“The kind of calls that counselors are dealing with are extreme” 

Bridgette Thorold leads ChildFund’s work in Papua New Guinea. One of the many projects they coordinate is the Wantoks Counselling Helplim line. It is a national toll-free call line that helps people impacted by gender-based violence. The service was set up in 2015, but as concerns grew about domestic violence during COVID-19, it has expanded staffing by 150% and become a vital frontline tool to keep women and girls safe during the pandemic. 

“It was really an essential part of the response to be able to provide people access to basic counseling and support services and referrals,” she says. 

Wantoks Counselling Helpim line is available to people affected by violence as well as those close to them and service providers so it offers help to a wide range of people. 

“When it was first set up, it was quite small scale,” she recalls. “We were actually building the infrastructure to deliver a helpline service and training some counselors to be able to staff it from 7am to 7pm.”

Since it started five years ago, the helpline has taken over 50,000 calls. With momentum behind the call service and reach that extended to networks across the country, Bridgette says they needed to adapt quickly to meet the needs of the pandemic and coordinate health messages.

“In the initial stages of the outbreak, we started getting a lot of COVID-19 related calls that were not necessarily about domestic violence, but health seeking behavior, information and referral. So one of the things we did was to link up with the Department of Health.”

Bridgette says the economic impacts have been significant because of restricted movement and the closure of schools and shops.

“The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and its consequences started to become clear when the helpline services saw an increase in the number of calls.”

“The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and its consequences started to become clear when the helpline services saw an increase in the number of calls.”

Through combined support from UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF, Wantoks have been able to expand the service. They have increased the number of counselors 3- fold and strengthened the capacity of counselors to deal with calls from and about children.

Beyond this support, emergency funding has enabled the helpline to extend the call center hours to make it 24/7. 

“That is an important opportunity for us to see whether the call rate increases and what sort of calls we get during the overnight shifts,” she says. 

“That is an important opportunity for us to see whether the call rate increases and what sort of calls we get during the overnight shifts.”

Bridgette says the charged atmosphere of a simultaneous financial and health crises was amplified by the tragic case of Jennelyn Kennedy. The young mother of two sought shelter from an abusive husband but when she left the safe house, he abducted and brutally murdered her. The case set off protests and a national reflection on gender-based violence. 

“It somehow triggered the national psyche around it,” she says. “There were marches, there were public statements from government officials, including the police commissioner and the Minister of Police and it gave a bit of momentum and publicity to the issue.”

In this challenging context, Bridgette and her team were scaling up the capacity of the helpline to meet the increased demand: they created new roles for more counselors and roles to conduct clinical research and support the team. 

While expanding staff numbers and skills to handle the demand, Bridgette says they were also increasing security for the counselors by arranging pickup and drop-off in unmarked cars so community members do not violently lash out at them for providing services for women and girls. 

“We were very conscious that our staff are not immune to the issues that are going on in the country and many of them are in similar situations.”

“We were very conscious that our staff are not immune to the issues that are going on in the country and many of them are in similar situations,” she says. 

Some of the most challenging situations occur when there are limited referral options and the counselors have to be equipped with the skills to handle those tough calls. 

“You take it down to its bare basics,” she says. “Some help is better than nothing and being able to just talk to somebody and talk through your situation, being able to explore immediate options, that can make a real difference.”

“Some help is better than nothing and being able to just talk to somebody and talk through your situation, being able to explore immediate options, that can make a real difference.”

She says having that neutral voice at the end of the line that survivors can talk to is an important help they can provide. Bridgette says the levels of services vary from province to province.  While the absence of services is challenging, she says the counselors help women deal with even more complex situations. 

“People say, ‘I cannot go to the police because my family knows that person in the village.’ Safety is a massive issue and you cannot give false hope, but you can assist.”

“The kind of calls that counselors are dealing with are extreme,” she says. “People say, ‘I cannot go to the police because my family knows that person in the village.’ Safety is a massive issue and you cannot give false hope, but you can assist.”

Bridgette says the key is staying focused on the areas where they can make a difference. They are concentrating efforts in two provinces in the hope of strengthening referrals and gender-based violence support services to add new depth to the helpline. 

She says building partnerships is essential but it takes time. 

“We cannot fix the whole system through the helpline service,” she says, “but we can work with government service providers and the private sector to look at what is available and make sure that we are aware. We can point out the need.”

“The attention and resourcing that COVID-19 has unlocked has definitely strengthened what we do.”

As COVID-19 restrictions ease, Bridgette and colleagues at Wantoks are hoping to build on the momentum of the service and the lessons they have learned, 

“It is going to take time to strengthen the system and it cannot be done overnight,” she says. “The attention and resourcing that COVID-19 has unlocked has definitely strengthened what we do.”