KHL SMS counselling consultation
Kids Helpline already offers free phone, real-time webchat and email as ways for children and young people up to 25 years of age to connect with a paid, professional counsellor. Now we’re interested in your views about also adding in SMS as another way to link up. To help, we have briefly outlined below the main points for using each of these types of ways to get counselling.
And just to be clear - all our counselling is private and confidential, unless you tell us that you or someone else is being seriously hurt. And you can ask for the same counsellor if you contact again.
After you‘ve read these points, please answer the survey questions to help us plan our next steps.
Phone is:
• Real-time voice talk
• Offered for any type of issue, from small to serious/crisis
• Can have multiple phone sessions over time if needed
• Don’t need a smart phone or computer
Webchat is:
• Realtime text exchange
• You are encouraged to move to phone after you feel comfortable with the counsellor you’ve been web-chatting with (generally after about 4 sessions, but you can move to phone earlier if you want)
• Need a smart phone, tablet or computer
Email is:
• Delayed text exchange through email program
• You are encouraged to move to phone after you feel comfortable with your counsellor– generally after about 4 emails
• Need a smart phone, tablet or computer
• Slowest way to sort out problems compared to phone or web
SMS could be:
• Short message text based service
• You could text KHL 24/7, but fast turnaround exchanges would probably only happen during set hours each day.
• You would probably be asked to move to voice on the phone after a few text exchanges with a counsellor
• Would not need a smart phone, tablet or computer
• Great for simple questions and information
• May not be so useful for sorting out complicated situations
Now to the survey:
Please let us know some basic info about you first: