1 Kids Helpline Australia Wendy Protheroe

2 Established in 1991 National Service 24/7 Private and Confidential 5 – 25 years Counselling and support via -Telephone - - Web Contact with Primary Schools Website Activities Free to access Kids Helpline

Kids Helpline Service 3

4 Direct contact with Clients Responded to 285,556 contacts (web contacts limited by us) 214,258 were for indirect help seeking 71,298 counselling sessions Contact via website 2.2m website views 245,502 web views of Hot Topics 107,441 webpage views of self submitted stories 6,720 connections to search for a service We have unmet demand 2012 Overview

6 Million contacts over 23 years Mental Health Concerns Drugs & Alcohol Family & Friends Homelessness School Suicide Child Abuse Bullying Resilient, Healthy & Safe Australians Our Clients 5

6 Our Principles Always treat the caller with dignity At the times when they are most difficult to manage they are in most need Be prepared to persevere – stay there – do not personalise the interaction

7 Confidentiality and Duty of Care Confidentiality: Anything a client says or writes during a counselling session is not shared with any person or organisation outside of Kids Helpline, unless: –Permission is granted –Documentation is required due to legal action –Client discloses information that constitutes a "Duty of Care" situation. "Duty of Care": State laws and ethical requirements obligate that we report any incidents of serious harm or potential harm, befalling a young person. Examples include: –Ongoing and significant abuse, sexual abuse, –Frequent exposure to violence –Suicidal or parasuicidal behaviour –Homicidal or significant aggressive ideation

8 Mental Health Concerns Family relationships Emotional Wellbeing Suicide-related concerns Friends/Peer Relationships Self injury / Self Harm Concern Child abuse Bullying 22.7% 21.3% 15.5% 12.2% 8.1% 7.7% 5.5% 11.2% – Counselling Interventions

9 Client Assessment & Case Planning Structure & Boundaries Cultural and Values Awareness Referral, Wrap-around Care & Closure Kids Helpline Therapeutic Framework and Counselling Model Training

10 Counsellor Training – Transferring to provision of virtual services Recruitment Initial Training Phone/ -Clinical skills -Clinical issues -Operational and Systems Training 2 weeks full time 1 day week / 6 weeks 16 weeks intensive supervision and evaluation Ensuring Training -Web counselling -Unsupervised On- Shift -Parentline -Ethics -HR -Issues e.g. Mental Health BPD Provision of professional and ethical counselling Degree qualified Counselling Experience

11 Counselling Centre Supervisors -Real time -Client Review -Emergency Services -Debriefs -Systems Training Counsellor Clinical Practice Supervisors -Reflection sessions -Monthly -Practice -Development -Practice training Support

12 Communications Telephone Web Contact is placed in a queue and randomly assigned to an available counsellor or Contact is connected with regular counsellor

13 Call is processed on a PC using: Software allowing monitoring of counsellor activity and clients awaiting a response Client management software Case noting software Referral database

14 - Monitoring counsellor activity - Monitoring clients in queue

15 Client management software

16 counselling software counselling queue and management screen counselling response window

17 Web counselling software Web counselling window Web counselling queue and management screen

18 Case noting software

19 Service referral database

20 Website

21 Kids Teens & Young Adults Grown Ups -Get help -Fun Stuff -Information -Whats Kids Helpline -Switch Themes -Get help -Fun Stuff -Information -Whats Kids Helpline -Switch Themes -About us -Get help -Get involved -Your space -Get Info -About us -Get help -Get involved -Your space -Get Info -Getting help -News & Research -Business Friends -About us -Support us -Getting help -News & Research -Business Friends -About us -Support us

22 Kids School

23 Data Collection Cycle

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26 I leave you with the strongest message we hear from our Kids Helpline clients… THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! Wendy Protheroe General Manager Kids Helpline We Care. We Listen. 26