Anxiety and stress arising from housing and cost-of-living crises, work and education pressures drives majority of contacts to text helpline

Anxiety, stress and worry related to the impact of the housing and cost of living crises, work and education pressures is driving the majority of contacts to the only text helpline for young people in Ireland.

‘Text About It’ is a free, anonymous, 24/7 messaging support service run by youth organisation spunout and funded by the HSE. It is the first of its kind, providing everything from calming chat to immediate crisis support, with an ease of use, accessibility and discreet anonymity that matches the preferences and habits of young people in Ireland today. The service aims to support young people aged 16 to 34 living in Ireland, but is open to people of all ages.

Today, on World Mental Health Day (Thursday, 10th October 2024), spunout is encouraging young people to reach out and have a conversation with a trained peer volunteer about whatever is bothering you. Simply free-text HELLO to 50808, start a conversation on WhatsApp or visit spunout.ie/text to begin.

Since its official launch in June 2020, ‘Text About It’ continues to meet the significant demand for mental health support when traditional services are closed or oversubscribed. The service is busiest on Mondays and Sundays between the hours of 10pm and 2am at night. The service operates an emergency service intervention protocol where professional clinical staff escalate instances where a texter is a risk to themselves or others to emergency services so texters at risk can receive the support they deserve.

Since the service launched in 2020, the text helpline has:

• Engaged young people in over 210,000 text conversations,
• Exchanged over 7 million messages with texters,
• Made over 2,800 emergency service interventions with the support of the National Ambulance Service and Gardaí,
• Observed the majority of conversations are initiated on a Monday (16%), followed by Sunday (15%),
• Noted the service is busiest between 10pm and 12pm (17%), followed by 12pm-2am (13%),
• Trained over 1,500 peer-to-peer active listening volunteers to provide the service.

Since the beginning of 2024, the text helpline has:

• Engaged young people in over 36,000 text conversations,
• Exchanged almost 1.1 million messages with texters,
• Made 453 emergency service interventions with the support of the National Ambulance Service and Gardaí.

With its commitment to leveraging the potential of analytics and real-time insights to improve our understanding of youth mental health, the service has identified the top five issues experienced by young texters so far this year: anxiety (27% of conversations), intimate partner relationships (22%), stress (21%), sadness (17%) and isolation & loneliness (17%).

Top ten issues* mentioned by texters in 2024:

1. Anxiety (26.69%)
2. Intimate Partner Relationships (21.75%)
3. Stress (20.7%)
4. Sadness (17.24%)
5. Isolation & loneliness (17.16%)
6. Suicide (15.13%)
7. Family Relationships (13.73%)
8. Depression (12.89%)
9. Friendship (9.75%)
10. Self-esteem (9.11%)

*Texters routinely raise more than one issue or concern in a conversation so the total adds to more than 100%.

Young people reach out to ‘Text About It’ for the following reasons* (2024):

• 62% had no one else to talk to,
• 46% wanted to talk to someone who doesn’t know them,
• 42% are more comfortable texting rather than talking,
• 32% were too embarrassed to talk to someone in person or over the phone,
• 26% didn’t have access to a therapist

*Texters can select one or more reasons for contacting the service so the total adds to more than 100%.

Feelings of stagnation or not reaching milestones at the same pace as their peers is also often raised as contributing factors to feelings of loneliness and isolation experienced by texters. Texters frequently mention how a lack of independence and cramped living conditions add additional stress to relationships with their families as they are forced to live at home for longer due to the housing and cost-of-living crises.

Over the past five years, anxiety and stress are consistently amongst the top three issues in our conversations with texters. Social media, and the pressure to conform to certain standards of achievement and beauty, as well as the amount of time spent online, are frequently mentioned in texter conversations as causing overwhelming feelings of stress and anxiousness.

‘Text About It’ has trained 1,583 volunteers from around Ireland since it first launched. At all times, volunteers are supervised by professional clinical staff with training and experience in crisis intervention. The service acts as a first port of call for young people to open up about an issue they’re experiencing, is a gateway to further support, and a safety net for young people in crisis, especially out-of-hours. The service was designed to support young people to avoid having to present to an emergency department in crisis, unless absolutely necessary.

Commenting on the need for the service on World Mental Health Day 2024, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler T.D. said: “Since the service was launched in partnership with the HSE in 2020, ‘Text About It’ has supported over 90,000 young people in a way that meets their needs and preferences. Through their text service, spunout meets young people where they are, listens to their concerns and provides real-time support to help young people move forward feeling better.”

Minister Butler continued: “For a generation that prefers to text rather than talk, ‘Text About It’ is available to anyone, whenever needed. Those who may worry about sharing their problems with friends or family can get immediate help, regardless of what might be bothering them and I encourage anyone who might benefit from a chat to reach out by text or WhatsApp today.”

CEO of spunout Ian Power said: “The top issues experienced by texters, reflect the wide range of societal issues impacting people in Ireland today. Stress caused by the housing and cost-of-living crises, as well as pressures experienced in work and by the Leaving Cert are frequently mentioned by texters during their conversations with us. ‘Text About It’ continues to provide support not only to people struggling with mental health issues but also to those who are overwhelmed by life in Ireland today and the day-to-day challenges they are facing.”

Director of Clinical Support at spunout, Dr Tara Logan Buckley said:  “So far in 2024, ‘Text About It’ has carried out more than 450 emergency service interventions, where we have contacted the National Ambulance Service and Gardaí to respond to texters in need of emergency support. This demonstrates the service acts as a safety net for young people in crisis.”

If you’d like to talk to someone about how you’re feeling text HELLO to 50808, start a conversation on WhatsApp or visit spunout.ie/text