Hundreds of children called SafeSpot helpline for mental health support in August

 

Nearly 1,000 young people reached out to the SafeSpot Helpline last month, and the majority were seeking mental health support.

 

This is according to Children's Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison. 

 

Mrs. Gordon Harrison says her office saw a surge in calls to the helpline between August 1 and 25. 

 

The latest data showed that a total of 999 children and teenagers contacted the service during that period, with approximately 70% seeking support for mental health-related issues.

 

"And when we drilled down into the breakdown of those mental health concerns, suicide is second only to those calling about their own well-being support, and that number was 372. But right next to that, we had 178 of our children reaching out to see that they had had suicidal thoughts or they had actually attempted suicide. We have 80 of them saying that they were calling about concerns about themselves and another 44 for self-esteem issues," she outlined.

 

Mrs. Gordon Harrison said the figures show that there is a serious mental health crisis among young people, particularly teenagers. She insisted this is not something that can be ignored.

 

"What we've been doing at the Office of the Children's Advocate, directly through SafeSpot, is to provide direct intervention and support via counselling, emotional direction, and affirmations. And what is very, very instructive to us is that of the 999 children who reached out to us, we were able to resolve 899 of their problems," she revealed. 

 

The Children's Advocate has calling for parents and guardians to be more vigilant, urging them to pay close attention to the emotional well-being of their children.

 

They are also being urged to seek help early when signs of distress appear. 

 

There have been two suspected suicides involving students in less than a month. 

 

Bullying is believed to have been the trigger in both cases.