Q Radio listeners urged to 'Shorten the Q' for Childline in Northern Ireland

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NSPCC Northern Ireland has teamed up with Q Radio to ask listeners to donate £4 and help ‘Shorten the Q’ for Childline.
 

Childline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year and is a dedicated service for children and young people under the age of 19. 

 

The volunteer counsellors in Northern Ireland’s Belfast and Foyle bases give up their time every week to respond to as many young people as possible.  

As well as dealing with the difficult subject of sexual abuse, counsellors help children with a host of other topics including physical abuse, self-harm and suicide, family problems and bullying.

 

Children and young people can contact Childline by phone or online. We have seen a significant increase in the number of children contacting Childline over the past few years and currently Childline Counsellors can only respond to three in every four contacts from young people who need our help. So the NSPCC is asking Q Radio listeners to donate £4 to ‘shorten the Q’ so we can help as many children as possible.

 

Head of fundraising for NSPCC Northern Ireland, Catherine Nuttall, said: “We have over 100 dedicated volunteers across our bases in Belfast and Foyle who come week in, week out to be there for the children who need us.

 

“However, over the past few years we have seen a significant rise in online contacts from children and we are coming up against the fact that we can only respond to three in every four calls”.

 

“We really want to shorten that queue so that we can be there for every child who contacts us. A £4 donation could pay for a counsellor to answer a call, and all listeners have to do to back the campaign is text NICHILD to 70744 to donate.”

 

Q Radio breakfast show presenter Stephen Clements, added: “Some of our presenters visited Childline in Belfast and it was a privilege to hear all of the stories. For each child contacting Childline they are talking about the biggest thing in their life at that moment, and the fact that they are getting a listening ear really makes a huge difference to them.”

 

“We also saw first-hand how Childline is an online as well as phone experience, and the staff and volunteers are so well trained and empathetic, dealing with all of the children who contact them. It really was a humbling experience, and we would urge all of our listeners to donate and help Childline support even more children.”

 

Listeners can help ‘Shorten the Q’ by texting NICHILD to 70744 to donate £4. The NSPCC will receive 100% of your donation. 

 

Childline is also appealing for volunteer counsellors across the Belfast and Foyle bases – for more information go to www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do


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