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What's Up? Get Connected research

What's Up? Get Connected launches research

  Bullying, crime, abuse: more than four out of five young people have recently faced problems like these alone when they couldn’t get help

• Young people’s helpline Get Connected asked young people across the UK what stops them getting help when they need it. Their research identified a lack of trust amongst young people, both in the people around them and in the services designed to help them.

‘I can’t trust anyone anymore I feel lost,’ wrote a 16 year-old respondent in the online survey.

• Boys and young men are almost seven times more likely to try and deal with a problem alone than girls, they told Get Connected. The research is part of ‘What’s Up?’, Get Connected’s project to rebrand the helpline and make its communications as relevant to young people as possible. 

 

• Young people overall said fear that friends and family would find out was most likely to stop them looking for help with an issue. Get Connected’s message to young people in the UK is that there is no ‘right way’ to deal with or express a problem and that you’ve done the right thing when you do seek help.

Ensuring its service – and others – are accessible to as many young people as possible is Get Connected’s aim with the project. All new branding, materials and website have been created with in consultation with young people. Get Connected would like to thank Eatsleepthink Design for producing designs for the new brand free of charge. Get Connected’s communications are to be funded for three years by the Vodafone UK Foundation.

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Notes to the editor:

1. On July 17^th at the London Television Centre, supporters of Get Connected witnessed the unveiling of the helpline’s new identity, devised in consultation with young people in London. Guests were also able to test the new website, www.getconnected.org.uk, and discuss the findings of ‘What’s Up?’, a survey of young people all over the UK asking what stops them reaching help when they need it.
2. Get Connected gives young people access to the services that exist to help them -anything from a listening ear to a bed for the night - by providing emotional support, information on over 13,000 different UK services, and a free connection to other helplines. The service is completely free, impartial and confidential.
3. 86.3% of young people responding to the online survey said they had recently faced an issue they couldn’t deal with by themselves and been unable to find help.
4. Almost half of young people said fear that their friends or family would find out they were worried about something had stopped them looking for help.
5. Available for photo/interview: Emma Insley, Director of Get Connected
6. Copies of the report are available from Get Connected: contact or 020 7009 2500.