Kids Helpline strains under youth demand

Kids Helpline has fielded one call every 69 seconds since the start of April as anxiety spikes among young people isolated by the pandemic.

The youth mental health organisation says it has logged more than 26,500 cases by phone, webchat and email between April 1 to April 21 and is on track to surpass the 34,000 cases recorded in March.

That's a 40 per cent increase on the number of calls during the same period in 2019.

"From concern about the health and wellbeing of their family to families being impacted by the economic challenges, we're also getting young people presenting, for whom they find their homes aren't safe," counselling service Yourtown's CEO Tracy Adams told AAP.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the helpline has seen a spike in the number of young people contacting them specifically about the virus, from 33 in February to more than 1200 by April 21.

The majority have been women between 19 to 25 years of age.

"This is a group of young people who have grown up being very used to all those wonderful social connections and then all of a sudden, none of these things are available to them," Ms Adams, whose organisation also runs the Kids Helpline, said.

"We continue to see year on year, and Kids Helpline has operated now for over 29 years, under-representation of males. Male help-seeking is an age-old issue."

Unemployment and paying rent, caring for older relatives and an increased workload are some of the topics young people are calling Kids Helpline about, the organisation says.

Concerns about isolation and uncertainty around the length of the pandemic are also compounding the stress.

"We are seeing young people worried about where and when all this is going to end and 2020 is proving to be a very challenging year."

Kids Helpline has recently opened a second counselling centre in Western Sydney offering more young people face-to-face help.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800

Australian Associated Press