Health is Wealth - programme 33 - 17dec2024

Childline, an important service for children in Ireland, has been operating for over 35 years and receives a large number of calls and messages every year. They provide a listening service for children and young people and can offer support and help when needed. Childline works with authorities such as the Gardaí and Tisla if they receive identifying information about a case. They encourage children to trust the service and also talk to a trusted adult in their life. Christmas can be a difficult time for some children, and Childline aims to highlight this through their campaign. They rely on donations for 90% of their funding and have a website for online donations. They have volunteers who provide support and assistance to children in need. The service is important, and Childline encourages anyone in need to reach out for help. The contact number for Childline is 1800 666 666. I'm now delighted to have on the line with me Aoife Griffin who is the ISPC Services Manager with Childline. So first of all Aoife you're very very welcome to Connemara Community Radio. Thank you for having me. Now I mean Childline has been going for quite a number of years now and very very important service for our children. There seems to be more and more demand for it. Yes as I say we've been in Ireland now for over 35 years and every year we get an extraordinary number of calls and messages to Childline talking about a wide range of issues and this Christmas we're highlighting you know that Christmas isn't a joyful time for every child but yes we do get an awful lot of calls and messages, people coming to the website, young people wanting to find out more about Childline and reach out. Right now I mean in the press release I have in front of me and as I said to you before we won't go into any details but there are some horrific cases mentioned, absolutely horrific cases and when you get cases like that which are you know they're reporting illegal crimes really upon them. Does Childline take that further? You know can Childline help to get the Gardaí involved or the Hootusla or whoever it is that needs to be involved? Yes so I suppose primarily Childline is a listening service so children and young people don't have to have a problem to ring or call us. They don't have to give their first name, they don't have to give us any identifying information and Childline is there I suppose maybe the first time that a child has reached out and spoken about any of these issues and it's really important that they can do that and you know maybe have a safe space to discuss what's going on to them but over time if we do happen to get identifying information we call it so if we do happen to get a name address we absolutely work with the Gardaí and in particular Tisla, we follow Children's First guidance so we do refer, we do contact the authorities where we have the information but I suppose it's important that children you know build trust in the service that they understand that it's there you know that they don't have to give a real name that they can just call up or go online and talk to a friendly volunteer and as I said it might be the first time they're reaching out but absolutely we would always encourage any young person contacting us whether we know who they are or not to you know talk to a trusted adult in their life as well. Right and hopefully that they have a trusted adult because some poor children just don't seem to have that which is it's absolutely terrifying really and you know it must be absolutely soul destroying for your volunteers to be listening to these stories. Yeah I mean they have good support we've good supervision structure in ICC and in Childline and it is very difficult but I think what most of volunteers will tell you that they're delighted to be there to be that person for the child at the end of the phone or online you know that they're getting a lot out of it as well and they have supported the other volunteers on the shift and you know in in between the very difficult calls we get some nice calls you know kids children ringing in telling us what Santa brought you know how they got on in Christmas exams you know that they've gone out heading out to meet family for Christmas Day so you know you get that I suppose you get the good with the bad and on Childline and just but this campaign in particular I suppose it's highlighting that not everyone will have a safe and happy Christmas. Yeah I think we're getting more aware of that I mean you see so many cases in the paper of children is it dying because they've been so abused or you know going missing you know like the current one that we're talking with we've been reading about you know the children's children are not all well looked after. That's the reality for hundreds of children across Ireland and Christmas is no different to any other time of year and in fact Christmas can be a time when issues come to the head you know they're exacerbated there might be financial stress in the home there might be alcohol dependency there might be domestic violence and conflict and actually Christmas can be a time when this is really comes to a head and it can be really really difficult time for children and especially maybe when they're watching their peers or their classmates you know Santa's been very generous and for some kids may be living in direct provision in homelessness may not get what even other children in their class might get just even on that level so it can be a particularly difficult time and as you say we only have to open the paper every day to see that children are continuing to be abused and things like that so you know the issues don't go away at Christmas. No they don't unfortunately. I did want to ask you I mean you mentioned there that you know you would encourage them to speak to a trusted adult. As an adult and a child does come to you with some story like you know about them being abused or that they're whatever it may be how should another adult react to that what should they do? I thought the main thing is to remain calm and to receive the information I suppose children and young people will take a laugh from your reaction so if people remain calm and don't try not to look shocked or obsess themselves and reassure them that they've done the right thing by telling you we can't make any promises I suppose as to what might happen but that there is such thing as children's first guidance we are obligated to tell somebody who can help but just to reassure that they've done the right thing that this is not their fault that you will be able to get them the appropriate support and help and just to remain calm yourself and to get support yourself as well but it's just really important to remain calm I think. And perhaps to advise the child to ring Childline would that be a good thing to do? For sure yeah absolutely because the volunteers are trained and in how to listen and how to support and you know and even within TUSLA itself you know there's duty social workers who will receive information and listen and you know be compassionate empathetic and help point in the right direction but yeah absolutely I would say to encourage any child or young person to reach out and contact Childline and even go on the Childline.ie website because we've lots of articles and you know there's a questions and answers section where they might see you know a story that's familiar to their own and see what kind of advice was given there. Right yes that could be very useful. So the next thing we have to come to is that I mean you are actually looking for funding for donations I didn't realize that you depended on donations for up to 90% of your funding which is a large amount I mean the other 10% comes from what the HSE or TUSLA or somewhere like that? Yes from government funding yes so 90% is raised by the public in you know our Holly campaign you might see people out in shopping centres selling Holly and or on the street and that's a big campaign that we have every Christmas and then just donations people running and fundraising events maybe doing a Christmas jumper day but yeah it's incredible to think that 90% of our funding comes from the public and and that's right throughout the year but Christmas I suppose is an important fundraising time for us. Well indeed and I hope lots of people will lots of people listening listening now we will think to lift the phone or go on to their laptops or whatever there are you know and make a donation because of course you can do that you don't have to be happy you don't have to have a jumper day or have anything else you can just give money. That's absolutely and we have an idonate but www.ispc.ie has all the details so you can just go online and make a donation that way that would be amazing. So that's donate.ispcc.ie okay right okay well that's very simple and straightforward and obviously all the all the donations you get go to help you run the service which is such an important one. A lot of your people of course are volunteers you're not paying a huge numbers of staff but you obviously have to pay some and any any kind of organization it requires funding. So I do hope that some of the listeners will think to go on to donate.ispcc.ie or give it give to the Holly campaign if you're in town and you happen to see somebody selling Holly for ISPCC but I have to leave it there now because as always time is of the essence but Aoife thank you very very much for coming on and talking to us. Unfortunately I probably have to be talking to you again sometime because it's not a problem that's going to go away today or tomorrow. No but this you know reaching out and talking to somebody is the first step for a young person getting support so yeah we will we will chat again in the future no doubt. I'm sure we will and I do hope if there happens to be any young person any child out there listening actually just what is the number for Childline I should have asked you that. It's 1800 666 666 or childline.ie. Aoife thank you very very much for coming on talking to us and I wish you and all the other volunteers there who are doing great work a very very happy Christmas. Thank you very much.