Children's helpline: Need of the hour

28 September, 2012

There are times when kids are difficult to handle as they themselves do not know why they feel a certain way, and at such times even parents do not know how to react. Thus, to handle such situations a children's helpline is the best solution.

CHILDREN ARE the future. In today's world they are under tremendous mental and emotional stress. Not everyone around them fully understands them. There are times when they want to speak up about things that are upsetting but cannot. There are days when friends and family are just not enough. Tele helplines can prove to be a wonderful support system for them.

Parivatan youth and child helpline is one such innovative and helpful cause based in Bangalore. Jaya Mehrotra, a councellor with Parivarthan, relates how she felt the desperate need for a confidential way to open up with her closely-felt issues. "There were times when I felt scared to speak to my parents or teachers and I imagined if there was somebody there on a telephone line who I didn't know and who would assure me that whatever I said would be confidential and wouldn't be shared with anybody else, that would have been a great outlet for me.”

The need for such a helpline is great in India. In our country, emotions are looked down upon as something that only weaklings possess, and many time there is no encouragement to speak one's mind. Executive Director of Parivarthan, Malini Sridhar says, “I always knew there was a need for a child helpline. We just felt that being a counseling centre and having trained counselors would be a good way to reach out to children.”

Helplines like Parivarthan is the need of the hour as most parents find themselves at sea with the increasingly complicated emotions of kids. Trained counselors are more equipped at such things.