Teen 'help' texts soar 1280 pc

Young people prefer to text. Photo / Janna Dixon

The number of distressed young people texting Youthline has skyrocketed, with the head of the Auckland branch admitting he's "scared" by the increase.

Auckland Youthline chief executive Stephen Bell said the organisation was also "a bit terrified" by the "intensity of the stuff we are managing".

The huge increase has come since the organisation introduced a free three-digit text number - 234.

In the 12 months to June, Youthline handled more than 116,600 texts, a 1280 per cent increase on the previous year.

Almost half were about relationships, followed by family concerns and health worries.

By comparison the major issue discussed in phone calls is isolation - having no-one to talk to, followed by depression or anxiety and relationships.

One Youthline worker said five or six young people could be texting at once. "You just have time to rush to the loo. You can't drop them and come back later, they might be texting between classes.

"With some, you have to stay with them for the whole day because they take a while to get around to what they really want to talk about."

Smita Ramji is often the first point of contact for distressed young people who phone or text the Auckland office. As triage and clinical support worker, she assesses the stress levels of the callers - and the counsellors dealing with the case.

One day last week the 22-year-old spent most of the day taking repeated calls from a highly stressed young woman threatening suicide.

Ramji said texting was often the first point of contact because young people were comfortable making contact that way. Once trust was built up, they were in some cases encouraged to call and talk to a counsellor.

Apart from phone calls and texting, Youthline used the internet to reach young people, in some cases infiltrating online groups that may encourage users to harm themselves or commit suicide.

"It's a bit subversive," Bell said, "but you also have to understand what's in the world that we're running up against."