We teamed up with Kids Helpline on the Optus Golf Day fundraiser

In today’s world, young people are spending more time than ever before online, and as a result of COVID-19, thousands of students across the country continue to go to school virtually.  Through our partnership with Kids Helpline we are helping young people to gain access to counsellors to keep them safe in the digital world. 

Kids Helpline is Australia’s only free, private, and confidential 24/7 online and phone counselling and support service for young people aged 5 to 25.

Every 60 seconds a child or young person contacts the service and incredibly they have responded to more than 8.4 million contacts since 1991.

Optus’ annual Golf Day has raised $650,000 for Kids Helpline since 2001, which has supported a range of programs such as Make Cyber Space a Better Place, Talk to your Kids and more recently, Optus Digital Thumbprint with Kids Helpline.

With more and more of young people’s lives being spent online for schooling, socializing, and gaming, the Digital Thumbprint program provides information to support students to practice safe habits and know how and where to seek help when it’s needed.  We ensure all students are aware of Kids Helpline and that their amazing 24/7 online and phone counselling service is there for them, any time and for any reason.

$90,000 of Optus Golf Day funding has been provisioned to enable this counselling support, enabling over 3,000 students to reach out to Kids Helpline counsellors for help and support.

Optus’ Digital Thumbprint program teaches young people to be safe, responsible, and positive online through free, curriculum-aligned workshops that are fun and interactive. The program has been endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider and covers topics such as how to stay safe on popular apps and games, cyberbullying, and image-based abuse.  With more time spent online during lockdowns, many young people have experienced these challenges and our workshops promote positive help-seeking behaviour of reporting and getting help when it’s needed – such as reaching out to Kids Helpline.  Their qualified counsellors support children and young people via WebChat, phone, or email, and are available at any time. This service id predominantly  funded by the community.

Since 2013, the Digital Thumbprint program has reached more than 390,000 students through schools across Australia. But we’re not done yet. At Optus, we want to create a more inclusive and optimistic future for all. We have some ambitious sustainability targets, and through our digital enablement strategy we’re helping young people thrive in today’s world and have confident and positive interactions with each other and digital technology. Our goal is to provide every young child in need access to digital education and access to free internet connectivity.  We are delivering against this through programs like Digital Thumbprint and our Australia-first Donate Your Data™ program.

Kids Helpline is a service of yourtown, one of the many great community organisations that Optus partners with for Donate Your Data™ to give Australians in need the opportunities that connectivity provides. Donate Your Data™ is part of the Optus Living Network (a collection of on-demand features that make life easier and connect you to what matters), enabling Optus customers to donate up their unused data. Australians in need receive an Optus Prepaid SIM with data plus unlimited calls and text every 42 days. Every month, the data donations from Optus customers are pooled as an additional data boost to help Australians power their potential.

Like the idea of learning more?

To further support young people as they start to navigate their digital world, Optus’ Digital Thumbprint program offers free guides and videos for parents and caregivers, available here. Kids Helpline also offers a range of free resources for families, children, and teens, ranging from mental health, school, family stress and support during COVID-19. I encourage you to visit the Kids Helpline site here to learn more.

If you feel a young person in your life needs help and support, please make them aware that Kids Helpline is there for them at any time. Kids Helpline can be found at https://kidshelpline.com.au/ or by dialling 1800 55 1800.

For more information about the Optus Golf Day, visit: www.digitalthumbprint.com.au/optus-golf-day

Explore our Family Hub for more great advice and information. Or, if you’re looking for a way to keep connected and bring your family together, explore our Family Plans for generous data and amazing value.