Kids Help Phone () is a Canadian
charitable organization
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definitio ...
that provides online and
telephone counselling and volunteer-led, text-based support in English and French to youth across Canada. Kids Help Phone also provides information on how to access community support services for youth.
Organization and activities
Kids Help Phone was launched in 1989 and its website was launched in 1996.
[Daw, J., Cone, C. (2010). Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding: Seven Principles to Power Extraordinary Results. Germany: Wiley.]
The organization expanded its mandate in 2002 from providing counselling to more types of support, including bullying and abuse.
Kids Help Phone provides free and confidential mental health support to Canadian youth. Services were originally telephone based with the more recent provision of text message and internet based text message support. In 2016, Kids Help Line launched ''BroTalk'' website and internet based chat services to address the specific mental health needs of young men.
In June 2022 the Canadian government announced a contribution agreement with Kids Help Phone to provide counselling services for young Afghan and Ukrainian refugees in the languages of Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian and Russian. The government indicated it will also provide contributions that will allow Kids Help Phone to hire interpreters in 100 languages by 2025. In 2019, Kids Help Phone began to offer outreach services in Arabic and Mandarin.
The organization's 2023 Feel Out Loud campaign to promote youth mental health was supported by an all-star supergroup recording of
Serena Ryder
Serena Lauren Ryder (born December 8, 1982) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007 and has released eight studio ...
's single "
What I Wouldn't Do
"What I Wouldn't Do" is a song performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder, which was released as a single in November 2012. The song was written by Ryder and Jerrod Bettis for Ryder's fifth studio album, ''Harmony (Serena Ryder album), ...
".
[Brent Furdyk]
"Feel Out Loud: Alessia Cara, Serena Ryder & More Canadian Artists Collaborate On New Single Promoting Youth Mental Health Initiative"
. ''Entertainment Tonight Canada
''Entertainment Tonight Canada'' (commonly shortened to ''ET Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series that aired on the Global Television Network from 2005 to 2023. Its branding and format were based on the American entertainm ...
'', March 2, 2023.
See also
*
ChildLine - a similar service in the
U.K. and
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
.
*
Kids Helpline - a similar service in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
References
External links
* {{official, https://kidshelpphone.ca
1989 establishments in Ontario
Children's charities based in Canada
Crisis hotlines
Youth organizations based in Canada
Youth organizations established in 1989
Non-profit organizations based in Toronto
Mental health organizations in Canada
Charities based in Canada