Child Help begins well

Press, 13 October 1982, Page 6

Child Help begins well

Organisers of the Child Help Line are thrilled with the initial success of the new telephone counselling service and have extended it to a 24-. hour service. Seven calls on a wide variety of subjects were received on Monday, the first day of the service. An offshoot from Parentline, which is run by the Coordinating Organisation for Parent Education, Child Help is the idea of Professor Philip Ney, head of the Christchurch Clinical School’s department of psy-

chological medicine. Cases of child abuse are its main concern. Two incidents of child abuse and one of incest were reported to the service on Monday, said the co-ordina-tor, Ms Frances Gibbs. Other calls included a woman wanting someone to talk to, another woman who saw a young child being given alcohol at a barbecue, and several calls of congratulations. A “big step',’ was taken by the service when a man

asked for two counsellors to visit his home and talk to his two daughters. “We had been afraid that people would not want us in their homes so we were gratified when he asked us to come in,” said Ms Gibbs. Originally the service was to. have been staffed from 7.30 a.m. to midnight during the week and 24 hours during the week-end. Volunteers are now willing to constantly man the telephone service. The Child Help Line telephone number is Christchurch 66-944.