At just 7 years old, Sophie was confused about her parents' arguments. Their raised voices, bad language and anger was too much for her...

From the age of 13 till she was nearly 20, Rebecca hurt herself in order to cope with her feelings. Kids Helpline helped her.

I wasn’t happy and I knew harming myself wasn’t a good coping mechanism…

"I was not a happy teenager. For all intents and purposes I was a typical high-achiever type-A personality kind of girl at school but outside of that I was really unhappy at home because of various family issues."

"My father tried to kill himself a few times and I had to save him. My mother was irrational and neurotic. Between the two of them they had many fights in which I was dragged into the middle being an only child. I wasn’t supposed to tell people which made me very unhappy and stressed and I turned to hurting myself in order to cope. I knew that harming myself was not a good coping mechanism but at the time I could not bring myself to care. I harmed myself on and off for years from when I was 13 until I was about 20. I’d go for months years even without harming myself but then something would happen and I’d just fall into a sneaky hate spiral and start all over again. But every time I relapsed I knew I was slowly improving because as the years went by I harmed myself less and less. One year ago I stopped totally."

"The counsellors at Kids Helpline were particularly helpful towards me. What I liked was that the counsellors were there just to listen to me talk and by doing so it helped me see things from a different perspective. Ultimately what helped me was gaining independence from my family after graduating high school and meeting someone who helped me realise that it is possible to be in a relationship and be happy."

"I won’t say that my life is perfect now no one’s life is perfect. There are always things to improve on. I still can’t talk to my parents about lots of things but with the help of my partner we are working through it."

"They helped me realise it's possible to be in a relationship and be happy."