How the NSPCC works with children and young people

We have a range of services that can help children and young people who are facing difficulties.

ChildLine is the free and confidential helpline for children and young people in the UK. Children and young people can call us on 0800 1111 to talk about any problem. Trained volunteer counsellors comfort, advise and protect children and young people who may feel they have nowhere else to turn.

NSPCC Child Protection Helpline (open 24 hours for adults concerned about a child)
Phone: 0808 800 5000 free
Email: help@nspcc.org.uk
Textphone for the deaf or hard of hearing: 0800 056 0566 free

NSPCC Asian Child Protection Helpline (open 11am to 7pm, Monday to Friday)

Bengali-speaking adviser: 0800 096 7714 free
Gujarati-speaking adviser: 0800 096 7715 free
Hindi-speaking adviser: 0800 096 7716 free
Punjabi-speaking adviser: 0800 096 7717 free
Urdu-speaking adviser: 0800 096 7718 free
English-speaking Asian adviser: 0800 096 7719 free

NSPCC Cymru/Wales Child Protection Helpline (open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Fri)
Bilingual Welsh/English service: 0808 100 2524 free
Email: helplinecymru@nspcc.org.uk

Textphone: 0808 100 1033 free

Young People's Centres
Three-quarters of sexually abused children don't tell anyone at the time. And a third have not confided in anyone by early adulthood. Because so many children stay silent about the abuse they have suffered,we have set up eight Young People's Centres to reach out to them on their terms. The centres have been designed to be accessible and attractive to teenagers and offer a range of services including IT facilities, after-school clubs, peer support, information, advice and counselling. NSPCC staff are on hand to provide expert advice if requested, but keep a low profile.

One example of our Young People's Centres is the Warrington Young People's Centre which commemorates the lives of the two boys killed in the Warrington bomb in 1993. The centre acts as a "one stop shop" meeting the social, educational and welfare needs of young people in Warrington and the North West of England. First and foremost the centre is designed to be a fun place to come and hang out as well as somewhere young people can access a whole range of services. To this end a cyber café is sited at the very hub of the building which serves as a reception point and is staffed by young people. A range of other spaces lead off from this point including a computer suite and IT room, a games room, a multi-purpose meeting hall with stage area, an art studio and a sound studio.

A youth club runs three nights a week with a full range of activities. Individual and group counselling is also available as well as information and advice on child protection, health, education and community issues. The centre also runs a peer support service and an advocacy service as well as a number of programmes exploring peace, reconciliation, conflict avoidance, resolution awareness and development of leadership skills.

Other Young People's Centres across the country offering similar services include:

Peterborough Young People's Centre
Tower Hamlets Young People's Centre
Hastings Young People's Centre
Solihull Young People's Centre
Sheffield Young People's Centre
Nottinghamshire Young People's Centre
Bangor Young People's Centre

Schools Teams

The NSPCC has schools teams across England, Wales and Northern Ireland providing students with an opportunity to talk to trusted adults and get independent advice, support and counselling. In some cases, the NSPCC teams have set up befriender services with young people helping other young people.

Barnsley Schools Service Team has a team of counsellors providing individual counselling to young people within schools. They and other Schools Service staff can also offer advice and assistance with a range of activities including peer support schemes and schools councils as well as providing advice and support to parents and parenting skills training.

Bristol and Somerset Schools Team (Counselling, support and advisory service) provides a service to children, young people and adults in designated schools within Bristol and Somerset. A counsellor/therapeutic social worker works in school one or two days per week in term time offering child protection awareness training, consultation and advice to the adults in the schools where we work as well as direct work with children. The children and young people have the opportunity to receive individual, peer and small group counselling, advice and support.

Hastings Schools & Young People's Service (HSYPS) is a joint Schools/Young People's Centre team providing support to any child/young person of school age. The primary areas catered for are Hastings, St Leonards and the surrounding rural area. Services provided include counselling in nine local schools where peer support schemes are also being developed, counselling in the NSPCC offices, informal walk in facilities and a young people's advisory group.

Lancashire Schools Team works across Lancashire in primary and secondary schools providing a wide variety of services including drop-in facilities for children, young people, parents and staff, individual counselling for children and young people, groupwork and training for teachers/non teaching staff in child protection/child welfare issues. The team is also working with Lancashire Education Authority to develop a listening schools project.

London Schools Team is in the process of launching counselling and other related services for children and young people in schools in Islington and Hackney. The team already runs the Wandsworth Schools Pyramid Project which aims to help primary school-aged children fulfill their potential in school by building self-esteem. The project runs groups (pyramid clubs) for a limited period run by volunteers recruited from universities and local communities. The club leaders are carefully selected and trained to develop children's self-confidence and emotional health. Peterborough Schools Team (Hear2help) aims to reach children and young people by offering individual counselling and peer support programmes as well as working with teachers to raise awareness and identification of abuse.

