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A day in the life of Kids Help Phone

by Kids Help Phone

A day in the life of Kids Help Phone could be described as… absolutely unlike any other day. That’s because the kids who contact us have such a variety of experiences and backgrounds. Our professional counsellors connect with young people of all ages (from five to 20), from urban, rural, remote and fly-in communities, dealing with a wide variety of situations and concerns.

Here’s a snapshot to give you an idea. These are real situations, from real kids, during a part of what might be one “typical” day at Kids Help Phone:

• One teen told us he was sure he had depression because for months he’d been getting upset about things that shouldn’t affect him so much. He hated feeling this way but didn’t know what he could do. 

• A 12-year-old boy who was starting to notice changes from puberty wrote in to say how embarrassed he was feeling, and worried that people could tell what was happening to him. He asked, “How should I go through this? It’s going to take years to end!”

• A young boy who was feeling ashamed told us he thought he might be acting in a mean way to others online, sometimes without even realizing it. He asked what he could do to be nicer to others.

• A teen girl who had a close relationship with her father wrote to say that lately her dad had been exceptionally angry, but other times he was just as he had always been. Her mom told her it was because of her dad’s arthritis pain, but the girl was still worried that she didn’t feel as close to her dad as she once did.

• A high school student who was feeling extremely anxious contacted us about going to college the following year. The student was scared about large class sizes and how he would make new friends, adding that he was very shy. 

• A teen wrote in to tell us her best friend had tried to commit suicide three days earlier. Her friend kept saying she didn’t want any help and to go away. “Im scared im going to lose her,” she wrote, “what do i do… please help me!”

• A girl told us her mom had beaten her the previous night, slapping her repeatedly, calling her terrible names, pulling her hair and hitting her in the head. She asked if her mother’s repeated abuse was illegal and wanted to explore how she could get CAS involved to get out of the situation.

This is just a small glimpse of what some kids in Canada deal with every day. Fortunately, these young people are also courageous, inspiring, and resilient… since they’re already reaching out for help.

With your support, we will make sure that professional counselling, information, resources and HOPE are always available to them, whenever and wherever they need it. Thanks for supporting the Walk so Kids Can Talk!