On May 17, Russia celebrates the International Day of the Children's Helpline. Its purpose is to draw attention to the need to strengthen measures for the protection of children in difficult life situations and assistance. The all-Russian children's helpline service 8-800-2000-122 works around the clock. Here not only children and adolescents are consulted, but also their parents. Everyone can ask what worries him.
Call-distance assistance - anonymous and free
Over the entire period of operation of the children's helpline, 118,500 calls have been received. Of these, 101,087 - from children and adolescents (85.0%), 17,413 - from adults (15.0%).
The round-the-clock work mode makes it possible to get advice not only during the working day, but also at any time convenient for a person - day and night, on weekends and holidays, that is, always!
Any person - a child or a parent - can safely trust the specialists and tell about the problem that worries him. And to do it anonymously and for free. It's not scary: just by picking up the phone, you can get answers to all the questions that a person cannot ask anyone else. Conversations are not recorded, the service also uses a telephone number identifier, since it does not have the right to do so by law. Specialists receive information about subscribers from their words, and it is important to note that the indication of such information is not obligatory for the client. A person can use a fictitious name and give just as much information as he wants, no more.
There are never many helpers
The coordination of the activities of the children's helpline in the region is carried out by the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Volgograd Region, Nina Boldyreva. It was she who stood at the origins of this good deed.
- This is a very important area in the system of helping children in difficult life situations. Contacting the children's helpline helps, if not completely solve the problem, then get good qualified advice and psychological help, says Nina Boldyreva.
According to the children's ombudsman, if a child calls the helpline, his parents will be able to find out about this only with the consent of the youngest subscriber.
- There is such a mechanism as transferring a call from anonymous to informational, but this can be done only with the consent of the subscriber and in the case when the psychologist understands that in this situation it is necessary to help not only with advice, but also involve law enforcement agencies, bodies of the prevention system, practicing psychologist for face-to-face classes. As a rule, this happens in cases of child abuse, in a situation that has signs of violent actions,”explains Nina Boldyreva.
A distinctive feature of our region is that three different institutions work in the segment of helping children in difficult life situations. This is a committee for social protection of the population, a health committee, a children's mental health center and an education committee and a center for social, psychological and pedagogical assistance to children.
Representatives of these organizations also work on the children's helpline and answer calls. The aim is to provide emergency counseling and psychological assistance by telephone, including in cases of child abuse.
Celebrating in new conditions
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the children's helpline in connection with current restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic is being held remotely. The traditional action "A minute of the helpline" was held in a remote format. Information about the work of the children's helpline was brought to the attention of children, adolescents and their parents by educational organizations and institutions of social protection of the population online.
And only in institutions where children are staying with a round-the-clock stay, which include social rehabilitation centers for minors and centers for helping children left without parental care, events dedicated to the International Children's Helpline Day were held in the usual format. These are "A minute of the helpline", a training lesson "Tell the helpline" Yes! ", The game" Tournament of trust ", contests of drawings, poems, stories.
It should be noted that distance learning turned out to be a test for both children and parents, as well as the teachers themselves.
“There are a lot of requests on this matter,” said Natalia Mironova, head of the department for organizing the activities of emergency telephone numbers for psychological assistance at the Center for Development and Quality Control. - Distance learning is much harder for children and parents. There are more tasks, and it is more difficult to understand the training material and complete the required. This is affected by the lack of experience in organizing studies in this format, and the insufficient level of independence and responsibility among children, and the impatience of parents.
In this regard, you have to learn a lot anew: organize the day, alternating with study and rest (active and passive), motivate children to expand the zone of independence. It is also important to discuss bonuses with them in advance to assess success, to learn to constructively resolve emerging conflict situations. The teachers were given the opportunity to make the lessons more interesting, more often to use an interactive format. This will make learning easier for children, and parents will be grateful to teachers for using new approaches in teaching their offspring.
Summarizing
On the eve of the holiday, a webinar was held dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the children's helpline. The event brought together over 100 social journalists from more than 30 regions of the country on the Internet site. The speakers were experts from the Children's Support Fund, as well as practitioners working in regional helpline services.
The interest in the declared topic was high. And this is not surprising, because in our time, children and parents increasingly need the help of professional psychologists. There are many reasons for this: the problems associated with the growing up of a child and the modern challenges that children and parents have to face in life are becoming more complex and acute.
Experts noted that one of the most accessible and popular options for providing psychological assistance is telephone counseling. This is especially true for families with low incomes and residents of small towns and villages, where it is difficult to get full-time help from a psychologist. And when support is needed “here and now,” a call to the psychological service becomes the only chance to receive qualified help.
Each year, counseling psychologists across the country receive a million calls from young and adult subscribers. The ten millionth call is expected in May 2020. Experts agree that you need to communicate more with your children, pay attention to them, provide them with support, live with their problems and needs.