Girl, 7, contemplates suicide, reaches our for help
That call saved her life.
The little schoolgirl, who is still in regular contact with her professional counsellor at Kids Helpline, is just one of 4000 Australian children aged five to nine who reach out for help every year.
'That's a lot of really young people who have the courage to ask for help,' Kids Helpline CEO Tracy Adams told news.com.au.
'We take our role to provide them with free, professional support any hour of the day extremely seriously,' she said.
'I really celebrate that they have that courage and absolute ability to recognise in themselves that they need to talk to someone and help them through what's worrying them.
'The fact they understand themselves well enough to do that is very special. They should never feel not worthy and not valued. We have built a whole service for children and young people, not anyone else, so that's how much we value them.'
Last year the service carried out 135,000 counselling responses to people from the age of five to 25.
Three per cent of all those contacts were made from children between five and nine years old.
Bullying is one of the key issues affecting the young children who reach out. The epidemic is claiming lives of children turning to suicide as an escape. This month a 10-year-old girl died in her bedroom on the NSW South Coast.
'We are not going to solve the bullying issue if we don't engage with young people,' Ms Adams said.
'It's really about building respect, celebrating diversity and helping students and young people to embrace their differences, celebrate them rather than feeling like differences make children a target.'
Ms Adams said the support service, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not only helps young people but 'walks beside families who have suffered great tragedy'.
One such family is Kellie and Mat O'Brien from Sydney who lost their 12-year-old daughter Charlotte to suicide last year.
The O'Briens are holding a Charlotte's Wish charity event in August this year to raise much needed funds for the service so no child ever has their call unanswered.
'In the wake of our unimaginable loss, we are honouring her legacy by channelling our heartbreak into action,' Mat O'Brien said.
'We aim to strengthen Kids Helpline's capacity to engage, inform, and support children, young people, parents, carers, and educators. It's crucial for everyone to have access to the right support, at the right time, in the right way, and at no cost – 24/7,' he said.
'Our goal is to create a stronger safety net for children and young people, enabling them to access the right support when they need it most. We truly want no child or young person to feel alone, unheard, or helpless in the face of bullying.
'By working together to honour Charlotte, we believe we can create lasting change in the lives of children, young people, and their families.'
Mr O'Brien said that while bullying is a complex issue, doing nothing isn't an option.'
The charity is also having a Giving Day on Thursday, hoping to raise $500,000 to allow for another 9000 counselling contacts a year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
2 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Queensland's homeschooling parents pleased with outcome from review
A win for homeschooling parents in Queensland, fighting to make the system more accessible for families. The Queensland government has accepted all 8 recommendations of an independent review into the Home Education Unit. The regulatory review, which published its report in September 2024, was prompted by widespread opposition to the previous state government's attempts to enforce legislation that would impose the Australian curriculum on homeschooling students. That move was firmly rejected by parents like Danika, who homeschools her neurodiverse 8-year-old son Ben. Danika says she's most excited about a recommendation to trial a shorter style of written reporting, alongside an online interview. She says this would offer a promising alternative for Queensland parents, after a positive experience with a moderator while homeschooling in Western Australia. "Whereas in Queensland, you feel it's just cross your fingers and hope that you can continue to do, and there's a lot of uncertainty around the processes over here, and it is quite daunting to submit a report every 12 months with no real guidance, no real reassurance that you are doing what they require. Having a person to report to would be humanising to the procedure, so that would be quite nice to have someone, a face, face to the documents would be nice. So yeah, I think that it is very exciting to have that process possibly come into play for us and just alleviate that kind of stressor." Sunshine-based parents Danika and her husband Joel, made the shift to homeschooling in 2022 after Ben's classroom anxiety reached a tipping point. Danika is among thousands of Queensland parents who moved to homeschool their children after 2020, with the Queensland government saying there was a 230% increase in home education over the past 5 years. It brings the current number of homeschooling students in Queensland to more than 11,000. Brisbane-based Patricia Fitzgerald is campaign manager of the Free2Homeschool movement, which gathered more than 21,000 signatures opposing the former Queensland government's attempts to enforce the Australian curriculum on homeschoolers. She says the government's decision to accept all of the report's recommendations is a great move forward for the community. 