CHILDREN’S charity NSPCC has called for more funding for Childline to help meet the rising demand for mental health support.

Last year, the number of children seeking help with problems including self harm and suicidal thoughts rose by 12 per cent, with Childlike receiving 101,454 calls. Childline’s South East base handled 16,470 counselling sessions alone.

In 2017,the government proposed in its Green Paper, the introduction of mental health support for children and young people in schools.

However, two thirds of Childline counselling sessions took place outside school hours from 5pm to 9pm, demonstrating the need for out of hours support.

Some children told counsellors they are being directed to contact Childline after normal working hours by statutory services, such as child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), or local authority children’s services.

More than 50,000 referrals to CAMHS were rejected last year with many cases not meeting the clinical threshold.

Childline plays an important role by helping children who are struggling with their mental health, but who do not meet the clinical threshold for access to CAMHS.

At present, Childline counsellors can only respond to three out of four children who need their help, as more and more children are using online counselling which requires more time and resources to answer.

The charity has launched a petition, calling on Government to increase funding for the service, so it can be there for every child in need, whether that is during the day, night or at the weekend.

Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC said: “Increasing mental health support in schools will be an important step to ensure more children get the help they need. But we know that children don’t only experience mental health problems during the school day.

“Government funding to Childline has remained the same, whilst demand for counselling about mental health continues to increase. It is vital that Government urgently provides more funding to help children who don’t have access to support elsewhere.”

Childline is reliant on funding from the public, with 80 per cent coming from voluntary donations.

Dame Esther Rantzen, founder and president of Childline said: “More young people than ever before tell Childline they are overwhelmed by serious mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, and we are seeing this reflected in the amount of counselling sessions we are delivering.

Our counsellors know we are literally saving lives, and it concerns us deeply that we cannot help every child who desperately needs to reach us.

“Childline is often the first place young people come to for help because they know they can talk to us in confidence when they have nowhere else to turn.

“Childline has been a lifeline for millions of children and young people for the past 31 years, and these figures show how much of a vital service Childline continues to be.”

* To sign the petition, visit e-activist.com. For free, confidential support and advice, call Childline on 0800 1111 or visit childline.org.uk.