– Those who contact us now, who are already quite young, are younger than before. In addition, they are even worse off than before. We look at that with great concern. This is how leader of Skeiv Ungdom Jane-Victorius Bonsaksen summarizes the main findings in the report which is handed over to Minister of Culture and Equality Anette Trettebergstuen (Ap) today. The findings in the report to Skeiv Ungdom are bleak. Those who contact Ungdomstelefonen are getting younger and worse off than before. Photo: Marius Renner Christensen / news The report is based on statistics for Ungdomstelefonen, which is the organisation’s telephone, message and chat helpline, in the period 2014 to 2021. Since 2014, volunteers in the youth telephone have made almost 12,000 calls. Queive Youth hopes that the report will now contribute to more targeted measures to help queer young people. What is the Queer Youth Helpline? Ungdomstelefonen is Skeiv Ungdom’s help service by phone, message and chat. You can use the Youth Helpline online, or by calling / sending an SMS to tel. 400 00 777. Generally open five days a week from 18 to 22. Anonymous low-threshold service for young people who need to talk to someone about feelings, sexuality, gender, sex and everything that belongs to adolescence. Volunteer-based, and served by young queers between the ages of 18 and 30. This means that those who operate the service are there on a voluntary basis and are young queers between the ages of 18 and 30. Served today by 20 active volunteers. – Have a long way to go Thea Stormo Solberg (23) is one of around 20 volunteers who work for the Youth Telephone. Solberg is queer himself and wants to help with the challenges he has experienced himself. Thea Stormo Solberg hopes the report can contribute to more measures being taken to help queer young people. Photo: Marius Renner Christensen / news – I know myself how many questions I had. I really want to take care of the young people who come out of the closet and who have challenges. It gives me a lot, she says. When Solberg started at Ungdomstelefonen about a year ago, she was surprised at how young the people who contacted were and how difficult they were. In 2021, Ungdomstelefonen received 1,822 calls. Never before have they received so many calls. Between 2014 and 2021, the average is 1,493 calls a year. More and more of the youngest are making contact. In 2021, 31 per cent of those who made contact were under the age of 14. “Be kind” is tattooed on Thea Stormo Solberg’s hand. She wants to help young queers with challenges she has experienced herself. Photo: Marius Renner Christensen / news – As a society, we still have a very long way to go to help young queers. – It must be talked about more, it must be made more visible, more research must be done and money and resources must be allocated, she adds. Several people want to talk about mental health and suicide Young queers contact the youth hotline to talk about a wide range of topics. Among the main topics covered are sex, mental health and sexual orientation. – We are happy that people feel that there is a low threshold for making contact, but at the same time we see that there is a very concrete need for measures. All those who need it should get help, says Bonsaksen. In recent years, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of conversations about mental health and suicide. In 2021, seven percent of all conversations were about suicide. – We need more knowledge Bonsaksen says it is difficult to say anything concrete about why there is an increase in talk about mental health. At the same time, Bonsaksen believes that the pandemic may have had an effect. Skeiv Ungdom leader Jane-Victorius G. Bonsaksen believes the report clarifies an obvious need for better mental health services in Norway, especially for queer youth. Photo: Kim Erlandsen/news – There may be a connection with the pandemic and increasing loneliness. In addition, it has become more difficult to be queer online and in the public space. There we notice an increase in radicalisation, says the Skeiv Ungdom leader. Bonsaksen hopes that there will be more research into the problem, in addition to better mental health services. – What is clear is that we need more research and more knowledge about the type of challenges queer young people face on a daily basis. This applies to schools, health personnel, families and general decision-makers, he says.
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More and more people are contacting the Ungdomstelefonen til Queiv Ungdom – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
