Boys are finally starting to seek help for their problems, but there is still along way to go, finds a new report out today.<\/p>\n
The NSPCC report, What boys talk about to ChildLine, found that the number of boys across the UK calling the dedicated helpline has increased five fold, but they are statistically a long way behind the number of girls who phone in.<\/p>\n
The south west centre in Exeter counselled 707 boys from across the UK last year, compared to 554 just five years ago.<\/p>\n
Bullying was the top problem for boys, with 22 per cent of the calls related to this issue.<\/p>\n
Other main problems include family relationship, physical and sexual abuse.
\nThe number of boys across the UK calling the helpline needing help dealing with feeling lonely, sad and isolated has increased from 334 five years ago to a whopping 1,817.<\/p>\n
More than 6,000 rang about serious emotional family stress and 5,363 wanted to know about the facts of life.<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s services manager for ChildLine\u2019s base in Exeter, Cheryl Marshall, said: \u201cThe increase in the number of boys calling ChildLine could be due to notions of masculinity changing, meaning that there\u2019s no longer so much pressure to be macho, which has led to more boys feeling able to ask for help.\u00a0 However we still get far fewer calls from boys than girls, so we need to reach out to boys and encourage them to speak out.
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\n\u201cSometimes you have to work hard to get boys to open up.\u00a0 But once they do, they\u2019re surprised that someone\u2019s there listening to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all the boys tell us whether they have spoken out about their problems before.\u00a0 But nearly half of those who did said they hadn\u2019t told anyone before calling ChildLine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe research would suggest that there is a need for alternative and innovative ways to engage with boys and their problems.\u00a0 So in response, the NSPCC aims to develop the existing ChildLine and NSPCC Helpline services to offer additional support through new technologies, such as the web and mobile phones.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boys are finally starting to seek help for their problems, but there is still along way to go, finds a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bristol-news"],"yoast_head":"\n