New research from the charity shows more than half of all support provided last year was to children struggling with their mental health.
The research, published today (19th January), shows between April 2024 and March 2025 Childline delivered 82,882 counselling sessions to children grappling with their mental health.
Overall, 52% of all support given by the service – run by the NSPCC – during the year related to emotional and mental health concerns.
According to the data, the most common issues raised by children and young people were anxiety, stress, suicidal thoughts and feelings, self-harm and depression. Childline also recorded a 6% rise in counselling sessions related to anger issues.
One 15-year-old girl told Childline: ‘I feel so anxious and overwhelmed. I want to talk about how I’m feeling but I don’t know how. I even panic about having these feelings, it’s so stupid. I worry about everything, school, not being good enough, what people think about me, and a lot of the time I know I’m worrying about nothing.
‘I have to act as though everything is fine around everyone else; I bottle it all up then cry when I’m alone.’
The research has been published to support Childline’s new campaign, Race To A Milli, funded by Lidl GB.
Launched today, the campaign features TikTok creators Makai Fray and Joe Leggett competing to be the first to reach one million ‘likes’ by completing challenges set by radio presenter and DJ Rio Fedrika.
However, the contestants are unaware that the tasks are part of digital stress test, designed to challenge their resilience to peer pressure, rage bait and hateful comments. A video of the challenge can be found below.
The campaign comes as research from Ofcom shows children spend nearly three hours a day on digital devices, rising to more than six hours for young adults. Race To A Milli aims to highlight the importance of having time away from screens and includes a discussion between Makai and Joe about how social media has affected their mental health.
Against this backdrop, Childline said it was hearing from a growing number of young people who feel overwhelmed by being online.
‘I’m struggling with being chronically online,’ one boy told counsellors. ‘I doom scroll all the time and then feel so sluggish and worthless because I’m not doing anything.
‘I know it’s making my depression worse, and I should exercise or go outside at least but I just keep scrolling.’
Shaun Friel, director of Childline, said: ‘We know that mental health is one of the biggest issues facing young people today. It’s something we hear about more than ever, and it can stem from a range of factors, some of which can come from the online world.’
He added that the charity hoped the campaign would encourage honest conversations about digital pressure and remind children that help is available whenever they need it.
Childline can be contacted on 0800 1111 or young people can chat to counsellors online here.
Image: mohamad azaam/UnSplash
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