In the height of summer, Cardiff Bay will be filled with the jovial laughs and screams of children making the most of their time off. However, tucked half a mile away on an industrial estate, volunteers give up their time to listen to children in desperate need of someone to talk to.
Despite the sometimes hard-hitting topics volunteers have to deal with, the NSPCC Cardiff base could not be warmer or more welcoming. Bright banners are pinned along the ceiling, pictures from children cover the walls and there's even a mini tuck shop with an honesty box to keep volunteers fueled throughout their shifts.
Childline has two bases in Wales, one in Prestatyn and one in Cardiff. The service is contacted by a child in need of advice once every 25 seconds. Their concerns can vary, with the most popular topics from 2021-2022 including mental or emotional health, suicidal thoughts and feelings, family relationships, self-harm, and sex, relationships and puberty.
Read next: Mum and unborn baby die as partner and two-year-old son left heartbroken
For some children, Childline provides the first point of contact to talk about their problems. Volunteers can be contacted by phone, by email, or via webchat, allowing young people plenty of safe mediums to get in touch with someone at the charity. Volunteers are in a privileged position to show these young people there is support for them, without the pressure of talking about issues face to face.
Alex became a volunteer at the Cardiff office eleven months ago. He was inspired to get involved after deciding he wanted to contribute more of himself in a positive way to society, and described volunteering at Childline as the "perfect fit".
"I was looking for a more positive way to contribute to society," Alex explained. "Childline came up and it was the perfect fit. It made use of the skills I already had in terms of listening, and being quite empathetic and understanding."
He explained how the "anonymity" of the volunteers, in comparison to a parent, teacher, or another responsible adult in the child's life, can be quite reassuring for those in need of guidance. "Being able to be a faceless entity and speaking to them kind of reassures them that they won't bump into us."
Like all volunteers, Alex undertook an interview and 12 weeks of training before beginning to work as a volunteer counsellor. Before each shift, the team have a meeting to help transition from "regular life" to the helplines, and another again at the end of their shift to detransition and talk about anything their shift has entailed.
"We have a debrief, we all talk about how we're feeling after the chats. If there's anything we're going to take away if we struggled with anything. The support network from Louside [the team manager] down to the supervisors is really strong."
Alex explained that, while some of the topics covered during a shift are "tough", the thorough training beforehand prepared him for what he might have to deal with. "It's not for everybody, but the people who it is for seem to really enjoy it and enjoy coming here.
"It's an honour, to be honest," he added. "Sometimes we're the first people that they've ever spoken to about some of these issues."
"You get the impression that maybe family, or friends, or teachers, they haven't been able to communicate to them how they're feeling, and they come to us and because of how we've been trained, we can help and support them."
Cathy works at Childline as both a volunteer counsellor and a sessional supervisor. When working as a supervisor she helps support volunteers on calls when they need it.
She first began volunteering for Childline five years ago. "Initially it was because I had some free time on my hands and I wanted to do something constructive with that free time. My children had grown a little bit older and so I thought, well, I've got some experience of being an auntie and a mother and so I wanted to use that experience in a practical way.
"Childline just seemed like a really obvious move for me and I love it." Cathy explained how the volunteers are on hand to help children and young people manage a whole range of issues, including those that some children can think aren't serious enough to contact them about.
"We take contacts from children and young people who want to talk to us about various things that happen in their lives that they may need help with. That can range from talking to us about falling out with their friends, it could be family problems, they may want to talk to us about gender or sexuality.
"They also may want to talk to us about issues of self-harming and even suicidal thoughts. We can take contacts from a very wide range of subjects that the people want to talk to us about."
The aim of Childline is to be a confidential space for children to speak about their concerns, with an aim of signposting them to people or services that can eventually help them. Sometimes contacts are receptive to these suggestions straight away, other times they will have several conversations before they gain the confidence to speak to someone in their real life.
"Having the privilege of the fact that they've opened up to you, it doesn't happen every time, it can take a couple of contacts before children are confident enough to speak about what's on their mind. But when you do make that connection, then you are there and sometimes that young person says at the contact 'Thank you, I'm feeling a bit better now,' and that's worth everything. It's really very rewarding."
Childline volunteers will notice trends in the calls depending on the time of year. Most recently, contacts have focused on exams, with stress around results following swiftly behind. Then volunteers anticipate back-to-school fears and accounts of bullying as the term returns.
Christmas can also be an extremely busy time of year, with children sharing financial concerns, grief, and worries about spending time with family members due to a whole manner of causes.
Like Alex, volunteer counsellor Dan is also newer to the group, having been on shift for around 12 months and beginning his training three months before that. He was inspired to volunteer due to his past work experiences.
"I've always worked in child-related fields, but never in a direct capacity. I really wanted to explore the opportunity of working directly with children because I had an awareness of some of the issues and things that children are dealing with," he explained.
Dan said he has learned a lot about children through his time as a volunteer. He said: "I guess something I've noticed is children's resilience and their ability to articulate how they feel and really express themselves. I was really impressed by the thought that goes on behind some of the conversations that children contact us with."
Like his fellow volunteers, Dan says the reward is what makes the volunteering worthwhile. "[Volunteering] is something I thought about for a little while before I made the call and came in to do it, but I tend to come here weekly and each week it gives me a sense of purpose.
"It's really rewarding," he added. While the talks can be tough, he said the office environment is always one full of support and encouragement. "I always go away from this environment, which is incredibly supportive with the staff who are here, feeling like I made a difference and the children who will be spoken to have received something from contacting the service."
Volunteers are essential to keeping services like Childline available for those in need. Volunteers are split between Cardiff and Prestatyn, however, all contacts are handled by volunteers throughout the UK to ensure children always have access to someone who can listen.
"Without the volunteer counsellors, Childline wouldn't be here. As volunteers, we give up four and a quarter hours of our time, once a week, every week as a minimum, and in that time we can speak to several children," Cathy explained.
Childline team manager at the Cardiff base Louise said: "The training courses last approximately three months from start to finish with a blended approach to learning. So a combination of self-study at home, and then weekly group sessions where they'll be learning about the things people talk to us about and how to respond.
"At the start of a shift, supervisors will get all of the volunteers together, briefing them to transition so they can be prepared and ready to talk to children. They will be there throughout the shift to support them with any content they find challenging or difficult, or if they've got any questions.
"Then at the end of the shift the supervisors will provide a debrief to make sure they can talk about what they've heard on shift, so they're not left to take anything home with them and are not worrying about anything, so they can return back to their normal, everyday life."
If you would like to learn more about volunteering at Childline in Cardiff or Prestatyn, click here.
If you would like to receive features like this straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters here.
Read next:
Hundreds take part in Joe Wicks' mass workout at Principality Stadium
The drag queen who followed his childhood dream to become a bus driver
Children grow up in poverty in the shadow of Wales' greatest wealth
'Dad was in tears as football fans spat on our flag tribute to my dead brother and tried to rip it'
