KJT Children's Helpline Received 782 Calls, 237 Online Requests in 2019

KJT (Kanner-Jugendtelefon), the national helpline for children and young people in Luxembourg, has presented its 2019 annual report.

This year's report has been published for the first time in the English language. The reason for this is that this year marks the 5th anniversary of KJT's most recent service: English-language online support for children and young people and their parents.

In its report, KJT announced that a new group of seven English-speaking volunteers have successfully completed their basic training and will be strengthening the original team of six employees at the English-speaking Online Help in 2020. The committed team will regularly undergo further training.

In 2019, children and young people in times of crisis have turned to the Kanner Youth Telephone, both via tel.: 116-111 (782 calls) and online via www.kjt.lu (237 times). Just like on the helpline, mental health issues were the main topics of discussion for children and young people as well as parents on the Online Help. KJT added that the increase in people contacting its services on the subject of suicide was particularly striking. Last year, KJT accompanied and supported 61 children, young people and parents directly in the context of suicidal endangerment. This is almost twice as many contacts as in the previous year (35 in 2018). Most callers on this subject were female.    

Abuse and violence were also important points of discussion, with 114 individuals contacting KJT on these issues. Under the heading of violence, 68 cases of severe mobbing / cyberbullying were reported. Other topics were conflicts within the family or with friends. Young people often felt disadvantaged or excluded in their group of friends or on social networks.

Concerned parents who were deeply concerned about their children received advice on the parents' telephone or via the English-speaking Online Help service. They reported on the changes they had observed in their child, such as social withdrawal, isolation, depressive behaviour and self-harming behaviour. Parents were often seeking answers in dealing with their children and receiving support. Parents in separation and divorce situations or family conflicts also sought the advice of the counsellors at KJT last year.

Finally, the BEE Secure Helpline recorded further increasing numbers (511) concerning the internet. The BEE SECURE Stopline west reported in the areas of online depictions of sexual abuse on children (of 3,039 reported URLs, 2521 were classified as illegal and forwarded to the responsible authorities) and racism (of 219 reported links, 152 were classified as illegal and forwarded). 

The full 2019 annual report is available in English at https://www.kjt.lu/images/stories/pdf_divers/ANNUAL_REPORTs/KJT_Annual_Report_2019_EN.pdf.

KJT is a member of Child Helpline International, the world association of child and youth helplines.