29 Apr 2020

Children and young people in St Helens aged from 11-25 are able to access free mental health support via Kooth.com, an online counselling and wellbeing platform - something that could prove a lifeline for anyone struggling during the Covid-19 crisis.

Kooth.com is an online mental health and wellbeing platform that offers young people aged 11-25 instant free and anonymous access to self-help materials, live moderated discussion forums and tools such as online journals and goal trackers as well as the opportunity to have a text-based conversation with a qualified counsellor.  

Commissioned by NHS St Helens CCG just before the Covid-19 crisis took hold, the site offers access to trained counsellors who are available from 12noon to 10pm on weekdays and 6pm to 10 pm at weekends, every day of the year on a drop-in basis. Young people can access regular booked online counselling sessions as needed and outside counselling hours, can message the team and get support by the next day.

Kooth.com say that following the Covid-19 lockdown, comments, discussion board themes, and peer discussion have centred on issues around school closures and exam cancellations, family relationships, domestic violence and concerns from children of parents with substance misuse issues.

Darren Birks, Senior Commissioning & Transformation Manager at NHS St Helens CCG, said, “I am pleased that young people in St Helens have access to Kooth’s online counselling sessions, chat functions and a wealth of support material - especially during the Covid-19 crisis and we know that people are benefiting from the site.

“This is an age group that likes help to be easy to use and Kooth provides  support on various topics such as anxiety, stress and self-harm – issues that are causing higher levels of distress currently.  Kooth is proving to be a real lifeline during lockdown for many of our children and young people with existing mental health conditions not being able to access their usual face to face support.”

Young people aged 11-25 can visit www.kooth.com to sign up to access free, safe and anonymous online support.