Kids Helpline
Australia
Wendy Protheroe
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Kids Helpline
 Established in 1991
 National Service
 24/7
 Private and Confidential
 5 – 25 years
 Counselling and support via
-Telephone
- Email
- Web
 Contact with Primary Schools
 Website Activities
 Free to access
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Kids Helpline Service
Kids
Helpline
@
School
Email
Website
Phone
Web
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2012 Overview
Direct contact with Clients
 Responded to 285,556 contacts (web contacts limited by us)
 214,258 were for indirect help seeking
 71,298 counselling sessions
Contact via website
 2.2m website views
 245,502 web views of Hot Topics
 107,441 webpage views of self submitted stories
 6,720 connections to search for a service
We have unmet demand
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Our Clients
Homelessness
Family
&
Friends
School
6 Million contacts
over 23 years
Suicide
Drugs
&
Alcohol
Mental
Health
Concerns
Resilient, Healthy
& Safe Australians
Child
Abuse
Bullying
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Our Principles
 Always treat the caller with dignity
 At the times when they are most difficult to
manage they are in most need
 Be prepared to persevere – stay there – do
not personalise the interaction
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Confidentiality and Duty of Care
Confidentiality: Anything a client says or writes during a counselling
session is not shared with any person or organisation outside of Kids
Helpline, unless:
– Permission is granted
– Documentation is required due to legal action
– Client discloses information that constitutes a "Duty of Care" situation.
"Duty of Care": State laws and ethical requirements obligate that we
report any incidents of serious harm or potential harm, befalling a
young person. Examples include:
–
–
–
–
Ongoing and significant abuse, sexual abuse,
Frequent exposure to violence
Suicidal or parasuicidal behaviour
Homicidal or significant aggressive ideation
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2012 – Counselling Interventions
Mental Health Concerns
Family relationships
Emotional Wellbeing
22.7%
21.3%
15.5%
Suicide-related concerns
12.2%
Friends/Peer Relationships
11.2%
Self injury / Self Harm Concern
8.1%
Child abuse
7.7%
Bullying
5.5%
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Kids Helpline Therapeutic Framework and
Counselling Model Training
Assessment
& Case Planning
Structure &
Boundaries
Client
Cultural and
Values
Awareness
Referral, Wrap-around Care
& Closure
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Counsellor Training –
Transferring to provision of virtual services
Initial Training
Phone/Email
Recruitment
Degree qualified
Counselling
Experience
-
Clinical skills
Clinical issues
Operational and
Systems Training
Provision of
professional and
ethical counselling
Ensuring Training
2 weeks full time
1 day week / 6 weeks
16 weeks intensive
supervision and
evaluation
-
Web counselling
Unsupervised OnShift
Parentline
Ethics
HR
Issues e.g. Mental
Health BPD
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Support
Counselling Centre
Supervisors
Clinical Practice
Supervisors
- Real time
- Client Review
- Emergency
Services
- Debriefs
- Systems Training
-
Counsellor
Reflection sessions
Monthly
Practice
Development
Practice training
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Communications
Telephone
Web
Email
Contact is placed in a
queue and randomly
assigned to an available
counsellor
or
Contact is connected
with regular counsellor
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Call is processed on a PC using:
 Software allowing monitoring of
counsellor activity and clients awaiting a
response
 Client management software
 Case noting software
 Referral database
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Monitoring
counsellor activity
-
Monitoring
clients in queue
-
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Client management software
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Email counselling software
Email counselling queue and management screen
Email counselling response window
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Web counselling software
Web counselling window
Web counselling queue and management screen
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Case noting software
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Service referral database
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Website
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Teens & Young
Adults
Kids
Grown Ups
-
Get help
-
About us
-
Getting help
-
Fun Stuff
-
Get help
-
News & Research
-
Information
-
Get involved
-
Business Friends
-
What’s Kids
Helpline
-
Your space
-
About us
-
Get Info
-
Support us
-
Switch Themes
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Kids Helpline @ School
Classroom activities
Session guidelines
Booking a session
Skype or telephone session with
Counsellor
Teacher & class activity sheets
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Data Collection Cycle
-Secure storage
Data collection and recording
-Targeted service
delivery
-Evidence informed
practice
-Capacity to meet
demand
- Ongoing training
and support
-Measurable
outcomes
-Sustainable long
term outcomes for
young people
-Controlled access
Management and strategic
direction
Data analysis
-Client needs
-Resource demands
-Service delivery priorities
-Rostering
-Evidence informed practice
-Management and
strategic direction
-Practice wisdom
-Advocacy
-Research
Advocacy and Research
-Evidence base for key platforms
and positions
-Influence social policy
-Lobby government for funding
-Marketing
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I leave you with the strongest
message we hear from our Kids
Helpline clients…
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
Wendy Protheroe
General Manager
Kids Helpline
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