A leading children's counsellor has described unprecedented cases of stress, anxiety and loneliness among youngsters in Medway during the pandemic.

And the NSPCC's Kent community fundraising manager, Michele Baxter, who works with the Gillingham-based NSPCC service centre and national Childline charity, predicts issues will be exacerbated with schools closing for the third lockdown.

Michele Baxter is a Childline counsellor

Mrs Baxter said that Childline was currently receiving between around 18 calls a day from children as young as eight in Kent and Medway.

She said: "The main cause is isolation and a lack of control.

"During the first lockdown it was a bit of an adventure, a novelty being at home. Now the weather is gloomy and children just want to be back with their friends.

"They have had something taken away, given something back and now it has been taken away again, which is traumatic, a roller-coaster."

Mrs Baxter added that for some children school was a "safety net", somewhere to access support and counselling services.

While an online counselling programme had revealed "staggering" results, with more young people coming forward than ever before to share issues, it was not the same as face-to-face interaction, particularly in cases of sexual and domestic abuse.

She said: "While there is all the hope of the vaccine, it doesn't matter so much to young people as they know they won't be probably getting it until the summer."

Mrs Baxter said there had also been an increase of calls from concerned adults to their phonelines.

She said: "Some positive things have come out of this. People are looking outside their kitchens and thinking 'what's going on next door?'

"Also, we have got to know our children better than ever before. Twenty to 30 years ago, children would not have picked up the phone. Now mental issues have been brought to the forefront and children want to talk."

Mrs Baxter added that she was not at all surprised that a Medway Council survey revealed that more than half of children in Medway struggled with stress during the first national lockdown earlier last year.

The Maidstone mum said: "This has been going on for such a long time. We have never seen anything like this in our field."

More than 1,100 youngsters aged 11 to 19 took part in the council's online survey which found while 61% had found the lockdown "ok", 15% felt their lives had been "bad".

Additionally, 51% found their stress hard to cope with and 43% were not dealing with anxiety.

The NSPCC chidren's service centre is at Pear Tree House, West Street, Gillingham. The helpline number is 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk

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