Kids Helpline warns COVID-19 lockdown has triggered a spike in suicidal kids as a new wellbeing program rolls out in schools

A program designed to support anxious students as they head back to the classroom is being rolled out, amid a wave of self harm cases in kids triggered by the COVID-19 lockdown.

• What teachers need to get back to the classroom
• Nominate a 'top teacher' who has gone above and beyond

Exclusive: Children are so stressed by COVID-19 they are threatening self-harm while young school students are also worried about their parents as they juggle home learning and work, according to Kids Helpline which is swamped with calls.

To deal with the expected rise in anxious students as many schools return to face-to-face teaching, new COVID-19 specific wellbeing programs are now being rolled out in primary schools across the country to help students deal with the mental health fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

The Kids Helpline @ School are lessons that can be delivered in class or virtually and are aimed to help teachers deal with an anticipated rise in children with mental health issues, as they come back into school.

It comes as Kids Help Line has been swamped with a 17 per cent rise in emergency ‘duty of care’ calls to stop an attempted suicide.

Kids Helpline’s Tony FitzGerald said the COVID-19 situation was unquestionably a primary driver in the self harm contacts, as well as kids being out of their school environment.

“We’ve seen a significant jump in suicide presentations and there are a whole lot of factors for young people that are impacting that, they have been isolated from their support groups … and the exacerbation of the general mental health and the increased anxiety can be enough to really amp up that feeling of isolation.”

The coronavirus lockdown has led to higher cases of self harm in kids.

Mr FitzGerald said there is also a clear theme emerging with young people struggling to remain focused – and unable to get support from parents because they are either at work or working at home, as well as young people struggling with their schoolwork and unable to ask parents for help as they are working.

“What we have seen particularly over the last few weeks around that whole schooling situation is kids being stressed because their parents are stressed, because parents are having to juggle home schooling and working at the same time. And that can be really, really tough for families,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald was anticipating a rise in anxiety in children as they head back into school and said the program had been designed to take pressure off teachers and support students with professional counsellors who can talk them through the best coping methods.

Some of the activities in the program include teaching coping skills and how to make good choices during isolation as well as activities to encourage positive thinking and gratitude and making a COVID-19 Time Capsule Workbook.

Schools are preparing to deal with the fallout of COVID-19 lockdowns when students return to classrooms.

Bupa’s Rebecca Crimean, who support the program, said it “is more important now than ever as Kids Helpline works to help children develop tools and skills to be able to cope with life’s challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The interventions come as News Corp campaigns to help support teachers and students. We are calling on governments to be clear about the transition and detail what resources teachers will receive so they can run catch up education programs to see how much work students have missed.

We are also asking parents to nominate ‘top teachers’ who have gone above and beyond for their students during these challenging times and asking for governments to implement a range of hygiene measures to ensure schools are safe.

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Other campaign requests include additional cleaners, adequate supply soap and hand sanitiser, supporting the teachers with free flu shots, on site teacher COVID-19 testing in hot spots, a commitment to hire additional teachers to support the transition and access to IT support for vulnerable teachers still working from home.

In a major win for the campaign, NBN will now support vulnerable, pregnant and older teachers, who are still working from home, with a special priority service so they can better deliver online learning.

“NBN Co is proud to be supporting teachers working from home across the country during this critical time”, said NBN Co Chief Customer Officer Residential, Brad Whitcomb.

In addition a coalition of small businesses, who came together to support each other during the coronavirus crisis, are offering a range of items to thank teachers including free pilates classes, free coding classes for teachers or their children and a free six week wardrobe revamp.

Phoebe Adams with her daughters Beatrix 11, and one-year-old twins Indigo and Willow. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mum of three Phoebe Adams came up with the small business coalition as a way to support each other during the coronavirus crisis and said many businesses wanted to support teachers as they head back to school.

“I started this group because I felt that it was important to provide a platform where we could share ideas, be inspired and help each other to find the positive in what can otherwise be a very challenging situation.

“I can see how hard teachers are working right now through my own daughter’s experience.”

@clareemasters

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800

Originally published as Kids Helpline warns COVID-19 lockdown has triggered a spike in suicidal kids as a new wellbeing program rolls out in schools