New ways to reach kids

By IRENE CHAPPLE

"Yo, wassup?" It is street talk - kids' language. It is what they feel comfortable with and, when you want to help them, it is how you talk.

Or you create a cartoon rap-band of funksters wearing the latest threads and mass-market them to almost every school in the country.

What's Up - the band - is a quartet, ages indeterminate, characteristics generic. One member is Maori, one is a blonde in a short skirt, one can barely see his skateboard from under his beanie and one is an Asian girl in glasses.

The beat is hip hop:

Ever had one of those days when everyone gets you down

From your teacher on through to your best friend

Let me tell you what's up ...

The suggestion is deeper in the song:

What's Up - it's your call - self preservation ... a simple conversation.

What's Up is asking kids to call an 0800 helpline. Recently established for 12 hours a day, the number, 0800-WHATSUP (0800 942-8787), will be extended to 24 hours as demand and resources increase.

The band will go to NZ's schools via a mass publicity drop over the next week. Posters, brochures, stickers and advice for parents and teachers will reach more than 2000 schools and 720,000 children.

A television advertising campaign with the rap tune and some break beat moves will run for just over a month. A website is being considered.

The target market, 5- to 18-year-olds, is not currently catered for, says the Kids' Help Foundation Trust executive director, Grant Taylor.

Suicide prevention is an obvious aim - New Zealand's suicide rates remain among the worst in the developed world - but Mr Taylor, a clinical psychologist, says the new service is aimed primarily at early intervention.

Government research has shown 5 per cent of young New Zealanders are already engaged with social workers, but a further 20 per cent are at risk, he says.

"We are trying to move away from doom and gloom and any sense of despair," says Mr Taylor. "Music is a big part of life for young people and it's a good vehicle for a serious topic."

With local hip-hop luminary Mark Williams, also known as DJ Slave, driving the vocals, the trust hopes to appeal to those at risk by making the idea of telephone counselling emotionally available.

It is a service, says Mr Taylor, that minimises the psychological barriers to asking for help.

The characters are also a safe bet - being cartoons, they boast exemplary pasts and easy-to-manipulate futures. But, like all kids, they have issues, which are worked into the song.

Christchurch Polytechnic students Harold Kho, Stephen Hayward and Frederick Chin created the characters and the 2 1/2-minute music video over two months of slog, including weekend work.

Of the band members, Spud, the drummer with some hot skateboarder moves, has issues with his size. He is the youngest, he is little and he is targeted by bullies.

The Maori boy, the band's lead singer, is a natural sportsman. He plays basketball, but he is not as good as his coach wants him to be.

The Asian girl is brainy, but she is stressed over her grades and struggles with expectations from her parents.

And the blonde, who plays keyboard, buckles under pressure from her peers to buy the latest fashion. She want to be posh and, to cope, she keeps buying new clothes. She is usually found at the mall.

The band's creators, aged 19 to 26, receive credit in their media arts course for the video.

They were given a wide brief for the project and few guidelines.

They created an inter-racial group to indicate it is "okay to talk to people of a different race".

But any racial messages are intended to be subtle. It is an extremely difficult subject to approach, says Frederick Chin. The main idea was to create a sense that kids are not alone in the world.

Overseas precedents show that problems for the target age group are generally peer-related, bullying, loneliness and, for the older children, relationships or sexuality.

The phone line is based on an Australian equivalent, Kids' Help Line, which has been in operation for 10 years and averages 30,000 calls a week.

Mr Taylor believes the experience gained by Kids' Help Line will be invaluable.

Technology will play a part. In some cases, a counsellor taking a call can arrange an immediate telephone link-up between a more appropriate outside service and the caller.

Mr Taylor says information gathered can be offered to schools so teachers can use it as a springboard for classroom discussions on issues that may be affecting their pupils.

And while well-established services such as Youthline and Kidsline offer advice from volunteers, What's Up is staffed by trained counsellors, paid for their time.

Seventeen counsellors are working the lines. They are all still in the probationary stage, says Mr Taylor, as they are required to do 350 hours of training.

The launch of What's Up followed a study which showed a gap in what was available.

The study was initiated in 1998 and done in consultation with Government and non-Government child welfare agencies, including the Commissioner for Children, the Early Childhood Development Unit, the Ministry of Health, Child, Youth and Family Services and Te Puni Kokiri.

So far, sponsors alone are paying for the project. Figures are not talked about, but trust spokeswoman Maggie Kerrigan says their support is invaluable.

While the project has been commended by the Commissioner for Children, Roger McClay, no Government funding is used, but it could be requested in the future.