Healthy Harold Teams Up With Barnardos Helpline To Support The Mental Wellbeing Of Tamariki Across Aotearoa

Barnardos and Life Education Trust are joining efforts to support the mental wellbeing of tamariki across the country.

School-aged children attending the Healthy Harold programme on health and wellbeing will now be able to learn about the free counselling helpline, 0800 What’s Up, and understand how to get help from trained counsellors, either via chat or over the phone.

Barnardos 0800 What’s Up is the only helpline in Aotearoa offering free counselling service to tamariki and rangatahi from 5-19 years. As the largest health education provider in the country, Life Education Trust has educators, and its mascot Harold, the giraffe working with 86% of New Zealand primary and intermediate schools. Educators cover identity, self-worth, resilience, peer pressure, the effects of bullying, being kind to others and where to go for help, including, now, 0800 What’s Up.

“Schools have increasingly been asking for support in the critical area of mental health and wellbeing. Our reporting shows that 88% of school leaders see anxiety as an issue for students, with 35% reporting it as a significant issue, so we’re hoping to support these young people through this partnership,” says Life Education Trust Chief Executive, John O’Connell.

“Through our early intervention approach, our Barnardos trained counsellors focus on helping build resilience, empowering children and young people by supporting them to solve their own problems, providing tools and strategies, before things get too hard,” says Barnardos Chief Executive, Mike Munnelly.

This unique partnership between the two organisations hopes to help thousands of tamariki going through difficult times.

“The iconic Harold the giraffe and Life Education Trust’s educators will be great advocates for 0800 What’s Up, helping us reach all tamariki who needs us across Aotearoa,” says Munnelly.

“It is reassuring for tamariki to know that if they feel overwhelmed they can speak to or web chat with a counsellor skilled in working with young people," says O’Connell.

ENDS.

Media enquiries: Elodie Berthe, Communications Manager, 027 220 2995 or mediaenquiries@barnardos.org.nz

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• The most common topics young people contact 0800 What’s Up are about are mental distress, , loneliness, depression, anxiety, relationships and family issues, suicide and bullying
• These topics are also commonly requested by schools to be covered in Life Education Trust’s Healthy Harold lessons. Last year, 65% of lessons focused on relationships or identity and resilience (including mental health).
• The e-chat counselling sessions take an average chat time of 28 minutes compared to 6 minutes for the phone calls. The average time spent with callers and chatters has increased significantly and the seriousness of the issues discussed in a chat has also been highlighted.
• In 2021, we saw a 31 percentage increase in e-chat demand at 0800 What’s Up, in part because of the pressures of Covid-19 but also because of the increased wait times for other mental health and wellbeing services around New Zealand.
• In 2022, the issue of bullying tends to be overshadowed by the growing mental distress and wellbeing related issues children and young people are experiencing. However, bullying is not an issue that has disappeared.

About Barnardos

Barnardos is New Zealand’s national children’s charity. We work across child and family social services, early childhood education, and systemic advocacy for children and young people.

We tackle the hard stuff – family poverty and income inequality, family violence and abuse, mental health and wellbeing, equal access to early childhood education, and lack of the basics such as safe and healthy housing.

0800 What’s Up is one of the services offered by Barnardos. It is New Zealand’s only national children’s helpline – over the 21 years of service, 0800 What’s Up has answered almost 1.5 million call and answered over 29,000 chats. Young people can reach out through our phone or via chats, from 11am-11pm, seven days a week, via www.whatsup.co.nz or 0800 942 8787. Children can call or chat about anything at all - they don’t have to wait until crisis point to call and talk things over. Since merging with Kidsline in January 2021, 0800 What’s Up is now the only national helpline of its type for those aged 5-19 nationwide.

About Life Education Trust

Life Education Trust has been supporting the health and wellbeing of young people in Aotearoa for over 30 years. Life Education is a charity that works in schools to educate and inspire children and young people to make positive choices. We provide programmes focused around health and wellbeing, delivered through interactive learning experiences in schools.

Through our Healthy Harold Programme we teach tamariki at primary and intermediate schools to embrace healthy choices – learning about their body, friendships, their identity, food and nutrition and helpful and harmful substances.

In secondary schools we support rangatahi through three Theatre-in-Education programmes. SMASHED informs young people on the dangers of underage drinking, promoting responsible attitudes to alcohol. SMART$ encourages financial literacy, empowering young people to make positive financial choices. Behind the Scenes explores vaping and social media influences.

Life Education Trust also offers professional development for teachers to develop strategies to support their students’ health and wellbeing.

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