What we do
Our vision is that every young person in the UK can find the help they need to support their emotional and physical well being.There are eleven million young people in the UK. In Get Connected's survey of 2006, four out of five young people didn't know where to turn with their problems.
Get Connected is the free helpline for these young people, who know they need help but don't know where to find it. With volunteer Helpline Workers trained to support each young person in their unique situation, and help them choose the best service from over 13,000 in the UK, Get Connected is the vital gateway between a distressing, confusing problem the young person can't solve on their own and the service that can help them solve it. Crucially, the connection we make for each young person to their chosen source of help is free as well.
Imagine being Nikki:
She ran away from home in January because she couldn't take any more of her parents' alcoholic and abusive behaviour. It's now June and she's been sleeping on the streets of Wakefield for five months. It's not great, but she feels safer here than at her mum and dad's house, where she's as likely to be offered heroin as she is a hot dinner.
She calls Get Connected fearful that we'll try to send her back home. She's only fifteen and has no idea what other options there might be.
We reassure her that going home is not the only option, and explore with her what others there might be. She confesses that she doesn't know any of her relatives and isn't in touch with her friends any more. She's heard of Social Services, but doesn't know any more than their name.
Our Helpline Worker talks to Nikki till she says she's ready to get help. He reminds her that she doesn't have to give any information she isn't comfortable giving and that we will only connect her to someone she's happy to speak to. Nikki agrees to try talking to her local Social Services and we give her a free connection to them - a call she couldn't have afforded to make on her own, even if she'd known what they did.
Get Connected doesn't often get to hear the continuing story of the young people who contact us. But the reports of services who are enabled to help those young people because we've made the connection speak for themselves:
‘You're a One-stop shop - young people can find support and information on almost anything via the signposting Get Connected provides.'
- Greta Hughson, THT Direct
‘The single best thing about Get Connected is that young people who cannot afford to pay the cost of a call can be connected free of charge, which also helps if the helpline they are ringing is not a freephone helpline itself. Young people have more support and help.'
- Gerri Burnikell, Supportline
