The mental health crisis affecting young people is becoming increasingly serious. The LPP Foundation extends its funding for the Youth Helpline.
Nearly 30,000 telephone conversations, thousands of consultations and five years of daily support for young people experiencing mental health crises. The past five years of running the Youth Helpline have clearly shown the scale of demand for support, which is why the LPP Foundation has decided to fund the project for another year. This decision ensures that support will continue for thousands of young people, where a single conversation may be the first step out of a crisis, and helps address the growing needs of today’s young people.
The Youth Helpline is a project run by the ITAKA Foundation, and has operated since 2021 with support from Reserved and, since 2023, also from the LPP Foundation. The project is designed for young people who need support when going through difficult times. Young people can anonymously access free psychological consultations, online meetings and specialist support. Thanks to this broad range of support, the project responds to the diverse needs of young people.
Young people today are growing up in a world where the boundary between online and offline life is becoming increasingly blurred. According to the “Teenagers 3.0” report1 prepared by NASK, teenagers spend, on average, over 5.5 hours a day online on weekdays and more than 6 hours at weekends. At the same time, they are increasingly exposed to difficult online experiences: almost 70% identify hate speech as one of the most serious problems on the internet, and nearly half report seeing their peers being attacked or insulted. Against this backdrop, easy access to anonymous, professional psychological support is becoming an essential part of the support system for young people.
– Supporting young people’s mental health is one of the LPP Foundation’s key areas of engagement. Over the last five years, we have seen how essential rapid, professional and safe support is when young people are dealing with difficulties, uncertainty or a sense of loneliness. Today, this challenge is compounded by the fact that much of their daily life has moved online, where opportunities for development are accompanied by pressure, verbal abuse and a sense of isolation. We believe everyone should be able to speak to a specialist, who will listen and help them address their problem. We firmly believe that this project is still much needed and valuable, which is why we have decided to continue funding it – says Patrycja Zbytniewska, President of the LPP Foundation.
Over the past five years, the Youth Helpline has gone beyond day-to-day support and has gradually broadened the range of services it offers in response to the changing needs of young people. The specialists involved in the project have observed a growing number of requests for support concerning peer and family relationships, sexuality, eating disorders and legal problems. With support from the LPP Foundation, additional specialist consultations were introduced in 2024, giving young people access to conversations with specialists, including a sexologist and a lawyer.
Experts are particularly concerned that an increasing number of young people are facing difficult experiences alone. NASK studies show that an increasing number of teenagers do not respond to online violence they experience: nearly 40% take no action and tell no one about it. This highlights the importance of creating spaces where young people can reach out anonymously, whenever they feel ready, without fear of judgement.
The figures best illustrate the scale of what the Youth Helpline has achieved over the past five years. Since the Youth Helpline was launched, specialists have held nearly 30,000 telephone conversations, conducted almost 2,500 online consultations and provided close to 900 specialist consultations, while more than 3,000 conversations have taken place via chat.
– Over the past five years, we have seen how young people’s approach to mental health has changed. Increasingly, they are able to speak about what they are going through and seek professional support. Each of the nearly 30,000 conversations is the story of someone who decided to take the first step. This clearly shows the importance of creating a space where young people can talk openly, without being judged. We are glad that, through the joint commitment of our partners, we have managed to build a support system that truly responds to young people’s needs as they arise – says Izabela Jezierska-Świergiel, Vice-President of the ITAKA Foundation.
The past five years of the Youth Helpline have shown that effective psychological support depends on continuity and stability. Young people need access to support not only when mental health is in the spotlight, but every day, regardless of how serious the problem they are facing may seem. That is why long-term partnerships are so important: they allow proven solutions to develop and help ensure that projects addressing real social needs can continue.
– The Youth Helpline’s five years of operation prove how much can be achieved through steady, long-term commitment. The thousands of conversations held and the way that the project has developed over the years clearly show how important it is. We are glad that, together with our partners, we can continue supporting an initiative that plays such an important role in young people’s lives – says Anna Matraszek, PR & Digital Manager at Reserved.
The Youth Helpline will continue in its current form over the coming year. Children, teenagers and young adults from across Poland can continue to use the helpline. It offers free, anonymous psychological support and online consultations. Psychologists are available daily from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on 22 484 88 04. In response to the evolving needs of young people, there are also plans to further develop the online chat option, enabling real-time contact with a psychologist.
1 The report is available online: Thinkstat_RAPORT_nastolatki-3_0_ONLINE-2.pdf
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LPP is a Polish, family-owned company, one of the fastest-growing in the fashion industry in the Central European region. For 30 years, it has successfully designed and sold its collections and accessories at home and abroad. LPP manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay, with their product ranges now available for sale in stores and online in 47 markets worldwide. The company has more than 3,800 stores, with a total area in excess of 3 million sq m, distributing products to 3 continents every year. LPP also plays an important role in creating jobs for nearly 63,000 people in offices and sales structures in Poland, elsewhere in Europe, Asia and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange under the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland Index.