Access and inclusion
We believe that good mental health is not a privilege, but a fundamental human right.
Reaching the parts other health services don’t
Kooth’s population health model means that increasing access for entire communities, and the diverse populations within them is an essential complement to the digital platform. Our approach puts an emphasis on:
Building awareness - through local community outreach supported by national marketing campaigns
Building relevance - through constantly working with our users, so we can represent their voices, co-design services and develop culturally relevant content
Building trust - through engagement with community based organisations, tackling stigma and building long-term relationships
Driving awareness
We run regular national campaigns developed with young people to educate and change behaviour. These are supported with a wide range of support materials, activities and online events for parents, teachers and more.
Our recent campaigns include:
Children's Mental Health Week - everyone has a right to a voice
Go Somewhere Good - online safety and over-coming holiday anxiety
Kooth Future Council - young people guiding our priorities
Building trust
Integral to providing accessible and inclusive services is our work to drive awareness and build trust across local communities.
Kooth’s engagement team spreads the word wherever we're commissioned, delivering school assemblies, working with GPs and engaging with local services.
As Peta's story illustrates, it's a hands-on approach to establishing trust, tackling stigma and providing vital support.
Ensuring relevance
Kooth works with users and their communities at every stage to co-design our services and tell our story.
Inclusive support
Dame Professor Sue Bailey discusses the need for "social scaffolding" for those living at the margins, such as those who are homeless, children and young people who have fallen out of education and people living in social isolation.
Overcoming mental health stigma in the Muslim community
Kooth collaborates with individuals, communities and expert organisations to bring as much insight and support to its services as possible.
We have collaborated with members of the Muslim community to share stories and provide tailored support, offering assemblies to schools on topics relevant to students and coffee mornings to parents and carers to support open conversations around mental health.
Insights
Our inclusive origins
Dr Lynne Green tracks Kooth's origins back to Elaine Bousfield who founded Kooth (called XenZone at the time) to provide support for men who remained outside mainstream services.
Designing for equity of access
Kooth's digital platforms are available 24/7, 365 days of the year. However achieving equity of access means ensuring that our resources are designed with, and for, underserved and unserved communities.
Why we should address inequalities
"We know that certain groups are falling through the net when it comes to accessing support... We can recite the problem, but we don't move on to enabling solutions". Dame Sue Bailey OBE DBE FRCPsych, discusses the importance and impact of addressing mental health inequalities.
Our user feedback
Feedback from our service user community illustrates the importance of easy access to stigma-free and barrier-free support