Ukraine Crisis Response: Finding a Child Helpline

What is a child helpline?

Child helplines are here to listen to children, young people and their caregivers every day. You can share anything with a child helpline counsellor, including talking about any abuse, neglect, violence or exploitation that you may be experiencing. You can also talk to the counsellor about your feelings, your fears, and the hopes, worries and any concerns that you might have. Child helplines have many trained counsellors, and they can help you wherever you come from and wherever you are.

So, if you are a child, young person, caregiver or parent affected by the war in Ukraine, you can always contact a child helpline to get the help, advice, counselling and support that you need. A child helpline is available for you in Ukraine, and child helplines are also available for you in neighbouring countries where you may now be living.

Why might you want to contact a child helpline?

If you’re a child or young person, contacting a child helpline gives you the opportunity to receive support anonymously and confidentially in any difficult life situations you find yourself in.
If you are a parent or other caregiver, contacting a child helpline gives you the opportunity to consult with psychologists, lawyers, social workers, and social educators on situations concerning children and violations of their rights.
The operators who answer your calls are trained psychologists.
Most helplines are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they are completely free of charge.
Child helpline counsellors are available to listen, support, help and guide you on any problems that concern you, at any time and wherever you are.

When should you contact a child helpline?

It can always be helpful for you to contact a child helpline whenever you’re finding it difficult to cope or you simply need somebody to talk to. And it’s very important that you contact a child helpline as soon as you can whenever you are experiencing an urgent or extreme situation. This could include any of the following:

You’re unable to carry out your usual activities because of how you are feeling.
There are severe or long-lasting changes to your usual eating and sleeping habits.
You’re feeling panicked, and finding it hard to calm down yourself down again.
You’re using alcohol or drugs in order to cope with things.
You have thoughts about hurting others, harming yourself, or you’re thinking about ending your life.
You are experiencing violence or abuse.

If you are worried that it will be difficult to talk to somebody about how you are feeling, remember that you don’t have to talk about everything all at once. Start by just sharing a little bit of information, or letting someone know that you would like some help and support with something.

How to find a child helpline in the country you're in

Click on the map or the buttons below to find information about child helplines in the country where you are. If you can’t find your country on the map, you can look here for a child helpline in your country.