Thank you for providing a light in the darkness for children this Christmas.

For some children, Christmas can be the toughest time of year. But thanks to your generous support they have a vital lifeline: ChildLine.

Watch a short interview with Shirish Kulkarni, a ChildLine Volunteer, to see the difference your support makes.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas. Thank you.

Open all hours

Our ChildLine centres are able to stay open 365 days of the year, so our counsellors can be there for children whenever they need help - all thanks to you.

Abuse doesn't stop for Christmas, so neither do we. As usual, our counsellors will be keeping ChildLine open 24 hours a day throughout the Christmas break. Our secret weapon? Lots of cups of tea and coffee!

Talking children's language

It's a big deal calling up ChildLine on the phone if you're a distressed child. That's why we also have an online service. Our counsellors provide advice and help by email and 1-2-1 instant chat, and we also have lots of useful information on our online message boards and the explore section of the website.

Counselling the counsellors

Most of our 1,505 counsellors are volunteers, each working anything from two to 20 hours a week. Shifts are usually two hours long. And because some cases can be upsetting to cope with, our counsellors always have a vital 30-minute debrief afterwards with a colleague.

Where do your donations go?

For just £4 we can ensure that, when a child plucks up the courage to ask for help, someone is there to answer their call.