title: "Live Chat" Clients at Kids Help Phone: Individual Characteristics and Problem Topics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Young people in Canada prefer to use the Internet over face-to-face contact when seeking help for problems of daily living and mental health problems. Kids Help Phone (KHP) provides on-demand, anonymous help to young people via telephone andLive Chattechnologies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred thirty-two phone clients and 230Live Chatclients responded to a questionnaire at this otherwise anonymous service, providing previously inaccessible data about their individual characteristics and characterizations of the problems for which they sought help.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a larger proportion of weighty problems (mental health and suicide) among chatters than callers. There were also more non-heterosexual youth, and those who identified as Asian and Black African or Caribbean, usingLive Chatthan phone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Implications for trainingLive Chatcounsellors to respond effectively to chatters are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University and Department of Counselling Services, Kids Help Phone/Jeunesse J'écoute, Toronto, Ontario.
authors.forename: Dilys
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario.
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pepler
keywords: adolescence; computer-mediated communication; e-counselling; help-seeking; telephone counselling