Kids help line.

Kids help line

April 2004, BoysTown, 6pp.

Self-injury, emotional and behavioural management, and young adult callers to Kids Help Line (KHL) are the topical issues highlighted in the latest edition of the newsletter Kids help line. The first article not only gives statistics on the incidence of self-injury in the community and among callers to KHL but also considers the factors that have been associated with the behaviour. The article is interspersed with quotes from an email sent by a young person to a KHL counselor, which expresses many views about the reasons for and purpose of self-injury for young people. Links to web sites are provided for more information on the topic.

The second article questions whether the perception of a dramatic increase in emotional and behavioural problems among Australian young people is based on fact or whether society has developed 'increasingly narrow expectations of acceptable childhood behaviour'. However, a WA survey does reveal that 20% of 12- to 16-year-olds had a significant mental health problem. The article suggests that changes within society and the family have resulted in stressors for young people such as sadness, grief and loss; violence in the media; early sexualisation; a focus on body image; and financial worries. The article does not raise the possibility that parenting styles could be a factor in the emotional and behavourial management difficulties experienced by a number of young people.

An increase in the proportion of 19- to 25-year-olds phoning KHL prompted the service to question who makes the calls and why they do so. Although the expected reasons for calling are mentioned, such as the fact that the onset of many mental health conditions peaks in late adolescence and early adulthood, and dearth of mental health services for this age group, there is no consideration that the increase in use of the service may, in part, reflect the increasing delay by many young people to make the transition to adulthood.

All articles have reference lists. The KHL newsletter is produced every four months and is available free of charge by emailing: [e-mail] with your name, address, organisation, phone number etc. and a note saying you would like to subscribe and how you would like to receive the newsletter, e.g. by post or email. Archived copies of the newsletter are available on the KHL web site at: <http://www.kidshelp.com.au/research/newsletters.html>.