Kooth
Kooth Digital Mental Health Support Service: Young People
Kooth is an anonymous, free and safe digital mental health support service designed specifically for secondary school aged children and young people. Kooth is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychology (BACP), and the Kooth site is available 24/7, with mental health professionals online offering live chat conversations Monday to Friday 12-10pm, and Saturday and Sunday 6-10pm.
1:1 Support Service
Kooth can provide 1:1 digital support with mental health professionals through live chat conversation, a real-time instant message conversation between service user and Kooth professional. While waiting in the chat queue before the live chat starts, the service user will be asked a few questions to allow Kooth professionals to know what topics the user would like to discuss, allowing the mental health professionals to know how they can best help. Live chat conversation is available Monday to Friday 12-10pm, and Saturday and Sunday 6-10pm.
Kooth can provide 1:1 messaging. This service is like sending an email, service users can send a message to the team, and one of Kooth’s mental health professionals will respond. If it’s outside live chat hours, or service user doesn’t feel like live chatting at that time, they can send a message and the Kooth mental health professionals will respond as soon as they can.
Online Community Support
Kooth can provide online community support through discussion boards for service users. Kooth’s discussion boards are designed to be anonymous, safe and supportive digital spaces for secondary aged children and young people to talk with one another. Kooth only shows discussion boards relevant to the service users age range, so discussions are appropriate and relatable. Service users can ask questions, share experiences and respond to other on Kooth discussion boards. Discussion boards are open 24/7, however, new posts will not go live until moderation has been completed.
Self-Help Activities
Kooth can provide access to self-help activities. Service users can browse topics and choose an activity that feels appropriate and beneficial to them. Activities are interactive, private and accessible 24/7 with a save progress option, allowing service users to return to activities whenever suits them. Kooth self-help activities include the Kooth podcast, journalling and goal setting.
Moderation
Everything that is submitted to the Kooth platform is moderated before it is published. Moderation is conducted by Kooth’s team of highly skilled moderators who have completed bespoke moderation training. Kooth’s moderators review all submissions to ensure they meet Kooth’s community boundaries and age ratings guidance. If a submission contains information suggesting a user is at risk from themselves or others, Kooth would reach out with a message and escalate their processes appropriately as they have a duty of care to safeguard wellbeing. Some submissions may be edited, or not published at all, if they do not meet Kooth boundaries and guidelines. This moderation process ensures no bullying, harassment or trolling occurs on the Kooth site.
How to access this support:
There are no waiting lists or referrals required to access Kooth’s service. Registration is anonymous, free and provides immediate access to services. Service users can share challenges with practitioners and/or community when/if they feel like it. They can explore Kooth’s resources, articles and activities and check in with Kooth whenever they need to.
Kooth’s service is fully mobile-accessible, service users can access support from smartphones and/or tablets 365 days a year, 24/7.
For more information, please visit the Kooth website.
