Talking To Meic
Meic is a new advocacy and advice helpline in Wales for children and young people up to the age of 25. Backed by more than £450,000 of Welsh Assembly Government funding, it helps youngsters source advice on the issues that matter to them.
Today, I caught up with four of the dedicated Meic helpline staff (Hollie, Victoria, Laura and Lowri) to ask them some questions about Meic.
-Meet the team!
*My name’s Hollie and I’m 23 and my background is in youth work.
*My name’s Victoria I’m 25 and my background is also in youth work but particularly youth information.
*I’m Laura, I’m the baby, I’m 22 and I’ve been a Childline councillor.
*Hiya I’m Lowri and my background is in social work and in adult mental health.
-Why was the Meic service first set up?
Hollie - It was set up to provide an initial level of support for young people in Wales. It’s especially to do with advocacy and someone giving them advice and speaking on their behalf but saying only what they want. So children and young people saw a need for this service and that’s why it was set up.
-How can people get in touch with Meic?
Victoria - There are a few ways that you can get in touch with Meic. You can either phone us on 080880 23456, text us on 84001 or you can come through instant message via the website which is www.meiccymru.org and click on web chat, and the last one is through email which is help@meiccymru.org.
-What kind of problems does Meic deal with?
Laura - At the moment we’ve had quite a variety of problems; bullying, school issues, people who need an advocate to look out for them, exam problems, and information on local events or youth clubs.
-If someone gets in touch with Meic, will their calls and texts appear on their phone bill and why is confidentiality important?
Lowri - If they contact us either through text or through telephone or web chat, their numbers will not appear on the screen. It’s confidential and it’s free. It’s confidential mainly because we want the young people to open up to us about their problems and for them to be able to trust us with the information they give us.
-If someone gets in touch with Meic, will they have to give them any information about themselves?
Hollie - No. We do ask them their age and their location, but they don’t have to give us any details they don’t want to. If a more serious matter comes up, we do encourage them to give us their names and area just so that we can help them further.
-What background do Meic staff have in dealing with young people’s problems?
Victoria - We’re got youth work experience, we’ve got childline experience, social services experience- so we’ve had experience of offering information and advice in the first place. We’ve offered issue-based workshops to young people based on things such as drugs and alcohol and sexual health, we’ve referred and signposted young people to organisations we think can help them.
-Who pays for the phone calls and texts to Meic?
Laura - The Meic helpline service is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, and the callers don’t pay anything. The service is free for children and young people.
-How many people does Meic help a day on average?
Lowri - It varies on a daily basis really. Sometimes we can get approximately 70 contacts through calls, instant messaging or text messaging, web chats. Some other days, we can get 100 contacts, so it varies every day.
-What’s Meic’s policy in terms of Welsh speakers?
Hollie - We offer a Welsh provision for people who need it. So if somebody comes through who chooses to speak Welsh, we’ve got two Welsh speakers available to help.
-What hours does the service currently operate at and why is this?
Victoria - We currently operate from 12pm until 8pm, seven days a week. The reason for this is because we wanted to make sure first of all during the pilot scheme that we covered the young people’s lunchtimes and after school times, just to see when the best time was for them to call us.
-Does Meic ever receive any hoax phone calls?
Laura - At the moment yes we get quite a few but I think that’s to do with a lot of children and young people testing us out and trying to find out what we’re here for and what we’re like.
-Will Meic be able to direct people to other services in their area that could help them?
Lowri - Yes that’s definitely one of our roles as advisors. We tend to assess what sort of help they need and we either refer them or give them information about another organisation or support provider that can help them. Also, if needed, we refer them to our own independent advocates who can help them find a solution to any sort of problem they have and represent them and make sure that the young person’s voice is heard.
-Is someone able to speak to Meic for as long as they like or is there a time limit on phone calls?
Hollie - We are here to listen to all young people who need us. Our general role is to offer information and advice and to signpost them onto different organisations who could help them further. If it is a councillor service they need, we can refer them on to Childline who can listen to them for as long as they need to get their problem sorted. Our main area is to offer information and advice and make sure that they’re happy with it.