Milton Keynes Schools Team offers counselling and advice to children and young people and their carers on a range of child welfare matters. The team works with children aged between 4 and 13 years in Milton Keynes schools and undertakes one to one counselling with children and/or their parents/carers. The team also facilitates groupwork with children and gives consultation and advice to school staff.

Northern Ireland Schools Teams (Newtownards & Bangor Schools Team, Omagh & Enniskillen Schools Team) Currently schools teams are being piloted within two of the five Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland providing a schools-based counselling service. The problems dealt with relate to school, underachievement, low self-esteem, relationships, bullying and loss due to separation/bereavement or difficulties within the family.

Northumberland Schools Team aims to reach children and young people via schools with the primary aim of helping schools to become more listening and responsive to children and young people. Services include counselling, support for peer support programmes and work with teachers to raise awareness and identification of abuse.

Nottingham Schools Team provides a range of services including: individual counselling for children and young people, groupwork, consultation and training for teachers/non-teaching staff in child protection issues.

Tara House Schools Counselling & Support Service The Tara House Schools Counselling and Support Service is an innovative partnership between the NSPCC, two secondary schools, 10 primary schools and Wolverhampton LEA. The team offers a full range of services, including: individual counselling, a drop-in service, PSHE and circle-time activities, as well as small group-work on specific areas of need in each school, i.e. friendship groups, anger management and bereavement. Advice and consultation is offered on child care and child protection matters and work closely with the designated teacher for child protection in each school. Advice and information is available to parents whose children access the service.

Wrexham Counselling & Support Service works in both primary, secondary and Pupil Referral Units within Wrexham County Borough. Children and young people are able to self refer to the NSPCC counsellor in the school and we also take referrals from teachers, parents and other professionals. The project provides counselling, groupwork and workshops. We recruit and train children and young people to be peer supporters and offer advice re developing pupils' councils.

Children's Rights and Advocacy Projects
The NSPCC Children's Rights and Advocacy Projects give independent advice, information and support to young people who are receiving services from their local authority, are looked after or have been looked after by their local authorities or have disabilities. These services speak up for young people and help them to speak for themselves.

Independent Visiting Services: Nearly 79,000 children are currently looked after by local authorities in the UK. Most of the children and young people who are looked after by a local authority continue to have regular contact with their own families. However, for some children contact can become infrequent or cease completely. Independent visitors are trained volunteers who meet with a child in care once a month, going out with them and taking part in activities they both enjoy. Independent visitors have to be reliable and provide access for the child to an independent adult who can offer regular contact, friendship and support.

Advocacy Services: The NSPCC Advocacy Services support and help children living away from home to express their views, wishes and feelings. NSPCC advocacy officers are trained social workers with specific experience of working with children in care. They meet regularly with young people's groups and visit residential units to make themselves as accessible as possible so that when a child in care needs to complain about their care or their circumstances, they know they have someone to turn to. The services also act as trainers to local authorities on children's rights.

The NSPCC has 20 such projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are in Barnsley, Carlisle, Carmarthen, Croydon, Buckinghamshire, Islington, Newport, Omagh, Pontypridd, Staffordshire, Tower Hamlets, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcester, Tyne & Wear, Cumbria, Newport, Merseyside, Croydon and Sheffield.

Other Services

Altogether the NSPCC has projects all over the Uk and the Channel islands, including177 community-based services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland offering services which vary from area to area but help and support children and families in their local communities. Key services are:

Assessing risk and helping after abuse. When the NSPCC is contacted because a child is at risk of harm, the first step is to look at the child's personal situation and assess the likelihood of abuse occurring. Or, if there has already been abuse in the family, we assess the risk of it happening again. Our assessment teams then decide on the best way to protect the child. This could be therapeutic work with the parents and child or, in a small number of cases, moving the child to a safe place. If abuse has taken place, children are often severely affected and may need months of one-to-one counselling before they can express the pain, fear and confusion they feel. Then, with the help of their counsellor, they can gradually start to recover from the experience and reclaim their childhood.
Supporting parents. The NSPCC Family Support Services help parents and carers to understand children's needs, improve their parenting skills and cope with pressures that might otherwise cause them to harm their children. The services include pre-natal advice, toddler groups, parents groups, one-to-one advice clinics, sessions on safety in the home and money management, and children's breakfast and after-school clubs.
Specialist investigation service. This increasingly important NSPCC service investigates abuse by paedophile networks. The abuse may take place in residential homes or other institutions, or be large-scale "organised" abuse by other groups.
Supporting young witnesses. When a child or young person is called to give evidence in court about abuse they have suffered, the court experience can be even more traumatic than the abuse itself. The Young Witness Support Service helps children develop the confidence they need to say exactly what happened to them and to be cross-examined.
Helping young abusers. The NSPCC has 25 Young Abusers Teams providing therapy to young people whose sexual behaviour is harmful to other children. The teams carry out risk assessment, one-to-one and group-based treatment work, preparation of court reports and case conferences.

Find out more about our research ( PDF, 209KB) with children and young people.

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