The Ben Mulroney Show - Kids Help Phone Sounds the Alarm Over Surge in Youth Crises

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

GUEST:  Rebecca Shields, President and Chief Executive Officer at Kids Help Phone If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠���⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And Kids Help Phone line, Kids Help Phone has been around for a long time helping kids anonymously work through issues that matter to them. And we are now talking with the chief executive office. Officer at Kids Help Phone, President's CEO, rather, Rebecca Shields. Rebecca, thank you for being here and thank you for all you do. Well, thank you so much. I'm so glad that we're able to talk about this important issue today. Well, the important issue is that you've seen a pretty significant increase in overnight text

conversations with young people this year compared to the same period last year. What number are we talking about? How big of a rise? So I'm looking at the first six months. months of 2025, the amount of texting volume we had, and now I'm looking at the first six months of 2026, and we've gone up 24% across Canada, which is phenomenal. That means that we have a young person reaching out in crisis and needed to support every 90 seconds. By the time we finish this call, and of course, that volume is even like faster at night,

of course because 183% of our volume happens in the late hours of the night when nobody else is around. Rebecca. And they have no one else to turn to. So I'm so grateful for all of the staff and volunteers at kids out phone that are there to pick up those calls and text when they need us most. What, what, obviously, you can't share too, too much about the calls, but what are the reasons that these kids are reaching out?

So it's not surprising that it's getting more. more complex. And I would say at the heart of most of this, there is always anxiety and stress and struggle. And that can look like a lot of different things because the kids help phone, helps young people ages 5 to 29 across Canada from coast to coast to coast. So that can look like stress around school and exams. It can look at, you know, what's happening with forest files and flooding and climate anxiety and the job market and you know increasing inflation and pressures it can look at what's happening with the relationship so is it complex factors yeah that lead to like what are young people struggling with it's about relationships and the

isolation that they feel you know constantly hear about young people online sorry go ahead no well no no i just wondered you know we as a as a society have for the better part of let's call it a decade, been trying to redirect ourselves from being, from an emotional standpoint, we used to keep calm and carry on. And now we've tried to destigmatize conversations around mental health. And I wonder whether a rise like this, at least in part, has something to do with the fact that we are successful in making people more comfortable talking about their mental health. In other words, I wonder whether, and you'll tell me what you think, these problems were already there, the rise may have something to do with people just being more comfortable talking

about those issues? You know what? Many ways I really agree. I am so grateful of the support for kids' help phone and that young people and families and communities and schools share the information for when kids are struggling and they reach out. I don't think it takes away from the fact that kids are struggling and reaching out. No, exactly.

I think it's a little bit about both hands. It's like it's a double-edged sword, you know, when you ask people to talk about their problems and then they talk about their problems, you're going to have more problems to talk about. That's right. And I think it is so important. You know, I think a lot about the trust we have to have to have to have with young people that they, when they do reach out that we're here and how important that is, how important it is that whether they're reaching out, you know, because of a family and a relationship issue or something really, really serious. like they're contemplating suicide or they've been a victim of violence or they are scared for other reasons. You know, 78% of all young people tell kids help phone, one of our team members, something that they've never told anybody else. That idea of being there and but the complexity of what they're struggling with today compared to when we started is obviously a concern.

and it feels like it's just getting harder for them. And that's what we have to kind of really look and understand. I'm speaking with Rebecca Shields, the president and CEO of Kids Help Phone. We're talking about how the Kills Help Phone has seen a 24% increase in overnight text conversations. For context, that's a young person reaching out a problem once every one and a half minutes. I wonder, Rebecca, it's important to pay attention to these numbers all the time. But in a way, these numbers are sort of an advanced warning system of potential storms brewing on the horizon, bigger things that we, you know, dealing with problems when kids tell you they have a problem. If you deal with them then, that's probably better than waiting for them to become something worse and deal with them later.

Would you not agree? You know what? You couldn't have said it better. I mean, this is actually the gift. If a young person can reach out and have what I like to call the best possible interaction, I'll illustrate that in a second. And they get the help that they need and they feel heard and seen and connected, then we've done a wonderful thing.

