1. Youth2Youth helpline
Youth2Youth (Y2Y) is a confidential helpline run by young people for young people.
Callers aged between 11-19 years old contact the helpline by either phone, email or
online chat. Whichever way callers contact the helpline they are assured their call is
answered by a specially trained volunteer aged between 16-21 years old.
Youth2Youth opened in October 1997 and we have answered calls every week since
then. We are proud to have offered this important service for the past 13 years. We
have helped thousands of callers, trained hundreds of volunteers and won several
awards, all of which goes to show how valuable our service is. Thirteen years of
success has encouraged us to develop and expand Y2Y so we are able to continue
offering the nation’s youth a unique helpline run by young people.
In the beginning
Y2Y began in 1997 as a small, local telephone helpline based in the London
borough of Ealing. The demand for the helpline grew at an incredible pace and
within three years it was offering a nation wide service.
In 2003 Youth2Youth became a Company by Limited Guarantee and in 2004
became a Registered Charity in England and Wales.
April 2010 was a milestone in the history of Youth2Youth when it merged
with the children’s charity Kidscape. With the benefit of Kidscape’s 25 years
experience, Youth2Youth can now reach it’s full potential and help more
young people.
In December 2010 Youth2Youth was decommissioned as a charity by the
Charity Commission in and became a project of Kidscape.
Helpline Volunteers
The young people who work on the Helpline have been carefully selected and trained
to help vulnerable callers. Those selected to attend the initial training course are
taught active listening skills, including empathy, non-judgemental acceptance and the
importance of confidentiality. Emphasis is put on volunteers being self-aware and
being able to empower callers to help themselves. After successfully completing the
initial training course the volunteer undergoes further training once working on the

2. helpline. Debriefing and supervision is provided by professionally qualified staff that
are always at hand during the helpline hours. The quality of support given by
Youth2Youth to volunteers has been recognised by us receiving the Investing in
Volunteers Award in 2007.
From a Volunteer – Alex Wheldon, 18
“I joined Youth2Youth in October 2005 for the same cliché reason many other people
did, I really like helping people. But it really sounded like a unique experience, and
one I was not going to let pass me by. From the very beginning Youth2Youth has
been a challenge, starting with the training weekend. In two days 30 volunteers
developed the core skills necessary for working on the helpline. The weekend was an
unforgettable experience in itself; everyone who took part came away learning not
only about the helpline but about themselves too. The helpline has had a great impact
on my life, and skills such as active listening and paraphrasing which I have learnt
along the way will be incredibly beneficial later on in life too. Since starting at
Youth2Youth I have been promoted to Team Leader, so I now do less calls directly
but my role is to help the 2 supervisors who work with us in the smooth running of the
helpline. Recently I also had the privilege of accepting an award on behalf of
Youth2Youth at the inaugural “Children and Young People Service Awards.”

3. From the Helpline Supervisor
“My role as a Helpline Supervisor involves training and ongoing supervision and
support of volunteers. The initial introductory period for new volunteers involves
learning how to respond to calls and generally use the helpline.
Through open discussion with volunteers, feedback and ongoing reflection volunteers
are encouraged to think about the problems they are responding to and the possible
effect it might have on them. I support volunteers to develop the main skills of
empathy, questioning, paraphrasing, and listening.”
Calls to the helpline
Calls to the helpline vary considerably. Often they can be serious issues such as self-
harm or bullying, at other times they can be less serious, for example, being lonely or
break ups with friends. On average Youth2Youth receives 35 calls a night and these
can be either by phone, email or on-line chat. The option for the caller to choose
which medium to contact us is important. The phone and on-line chat are immediate,
whilst email can be accessed 24/7 at the convenience of the caller and are responded
to when the helpline is open. All calls are taken seriously and are treated as
confidential. Most calls are adequately responded to by Youth2Youth volunteers,
however, there are times when we will refer the caller to the most appropriate service
that can help them best. The helpline follows best practice guidelines on all child
protection and other serious issues.
Caller Case Study
When Michael first called the Youth2Youth helpline he found it difficult to talk about
his problems. He was nervous and embarrassed. Never before had he been able to
talk to anyone about his experiences and feelings. To have the courage to make that
first call was such an important step for Michael to start addressing his problems. The
first call was about Michael being lonely and depressed. The Youth2Youth volunteer
put Michael at ease and actively listened to him. Michael called the next week. He
continued to call on a regular basis for the next year. During this period Youth2Youth
enabled Michael to talk openly about his problems, gave him options to consider and
asked questions that would help him clarify his difficulties. Y2Y provided Michael
with details of his nearest counselling agency and also gave him information about
other support services in his area. Most importantly Youth2Youth listened to Michael.

4. Informing young people about the helpline.
When Y2Y first started operating the helpline most people were informed about the
service by either posters or information cards. Reaching out to young people has
changed dramatically over the last ten years and now the majority of callers who
contact us are informed via our website.
This year free advertising, given by Google, enabled us to reach many more young
people.
46,000 visitors viewed 190,000 pages on our
website.
92% were from the UK. These were spread
across the country but with by far the largest
number of visitors, 12,000 from London.
We received referrals from 438 different
sites. The four sites that referred the most
visitors to us were: nhs.uk, mizz.com,
youngminds.org.uk, and bbc.co.uk.
The busiest day was 5th February with 290 visitors. The quietest day was December
25th
with 47 visitors. In general there was more activity during weekdays and during
term time.
Key Achievements
1997 Telephone helpline opens
1998 1st
Website launched offering email help
1999 Prince Charles meets Youth2Youth
2002 1000th
Telephone call, Launch of online chat
2004 Registered as a Charity in England and Wales, Blue Plaque Awarded by
National Lottery
2005 Phillip Lawrence Award
2006 Children and Young People’s Award
2007 Investing In Volunteers Award
2008 Mentoring group of the Year Award – Leap
2010 Pride In Our People award

5. Contact Details
For Helpline:
www.youth2youth.co.uk email: talk@youth2youth.co.uk telephone: 020 88963675
For office enquiries please contact office@youth2youth.co.uk
Callers Responses
i have told the police now so every thing gonna be ok now and i so glad that im
felling better about it all thanks for you help x
Thankyou for being there when i needed you :] And i know who to turn
to
when i need help of any sort. Thankyou once again.
thanx Y2Y, you've really helped me and thanks for being there for me!!
bye xxx
Thanks, you've really helped I've taken your advice and found out my friends feel the same
too so I'm not at all worried any more, I've realised that the more you push yourself to talk to
someone, the better your confidense becomes, thanks!
thanks for the advice, it has helped. i've found a local LGB youth club, so i
may pop along to there and see what it's all about.
thank you so much for the reply and thanks for the wonderful job you are doing.
Thanx for all your help!
I just wanna say thanks for your advice. I'm gonna try following the
tips you've given me and hopefully it'll help. Thankyou soooo much for
replying.
HI THANKS I TOOK YOUR ADVICE AND USED IT I FELL ALOT BETTER I'M
STILL WORKIN ON MY SELF IMAGE BUT I AM SO GREATFULL
THANKYOU!!
I thank you for the responce it really brightened my day. Thanks again!
Hi, i would just like to thank u for your reply i am learnin to cope bettter, and my
friends and i know that we will get through it together. Thanx again
thanx for your reply , in way i knew what u were gonna say to me
anyway.
i think i'm just gonna see how i get on at college and try and make it on my own.
thanx it really does help having sites like yours online
Thank you