Children talking to ChildLine about suicide

Navigation menu list for sections above the current page: Home

Publications: New publications; Forthcoming titles; Learning resources and toolkits; Shipping and delivery; Contact us

Children talking to ChildLine about suicide

March 2009

Front cover of Children talking to ChildLine about suicide ChildLine Casenotes is a series of reports based on analysis of calls to ChildLine, a free confidential helpline for children and young people in the UK provided by the NSPCC.

Children talking to ChildLine about suicide (PDF, 244KB) is our latest report and is based on detailed analysis of calls to ChildLine between April 2007 and March 2008.

Key findings

Every day, on average eight children and young people talk to ChildLine specifically about suicide.
In 2007/08, ChildLine counselled 2,925 children and young people about suicide. This represents two per cent of all children who rang and were counselled by ChildLine (176,185 in total) during that time.
The number of children telling ChildLine that feeling suicidal is their main reason for calling has tripled in the last five years from 909 in 2003/04 to 2,925 in 2007/08.
In addition, 3,003 children and young people rang and were counselled about another problem, but also said that they felt suicidal during the course of the call.
In total, 5,928 children and young people spoke to ChildLine about suicide (either specifically or among other subjects) in 2007/08.
The top three additional problems mentioned by children and young people who called ChildLine about feeling suicidal were family relationship problems, depression/mental health and self-harm.
Children and young people told ChildLine that their concerns were not taken seriously by parents or by health professionals.
Children and young people who call ChildLine about feeling suicidal can be very lonely and often do not believe that there is anyone they can talk to about their problems. For many, ChildLine literally is a lifeline.

Children talking to ChildLine about suicide

March 2009

Key findings

Children talking to ChildLine about suicide (PDF, 244KB)

Related reading