0800 What’s Up

HelplinesRangatahi / Tamariki / Youth

11 Feb

Written By James Akuhata

Āta Whakarongo - Be Heard

Empowering children is central to our counselling practice. We help to develop a child or teenager’s personal competence and resilience, so they can take a positive perspective on the world around them.
‘Child-centred practice’ underpins everything we do. We:
- Listen and respect what children have to say
- Focus on their needs
- See the world from their perspective
- Know that the child is the primary client
- See the child as an individual
- Respect the child
Call us
free call 0800 942 8787
Mon-Sun 11am-11pm
Chat online
whatsup.co.nz
Mon-Sun 11am-10:30pm

CALL NOW

0800 What’s Up is run by Barnardos New Zealand. We’re a free, nationally-available counselling helpline and webchat service for children and teenagers.

For the past 19 years our counsellors have been helping callers to find solutions to their problems, equipping them with the tools they need to deal with situations now and in the future.

From 2021

Our counsellors have taken 1.6m calls and 29000 web chats.

Young people call us for many reasons. Last year, the top five were:

Mental Health – callers told us of their concerns for their own or someone else’s mental health. Topics included anxiety, feeling down or depressed, self-harm, being clinically diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder and medication.
Family relationships – callers talked to us about issues with their caregivers and siblings, extended family and whānau.
Relationships - we took calls about problems with friends, peer pressure, making friends, friendship breakdowns and concerns for a friend’s wellbeing.
Dating – many callers told us of problems with boyfriends or girlfriends and sexual issues.
Bullying – callers told us about their experiences of deliberate emotional and physical harassment at school or at home and online bullying.

Find out more about Barnardos

Our counsellors

Our counsellors are trained professionals.

Many of the children and teenagers who call us are trusting an adult with their problems for the first time. Some will form an ongoing relationship with our counsellors, who’ll provide stable and reliable support when the caller needs it.

All our conversations are confidential

So don't worry you can talk to us about anything, we won't judge and you won't get in trouble.

About anything - it's free.

No issue is too small or too big for our trained counsellors – reach out if you need to be heard and would like some support to deal with what’s on your mind.

We’re here for all children and teenagers in Aotearoa

You can ask to speak with a male, female or gender diverse counsellor and you can ask to speak to the same counsellors you spoke to last time – so you don’t have to repeat yourself!