobiles in the UK, and your calls won’t show up on your phone bill. You can still call us, even if you don’t have credit.

If you sign up for an account to use the 1-2-1 chats or message us, you won’t be asked for your email or personal information.

Our confidentiality

After your contact, our counsellors will make some notes about what you’ve said. What you tell us is confidential, this means that we’d only tell someone else if:

you ask us to
we believe your life or someone else's life is in danger
you're being hurt by someone in a position of trust who is able to hurt other children like a teacher, religious leader, sports coach, police officer or doctor
you tell us that you're seriously hurting another person
you tell us about another child who's being hurt and is not able to tell someone or understand what is happening to them
we're told we have to by law, for example for a court case.

If you’re worried about our confidentiality, you can always ask the counsellor when you contact us.

Find out more about our confidentiality promise.

What if I’m too nervous to call?

Lots of young people have told us that talking on the phone feels too scary, or that they’re worried about being overheard.

Talking on the phone can help in lots of ways, and the more you do it the easier it can feel. If you want to call but you’re struggling, if can help to:

Try dialling the number but not saying anything
This can help you to see what calling is like. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, or you could talk about something that interests you.
Ask questions
When you get through to Childline, you can ask as much as you want about how we work.
Think about the best place to talk
Find somewhere quiet where you can focus if you can.
Take your time
Childline counsellors understand that it’s not easy to talk, and they can help you to feel more confident.

Remember, if you can’t talk on the phone right now, you can start by using the 1-2-1 chats or sending an email using your Childline account. Any time you’re ready, you can call us on 0800 1111.

Cut off or had to go?

If you’ve been cut off or you needed to leave, you can come back on any time. If you’d been speaking for a while, sometimes it can feel better to take a break and come back another day or send a message to say anything else that’s on your mind.

If you were feeling unsafe or felt like hurting us when you were cut off, it can be good to contact us again as soon as possible to let us know if you’re safe or need more help. Remember, in an emergency you should always call 999.

How often can I contact Childline?

You can speak to Childline as much as you need to, but there are times when we’ll suggest that you take a break or take some time before coming on again. This is to help make sure you’ve had time to think about what you’ve talked about.

Childline is a free number, so anyone can call us at any time. Every young person who contacts us is important and we do our best to answer every call as quickly as possible.

If you’ve called us quite a few times in a day, you will sometimes get a message saying that you can’t call us right now. This is because we’ve put a limit on the number of times someone call us in a day. This is 10 calls in 24 hours from a single telephone number.

Even if this has happened, you can still get support on our website, or send a message to a counsellor to get things out.

Talking to a Childline counsellor

Find out what talking to a Childline counsellor is like and get advice to make it easier.

Some young people have told us that calls from an 02 network aren't connecting to Childline. If you have an 02 mobile and need to speak to Childline, please dial 116 111 or chat to us online whilst 02 work hard to fix the problem.

How 1-2-1 chat works

You can speak online to our counsellors any time using the 1-2-1 chats. Send messages back and forth and get support with anything that’s on your mind.

Watch below to see what using 1-2-1 chats look like:

Using 1-2-1 chats

1-2-1 counsellor chat

Get help and support from a counsellor about anything that's on your mind.

Our confidentiality promise

Confidentiality means not telling anyone else about what you’ve said. Find out more.

contacting us at night

Contacting Childline at night is a little different. When you get through to a counsellor between midnight and 7:30am you’ll still be able to talk, but your 1-2-1 chat might only last for up to 15 minutes. This helps make sure everyone gets a chance to talk.

When we’re very busy later in the evening, we might also give you a shorter 1-2-1 chat than during the day, this is just to make sure we’re giving everyone a chance to talk.

At night, the counsellor will ask you what you’re hoping for and your counsellor will ask questions to help you think what’s best.

After your 1-2-1 chat, it can help to look at our advice on going to sleep, or spend some time reading letters to Sam.

If it's difficult to get through to us and you feel you need urgent help, you can also call 999.

Preparing for your 1-2-1 chat at night

It can take longer to get through at night, but there are things you can do while you’re waiting to get the best from your chat:

Write down what you’d like to talk about
Writing down or practicing what you want to say can make it easier when you get through; it can also help you to feel better. If you’ve written down what you want to say but can’t wait, try sending it in an email to us, a counsellor will reply as soon as they can.
Think about what you want from your 1-2-1 chat
For example, would you like to feel differently, or get some tips on how to cope? Thinking about what you want from your chat can help your counsellor support you. But it’s always okay if you’re not sure what you want.
Choose one thing to focus on
When you’ve got lots going on it can be difficult talking about it all, focusing on one thing can help you get the most out of your chat.

There are lots of things you can do to cope while you’re waiting for a counsellor. Try distracting yourself by playing a game or getting support on the message boards.

If you don’t feel able to wait for a counsellor, it can help to talk to an adult you trust.

Stuff we'd ask about your safety

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. This can help us understand your situation.

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

thinking about running away tonight
out and not wanting to go home
out alone late at night with no shelter, food or drink
having thoughts or urges to self-harm or 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.

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

Ways to feel better right now

When you're feeling stressed or upset it can be difficult to know what to do. But there are ways to feel more relaxed while you're waiting to get through to a counsellor.

You can:

sign into your locker to get your feelings out with our mood journal
express how you feel using the Art box
listen to soothing music or make a playlist you enjoy
try our balloon game and watch your worries float away
focus on your breathing to manage your anxiety. Take deep, slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Coping Kit

Find new ways to cope or distract yourself. We've got ideas for however you're feeling.

Problems sleeping

Check out our tips to help you sleep better.

Signing to a counsellor

There are lots of ways to get support from Childline if you're deaf. You can have a 1-2-1 chat, send an email to a counsellor or use BSL via an interpreter.

Using BSL with SignVideo

SignVideo lets you contact a counsellor through a BSL interpreter. You can use it between Monday – Friday, 8am - 8pm and on Saturdays, 8am - 1pm.

How to use SignVideo:

open SignVideo and click "allow webcam"
if an error message appears that says that your browser is not supported, just click 'close and don't show again'.
when you're connected, an interpreter will appear on your screen
you can chat to the interpreter in BSL
they'll translate your conversation to the counsellor.

Contacting Childline when you’re d/Deaf

Speaking to Childline in other languages

Childline can only talk to you in English or Welsh, but you can use our accessibility tool to translate the website into lots of different languages.

Contacting us in Welsh / Childline ar gyfer pobl ifanc sy’n siarad Cymraeg

We have fewer Welsh speaking counsellors, so we can’t always speak to you straight away. If you would like to talk, call or contact us online and let us know you want to speak to someone in Welsh. We’ll check if there’s a Welsh speaking counsellor available or talk to you about alternatives.

You can also send a message from a Childline account in Welsh and we’ll reply as soon as we can. Remember, in an emergency you should always call 999.

Cysylltu â Childline yn Gymraeg

Ffoniwch ni am ddim ar 0800 1111 neu darganfyddwch sut i gysylltu ar-lein. Beth bynnag fo'ch pryder, rydyn ni yma i chi.