Video: Dame Esther Rantzen on almost 30 years of helping children through ChildLine charity that is ‘in her DNA’

The stories unearthed during a BBC TV show about child abuse in 1986 – a time without mobile phones and social media support – led the That’s Life! broadcaster to launch ChildLine – a service she is still president of today.

From the free phoneline set up with 100 volunteers to address youngsters sneaking time on the landline spawned a service that has supported more than 3.9million children over almost 30 years.

And while abuse and bullying are still major issues, an increasing number of calls now come from youths committing self harm, suffering from cyber bullying or considering taking their own lives.

During a visit to the Leeds support centre based at St John’s Offices, in Albion Street, Dame Esther, 75, explained that more volunteers are desperately needed to help the rapidly changing and growing service.

“Just as the phone liberates young people that aren’t confident enough to talk face to face, contacting us through email and online liberates those who are worried about putting their problems into spoken words – all the time we are adapting.

“There is a huge demand and one we are not quite meeting which gives us all kinds of challenges and that’s why we desperately need more volunteers because we have to be there that moment when the child plucks up the courage to get in touch with us.”

Dame Esther toured what is Yorkshire’s only ChildLine suite, which offers web-only counselling for the service now run by the NSPCC charity, and met volunteers yesterday.

The Leeds centre is staffed by around 50 volunteer counsellors who take 7,000 confidential online counselling sessions with callers every year. It shares the workload with phone and web centres across the country.

Still committed to the service she founded, Dame Esther, who was recognised for her charity work by the Queen earlier this year, has no plans to take a step back.

“This is an absolutely invaluable service as it’s the one safe place children can trust – they know they can tell ChildLine anything,” she said. “They say it’s in my DNA and I will always have ChildLine in my DNA, and I think that’s probably right.”

Despite the obvious commitment to the cause from those involved in ChildLine in Leeds, increasing demand on the online service has led to the need for around 30 more volunteers.

Susan George, 68, from Roundhay, has given over 700 volunteer hours to ChildLine over six years since retiring from a job in children’s services.

Describing the role as “an incredible privilege”, she said: “If you ring and you’re in distress, even if you have to wait 10 minutes it is too long.”

Darren Worth, ChildLine supervisor, said: “We just need to make sure we are there for every young person that needs us.”

An information session for people interested in becoming volunteers will run at the NSPCC and ChildLine office on the fifth floor at St John’s Offices on November 26 from 6.30pm.

Volunteers must be over 16 and would need to commit to training and then one weekly four-hour shift for a minimum of 12 months. Call 0113 8871111 or email [email protected] to book a place.