'I just think that with the reviews, the recommendations that have been proposed, it's going to be a really good opportunity for the HEU to connect with the community and build that connection and more support rather than just having the regulatory side. Having that educational leader there to bridge that gap and to build that supportive side as well is going to help a lot of the families who are trying to find that information and trying to find the community." Ms Fitzgerald pointing to the first of the recommendations - to transform the Home Education Unit, which will be renamed Queensland Home Education, to ensure greater practical support and regulatory oversight. There are hopes the appointment of education leader Dr Renae Acton will improve processes for families, alongside enhancing resources, such as program templates and exemplar annual reports. Queensland's Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek told SBS he supports a parent's right to choose the best type of education for their family. "We as a government support choice, I've done distance education myself or correspondence as we called it, partly because I lived in another country in Papua New Guinea. And the important thing is that if parents choose to do it, we want to make sure we support them just as we support them in the other frames of schooling that they might choose, whether it's state or non-state schooling." Minister Langbroek couldn't outline a date for when the recommendations would be legislated, saying his government prioritises consultation. This comes as legislation to raise the age cut-off from 17 to 18 for homeschooling students is still under review, after it was tabled in March. But Mr Langbroek says some of the recommendations from the regulatory review are already being enacted - including changing the name of the unit to Queensland Home Education, as well as extending the stakeholder consultation via the Home Education Expert group, by another six months. "We used to criticise the former government for consulting but already having made a decision about something. So this is genuine consultation with the group, so we want to keep the momentum going about the positive work we've been able to do with parents and stakeholders, and then continue parent engagement before we try to make any legislative change." One of the key aspects of the recommendations is to enhance resources and supportive tools for parents meeting regulatory requirements. Danika welcomes access to learning programs and reporting scaffolds, which are particularly helpful in teaching a neurodiverse child with individualised learning. "The learning plan that I have for Ben being neurodiverse, we very much follow his interests at the time. And having an online reporting scaffolding will really help me just report as we learn because we do have a plan in place, but obviously following just natural interests and natural ways of learning, it does change as we go. So having a formalised reporting structure will help us just keep tabs on where we're at and what we're learning and how we're learning it." But she would like to see state and local governments offer greater support for homeschooling co-ops, which allow groups of homeschooling families to collaborate and provide educational and social opportunities for their children. "We really need the support from local government backed by, sorry local councils backed by government, to ensure that we are setting up safe spaces for our children. All the boxes are being ticked to keep it a safe environment for our children and that they can continue to build regular foundational relationships within those groups instead of being shut down every couple of months because local councils are getting one complaint from someone who doesn't agree with the way that we are teaching our children. So I think that's another way that the government could help us all support us on our journey." The Queensland Family and Child Commission released a separate report in December 2024, in response to concerns raised by the Child Death Review Board in their 2022-2023 report. It "affirmed a parent's right to choose the most suitable learning environment for their child", but called for improved information-sharing between state government departments to ensure child safety. Minister Langbroek told SBS that his government are considering the work of the Queensland Family and Child Commission, acknowledging past obstacles around information sharing. "And Premier Crisafulli has been very clear that he wants me as education minister working closely with the Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm, the Attorney General Deb Frecklington, and
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
The unexpected realities of receiving a cancer diagnosis when young
It wasn't until Ashlynn Heaton was about to be wheeled into theatre to have an ovarian cyst removed that doctors told her scans revealed it was probably cancer, and she'd need her right ovary and fallopian tube taken out. Aged just 26 at the time, she had already delayed the surgery by six weeks to complete a work placement and it was an abrupt interruption to a life busy with work, university and her first boyfriend. "I didn't know that cancer in young people really existed," she said. As a young woman, she was concerned about surgical scars and how to preserve her chances of having children in the future. She was also put into medical menopause and was left to deal with the symptoms. Within weeks, she broke up with her partner as the prospect of dealing with fertility questions proved too overwhelming. "The reality was that I couldn't handle having to go through this health challenge plus the relationship," she said. Determined to finish her degree, Ashlynn was soon juggling the physical demands of intense daily chemotherapy