One of PROTÉGELES lines of work is helplines. For each of its helplines, PROTÉGELES specifically creates a web page through which people willing to ask a question (both children and adults are welcome) or to get any kind of help related to the helpline purpose, can directly connect with the members of our organization, all of them professional psychologists, lawyers, specialists on education and experts on new technologies and child safety.
ANTI-EATING DISORDERS HELPLINE
- After the conclusion of our study “Anorexia and Bulimia Support and Defence on the Internet” and its presentation to the media by the Spanish Child Ombudsperson in June 2004, and, specially, thanks to the subsequent preventive campaign that we launched, many girls and teenagers sufferers of ED turned to PROTÉGELES searching for help, counseling or psychological and emotional support. Girls got in contact with PROTÉGELES through the campaign webpage (www.anaymia.com) which reproduces the style and display of pro-ED pages but provides reliable and medical tested information so that girls searching for pro-ED pages may find and read it.
- As a consequence of the increasing demand we detected, PROTÉGELES set up a Psychology Department, composed by a team of psychologists specialized on ED who offer personalized help to hundreds of young girls from different countries. In May 2005, a second study was concluded and the current helpline (www.masqueunaimagen.com) was launched. This helpline is a composing element of the campaign: “YOU ARE MORE THAN AN IMAGE” which was launched after the First National Congress on Anorexia and Bulimia on the Internet that took place in Madrid’s Palacio de Congresos and was promoted by PROTÉGELES. In 2007, a new campaign against anorexia, bulimia and in general, the obsession of actual society with body image was launched: www.stop-obsesion.com
- This helpline has assisted, in total, more than 500 girls of different ages. A first study on the results achieved by the helpline is available at PROTÉGELES home page on the following link. http://www.protegeles.com/prevencionanorexia.asp
ANTI-BULLYING HELPLINE
PROTÉGELES’ campaign against school bullying includes the opening of a helpline conceived to offer help and counseling to children and teenagers that may be bullied at their schools as well as to their relatives, if needed. Behind this helpline there is a team of profesisionals composed by psychologists, lawyers, specialists in education and experts in child safety, all of them experienced in the field of online help to children. In Spain, school bullying is a relatively new phenomenon that seems to be spreading really quickly.
The opening of an anti-bullying helpline is a pioneer initiative in Europe and it has been supported by the European Union. It highlights how the ICT can help to solve old and new problems. Moreover, our anti-bullying helpline counts on the support of some of the most important Spanish Parents-Teachers Associations and it will be promoted by several web portals.
At www.acosoescolar.info, we supply personalized help to every children asking for help through the helpline. We find out which is best way we can help the child face the problem and we offer solutions, acting as mediator between the confronted parties (school-parents, school-governmental authorities, etc.) if the need arises. If the situation is very serious, we inform the Child Ombudsperson and the corresponding Local Education Authority (Consejería de Educación). Our goal is to attend to the great majority of cases, with low or average intensity for which there is usually no back-up and much less psychological support. Serious cases are transferred to other institutions or organizations outside PROTÉGELES.
Our anti-bullying helpline doesn’t want to and cannot replace other existing entities and institutions involved on this problem. Instead, we want to help all those victims that are involved in the majority of low-intensity cases. For the serious cases we will refer them to the relevant authorities, according to the child health condition and geographical situation.
Along 2006-2007 academic year, we have dealt with more than 100 real cases of school bullying, most of them successfully.
