Assessing and Responding to Suicide Risk in Children and Young People: Understanding Views and Experiences of Helpline Staff.

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is a key issue impacting children and young people. Helplines offer unique benefits, such as anonymity, varied communication avenues and low cost, which help to promote help-seeking behaviour. The aim of this study was to explore the views and experiences of helpline organisations of identifying, assessing, and managing suicide risk among children and young people. METHODS: Thirteen professionals from three UK-based helplines and online counselling services took part in semi-structured interviews between November 2020 and January 2021 via Zoom. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Thematic Analysis. RESULTS: Three superordinate themes were identified: (i) Starting conversations about suicide; (ii) Identifying and responding to "imminent" suicide risk; and (iii) Responses to suicide risk in relation to safeguarding. LIMITATIONS: Recruitment was limited by COVID-19 due to the demands needed from helplines at this time. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight not only the different types and range of services helpline organisations offer to young people who might be at risk of suicide, but most importantly the distinct role they have in young people's help-seeking pathway.

Characteristics and Behaviors of Anonymous Users of Dark Web Platforms Suspected of Child Sexual Offenses.

International law enforcement have noted a rise in the use of the Dark Web to facilitate and commit sexual offenses against children, both prior to and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study presented here therefore aimed to investigate the characteristics and behaviors of anonymous users of Dark Web platforms who were suspected of engaging in the sexual abuse of children. Naturally-occurring data on 53 anonymous suspects, who were active on the Dark Web and had come to police attention in the United Kingdom (UK), were sampled. Analysis of the data yielded 462 features that could be coded reliably. Analysis of these features provided novel insights into suspects' characteristics, their motivations for using the Dark Web, the nature of the offending behavior they reported engaging in, their technical and security precautions, sexual interests, and the content of their interactions with one another. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research.