and trying to finish university assignments in hospital. "Just even standing was really hard," she said. "If I sometimes couldn't pack my bag, my mum or my sister had to pack it for me and then I'd get in the car and drive myself to chemo." She's one of an emerging group of young people receiving a cancer diagnosis. For this generation, there are limited supports. Dr Peter Diamond, Chair of Cancer Council's Supportive Care Committee, said younger patients typically accessed information online and the Cancer Council were seeing an increase in the number of clicks on information relating to cancers for younger people. "The big thing that we hear about, if you are diagnosed and have young children, is how do you talk to young children and teenagers about cancer," he said. He said younger patients were often not set up financially and had little superannuation to draw on if they were in difficulty. "People end up financially struggling quite a lot," he said. Assistance to cover dealing with treatment side effects such as fertility issues or sexual function also varied state by state. "They also have a lot longer to live with those side effects than people who would probably be diagnosed later in life," Dr Diamond said. He said there were lots of supports available but the problem was having good navigation and coordination to ensure people got help from the start and not when they reached crisis point. "What we find is that people are reluctant to call because they think that there are people out there who are way worse than what they are," he said. Treatment left Ashlynn isolated as she couldn't see friends while her immune system was suppressed. And, some of her social network didn't have the life experience to know how to properly support her. Reflecting on it now, Ashlynn said while there were many children's cancer charities and support groups, there were few options for young women. There was also limited publicly funded psychological help, especially to help navigate the anxiety around regular scans and concerns over her fertility. "Finding that new normal is a real challenge," she said. Unable to work, the medical bills started to add up and without large savings, she struggled financially. "It just it took a toll on me. Can you afford your medication? Can you afford getting fuel?" At a practical level, Ashlynn said what would have helped was transport to chemo appointments, with hospital parking costs alone adding up to about $500 during her three-month treatment. For Andrew Saliba, a bowel cancer diagnosis not only brought the perils of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but he had to navigate its side effects while juggling two small children. "I had a port-a-cath installed — they put it under your skin just above your chest. So having that and then having the kids wanting to give you a cuddle and they climb on you — it's very painful," he said. "We were always trying to remind them to be careful of Daddy — so they kind of knew Daddy's sick in his tummy but they didn't know the extent of it." During his chemotherapy treatment and with a suppressed immune system, Andrew had to stay at his in-law's house when his family caught COVID. On another occasion, he ended up in emergency with a fever. Andrew said with each treatment his mental health declined and his relationship was put under stress. "There were lots of times I said I'm not doing any more treatment because it's too hard," he said. "I was very moody some days, so that obviously put a bit of a strain on the relationship but at the end of the day I think it has definitely brought us closer. "My wife was amazing through it. She picked up the slack." The couple were still paying off their house and as Andrew's treatments ramped up, he had to give up his job as an electrician, placing the family in financial difficulty. He said if it were not for employer-supplied income protection insurance, they would not have stayed afloat. "The biggest thought I had was, 'What's going to happen to my family if I'm not here?', because I was the main income earner." In the darkest days, Andrew wanted to give up treatment many times, but he said it was after he had his stoma removed that the real problems began. A stoma is a surgically created opening in the abdomen with a bag attached to collect stool. As his bowel recovered, Andrew found himself needing to go to the toilet between 20 and 50 times a day and he didn't leave the house for three months. Returning to work seemed impossible, but eventually he got on top of things, with the help of nutritionists from Bowel Cancer Australia. Even barbecues with friends took on a different flavour with Andrew needing to bring his own food and cook it in the oven instead of on charcoal to help keep his bowels in check. "It definitely sucks now I can't really drink much because it makes my stomach play up — I can't have a barbecue cooked on charcoal. "Going to a restaurant is hard because I can't eat garlic. I can't eat onions." These days, Andrew is trying to make the most of life and has scaled back at work to coach his daughters' rugby league teams. "I kind of used to be work first, now I'm a bit more family first." Andrew said a practical support for anyone going through bowel cancer would include a referral to a nutritionist who could offer advice to help manage bowel movements. "The nutritionist helped me probably the most out of anyone. I had to eat smaller meals. I went straight to eating boiled rice and a few veggies and really watching what fibre I ate." His message is to get checked early to avoid the worst side effects of serious treatment. "If you really think something is wrong, go get a second opinion."