But when they don't, and they don't feel that they get the support that they need and there's no one there and they're struggling, that just leads to, you know, an increase in not reaching out again for help. or feeling like they're dismissed. And we know that 70% of all mental illness starts with young people. So if we can be there as caring adults and be there when they reach out for help, not only can we support those when they need it and hopefully address it right then and there, but we can actually prevent a lifetime of people who mistrust the system.

And as somebody who's worked in mental health and addiction for over 20 years, I can tell you that are people who have. suffer from homelessness and have been failed by the system like a thousand times. Yeah. And the gift of Kids Help Phone is that we can be there the first time they reach out and every time. Does Kids Help Phone have the resources it needs to deal with this rising, this, this is rise in help being sought?

This is a lot of pressure on an amazing team. We have staff. We have over 1,500 volunteer crisis. responders who help, who when we put out the call, come online. But as this continues to increase year over year, you know, we're raising the alarm to say we're going to need caring adults and our communities to continue to step up to be there so that we're always there for when that young person reaches out, no matter what the issue is, whatever they're feeling so that we can address it right then and there.

What do we need to do to make these numbers go down by 24%? Oh, that's a good question. I think there's a few things. I think that there's a lot of isolation, stress, and worry. And some of these are big, complex issues that around climate anxiety, economic uncertainty, global impacts, like, racism. Like, all the big things are, you know, all of Canada problems and that we all have to work on together. I think what we can do individually as caring adults is to see this as what you said so accurately the canary in the coal mine and ensure that we're investing in places like kids helpful and to

make sure that whenever a kid reaches out, we're there today, but also the supports and services and connections that they need. And whether that is recreational, whether that's educational, whether that's societal, whether it's mental health, we cannot leave this problem any longer for it to fester because every life doesn't need to survive, but they need to thrive. If we were to throw additional resources at dealing with these problems and helping these young Canadians,

is this something that would be best addressed at the local level, the provincial, the federal level? Is it in the schools? Do we need to set up community hubs? And parents, I'd say all the above. The answer is yes. Yeah.

The answer is yes, all the above. Yeah. All the above. And, you know, and I just want to tell you a story because I think sometimes, you know, for people are listening, you know, I always, I love to ask my crisis responders and my counselors, I always say, tell me an interaction you're most proud of. And, you know, they always tell me it's hard to pick.

But there's one that stands out that might be of interest your listeners. So we had a young, a young. boy calling in high school and he had been a victim of online exploitation. And for young boys, you can only imagine the fear, the shame, the concern. And when I said that 78% told somebody they never told anybody, it took him, and my understanding is, you know, well over 40 minutes before he could even have the courage to disclose. Yeah. But the wonderful thing that happened is, once he was able to do that, the amazing team was then able to help him come up with a plan of how he could then talk to his family, talk to somebody and come up

up with a plan about how we might deal with us. So sometimes we need kids helpful and to be there to help them when they reach out, when they have that courage to reach out around something that holds so much shame and fear just to be there to make that next step to come up with a plan and whatever that is, whether they're feeling like they're falling behind in school or they're having relationship issues with their friends or being, like, that's why Kids Help Phone is so important. Well, Rebecca Shields, the president's CEO of Kids Help Phone. If you came in here, 24% increase in interactions, texts with young Canadians. which means that the people who are working on your end are interacting with kids

once every one and a half minutes. Thank you for raising the alarm. If you were to put a number real quick, put a number on your concern from one to ten. What would that number be? Oh, for me, every kid matters. Every single one. And so it's a ten out of ten for me.

I don't want any kid to feel like there's nobody there when they need to reach out. And if people are listening now and they say, I want to support kids' help phone, how can they do that? We need to go online, kids help phone. Please make a donation. Every and every support would mean a world of a difference for a young person in need. And I want to thank you on their behalf. Well, thank you very much. Kids in crisis. Like, we could say kids in crisis now means adults in crisis later.

But the fact is a kid in crisis deserves to be a kid not in crisis. And if kids' help phone can get them there or begin that process, then all the more reason to invest. in them. Hey, I have to thank you very much, Rebecca. We appreciate everything that you do. Thank you very much. All the best. I really appreciate everyone's support. Thank you.