Kids Helpline counsellors call ambulances as kids suicidal

Lockdowns are taking a toll on Aussie kids, with counsellors now calling ambulances for suicidal children as young as five. WARNING: Distressing

Kids’ counsellors are calling ambulances to save 37 suicidal children every week, with kids as young as five calling for help during Covid-19 lockdowns. 

Pandemic panic is hitting high school teenagers the hardest, with 1635 suicidal 15 to 18 year-olds calling Kids Helpline in the first six months of this year, shocking new statistics show.

Counsellors have fielded 69 calls from suicidal children each week, on average, and called ambulances, police or Child Safety officers for emergency intervention 37 times a week – nearly double the number during the same period last year.

Kids Helpline chief executive Tracy Adams said calls from primary school children had soared 200 per cent, with more than 1600 children aged five to nine calling for help.

Among the 42 calls from five-year-olds, one child was suicidal, eight wanted to talk about loss and grief, one suffered sexual abuse and another called to report family violence.

Ms Adams said lockdowns were stressful for children, “putting them at risk of mental ill-health.’’

“The upheaval and stress Australian children and young people are experiencing for the pandemic is a cause for concern,’’ she said.

“(They) are increasingly experiencing mental health concerns, including suicidal ideation (or) behaviour and self-harm.

“The third most common reason for making contact is relating to suicide concerns.’’

Children and teenagers are suffering abuse in lockdown. Source: iStock / Getty Images

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) has revealed that suicidal and super-stressed children are flooding hospital emergency wards.

Emergency hospital visits from children and teenagers with mental health problems has risen between 25 and 40 per cent nationally since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And an alarming new survey of 25,000 teenagers, by Mission Australia, reveals a rise in anxiety and depression, especially among teenage girls.

The Mission Australia survey found that teenagers are struggling with lockdowns.

“Whilst I’ve had depression most of my life, the quarantine, isolation and cancelling of events, alongside a ton of stress from my final year of school, has not been too kind on my mental state,” a 17-year-old boy told the survey.

A 15-year-old girl from Queensland said she was “contemplating suicide and thought no one wanted me around.”

“My family home life hasn’t been the best and it was getting harder to feel loved, supported and safe when going through the Covid ‘holiday’/quarantine,” she said.

Teen psychiatrist Michael Carr-Gregg – who has advised the federal government – warned that the pandemic is fuelling mental health problems among cooped-up kids.

He cited the “university of the bleeding obvious’’ that children are suffering from Covid-19 anxiety.

He said children need to mix with their friends in real life, while teenagers need time away from adults, as part of normal development.

Need help? 

Lifelinewww.lifeline.org.au 13 11 14

Kids Helpline www.kidshelpline.com.au 1800 55 1800