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘I had treated my body as a rental': Media personality Shelly Horton reveals life-changing health message to Australian women
When Shelly Horton found herself in the ICU after an ablation in 2020 (a simple procedure to stop persistent bleeding), it didn't cross her mind that it might be a symptom of perimenopause. Nor did she join the dots between a raft of sudden physical and mental changes – heart palpitations, increased body temperature, 'brain fog', and debilitating depression – and perimenopause. The now 51-year-old says she'd never heard the word before, and instead was told by doctors that it might be cancer and was sent for an ultrasound. 'They said, 'Great news, you haven't got cancer. You must be stressed and maybe you should take up a hobby',' Horton tells Stellar. 'I drove home in tears, blaming myself, and didn't go and see another doctor for nine months.' It wasn't until the TV presenter consulted with her friend, Dr. Ginny Mansberg, whom she met as a fellow panellist on Seven's Sunrise in 2008, that she was able to make sense of her suffering. Before that defining moment, she hadn't considered herself in the target market. 'I thought menopause was for women in their late 50s, their period stopped and they got hot flushes,' she explains. 'I had that stereotype in my brain of grey-haired old ladies clutching their pearls and fanning themselves. 'I was like, 'I'm a fox. I'm way too young and fabulous.' 'I didn't understand that perimenopause can last 10 years so, in fact, I was right in the average age group.' Once she started to feel better, Horton got mad. Specifically about the menopause cone of silence which perpetuates the dearth of knowledge and poor treatment options for women. 'We've been taught by our mothers and past generations that it's just women's problems so you keep it to yourself,' she says. 'A heads-up would have been nice. I felt like the sisterhood let me down. 'Secret women's business holds women back. This whole 'soldier on' of the boomer generation, I'm like, 'No, I'm Gen X. We're going to get loud about this.'' In 2023, Horton shared her experience at the first parliamentary roundtable on menopause alongside respected experts – the first time 'menopause' had been mentioned in the Australian Parliament. It sparked a Senate inquiry, with Horton inadvertently becoming a spokesperson on perimenopause. It's not the first time Horton has led the charge on de-stigmatising taboo topics for women. When she 'bravely' wrote about her decision to stay 'child free' in 2013, she copped a pile-on from dissenters and was trolled on social media. But she takes heart in knowing it started a national conversation. 'I had comments like, 'A woman who doesn't want kids is not a real woman. She's a waste of a uterus.' It was awful. I didn't understand why anyone cared about my uterus and what I did with it.' As the TV presenter sees it, one of the many upsides of being child-free is having the freedom and funds to travel. She and her husband, Darren Robinson, whom she met 'the old-fashioned way' in a bar in 2013, renew their wedding vows in every country they visit. In 10 years of marriage, that's 25 vow renewals. 'Sometimes it's been incredibly romantic in the Maldives with the sunset. Then we nearly forgot in Iceland and we did it on the plane as we were taking off,' she laughs. They also run their production company together, Robinson behind the camera ('the workhorse') Horton in front ('the show pony'). She says their two rescue dogs were a salve during her three years of depression. 'My wonderful husband would put me to bed and hand me a puppy.' Adhering to her motto of 'adapt or die', Horton's career trajectory has been 'eclectic'. She was a producer for the first American Survivor in Borneo, a crime then health reporter for the ABC, Sydney gossip columnist, panellist on Today Extra, and host of Married at First Sight's spin-off TV show. It's a long way from home for the girl from Kingaroy in regional Queensland. 'From the red soil to the red carpet,' she says. Now she can add author to the list, documenting her harrowing menopause experience – along with evidence-based advice from experts – on paper to support other women going through it. Despite the turmoil of menopause, Horton reveals it has also helped her too. 'I wish I could just say, 'Slap on some HRT [hormone replacement therapy], you'll be fine', but it's not as simple as that,' she tells Stellar. 'I had to do the work. I had treated my body as a rental. 'I had to have the appointments with the psychiatrist. I had to change my lifestyle, improve my sleep, increase my exercise. 'I'm living proof that you can go through dark times and come out. Perimenopause broke me, but then I rebuilt me.'
