NSPCC counselling service ChildLine has appointed digital marketing and technology consultancy, Amaze, to ensure its services are digitally optimised to meet the needs of those seeking support online.
The appointment extends the NSPCC’s successful relationship with Amaze – following the launch of its new website, NSPCC.org.uk in October 2014.
At the heart of ChildLine’s online service provision is a community where children and young people can anonymously get the help they need.
More than two thirds of those who contacted ChildLine last year, did so via the website and the new digital service will mean they can now safely access articles, support and direct counselling online, allowing ChildLine to support more children in their preferred way.
The ChildLine website has become an important communications channel for the service as many young people find it much easier to communicate through online channels. However, the charity is currently struggling to answer all online contacts from young people, as it takes ten times longer to counsel a child online than over the phone. Working with Amaze, ChildLine hopes to be able to improve and optimise its digital service to help every child who makes contact online.
Self-help and peer-to-peer features on the site include emotional indicators, therapeutic games and the ability to replay counselling sessions; these have all been designed to build confidence and position ChildLine as a trusted source of online inspiration and support.
As part of this project Amaze will be migrating the ChildLine site to EPiServer Social CMS 7.5 and building an optimised, responsive experience for users that will put young people at the very centre of service delivery. The enhanced website will be integrated with case management and call centre handling tools to ensure that all users can easily access professional support via the web.
Helena Raven, head of digital development at the NSPCC said: “In order for ChildLine to reach all young people in the UK, we need to ensure that we provide the best possible digital experience that is focussed on a child’s needs. We are committed to supporting, educating and inspiring all children and young people in the UK to be safe, resilient, and to feel valued.
“Our website currently has 315,000 young people registered as users, with 59% accessing the website via mobile devices in 2014. More children and young people will be seeking help via our digital services rather than the phone this year, and we know that we need to remain digitally relevant to young people as the technology they use continues to evolve at pace.
“As well as being more accessible across devices, the new website will be designed to grow and develop with young people, learning as they learn, changing as they change.ChildLine.org.uk will always be there, ready to help, whatever problems children and young people face.”
Suzy Gulin-Warren, Business Director at Amaze comments: “We’re delighted to be working with ChildLine on this exciting and ambitious project. Building on our remit of work with the NSPCC as their lead digital agency, our job is to help ChildLine provide a digital service that safeguards children and young people and provides essential therapeutic support to those that need it. The project will incorporate content strategy, website redesign and build, information security, service user anonymity, scale and availability.”