Local students urged to raise their voices and ask for help

HALIFAX , Feb. 10 /CNW/ - The fourth annual Kids Help Phone School Tour, presented by Raise Your Voice(TM), Motorola's commitment to helping Canadian youth be heard, visited Sacred Heart High School and Fountain Academy in Halifax , NS today, where members of Kids Help Phone's counselling team reminded students there is always someone they can talk to, no matter what the challenge.

Kids Help Phone counsellors Shawna Ginsberg and Shannon Freud talked to students about real-world issues and the importance to know what it means to raise their voices and ask for help. Available around the clock, Kids Help Phone professional counsellors deal with every topic imaginable, and some of the top issues kids shouldn't deal with alone include bullying and concerns about online safety.

A fun and interactive mock call allowed kids to relax and see firsthand what interaction with a counsellor feels like. The mock call staged a bullying situation in which a kid was being bullied by one of his peers, who was the most popular kid in the school. The pretend call described the situation of other students joining in the bullying, indicating that physical violence had occurred and the caller wanted it to stop. This story was something that really resonated with students.

With the growing number of issues that youth in Canada face today - from parental divorce, abuse and gang violence to the everyday challenges of being a teenager - it's vital that teens know there is a place they can turn to for help. Shawna shared a lighthearted story about a child who was concerned about how her body was developing. And Shannon shared a serious story with students about a recent call to Kids Help Phone that involved a youth who was concerned about his marks dropping. It turned out that his parents had recently told him that they were getting divorced and because they were frequently fighting, he couldn't concentrate on his homework.

Sacred Heart High School/Fountain Academy is one of many Canadian high schools Kids Help Phone is visiting from January to March as part of the fourth-annual Kids Help Phone School Tour. The tour was developed in conjunction with Motorola's Raise Your Voice(TM) program to encourage kids to speak out on issues that affect them.

Kids Help Phone

From sexual abuse to neglect to the death of a parent, Kids Help Phone provides free, confidential, compassionate and professional counselling to every child who reaches out for help - day or night, 365 days a year. Since it's founding in 1989, Kids Help Phone's phone and web-based service has helped millions of troubled and abused children and youth by providing counselling, trustworthy information and local community referrals. Established in 1989, Kids Help Phone is a charitable organization.

About Raise Your Voice

Raise Your Voice(TM) is Motorola's commitment to helping Canadian youth be heard. Raise Your Voice encourages Canadian teens to speak up and speak out, to learn how to find their voices and talk about the issues that matter most to them. To help young people do this, Raise Your Voice partners with organizations throughout Canada that provide the resources and support to ensure that when young people speak up, someone is there to listen. Visit www.raiseyourvoice.ca for more information.

CNW Group is proud to be the official newswire provider for Kids Help Phone.

For further information: Tara Haley, Kids Help Phone, Phone: [phone], Mobile: [phone], Email : [email protected]; Kathryn Hanley, Hill & Knowlton for Motorola Canada's Raise Your Voice initiative, Phone: [phone], Email: [email protected]