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How Kooth works

Kooth’s easy access support is critical to thousands of people, reducing the demand and cost of acute mental health care while helping to build a mentally healthier, happier and more productive society.

A shift to prevention

Health systems today are forced to focus on those with the highest level of need, leaving others on waiting lists for months - and sometimes years. 

But this situation isn’t inevitable. Offering early, preventative support can alleviate pressures downstream, meaning fewer GP appointments and fewer A&E visits from those with nowhere else to go. 

Prevention is the best route to turning the tide on the mental health crisis, in terms of alleviating suffering, delivering greater productivity and building a happier, healthier society.

Kooth is at the forefront of a vital shift in health systems towards preventative, population-wide support.

Designed for population health

At the heart of our service are Kooth and Qwell, our digital platforms. Both services offer preventative support, often working together to support whole populations.

The impact of these services is difficult to overstate. Recent research has found Kooth brings significant cost savings as well as positive macro-economic impacts, including a reduction in crime and in anti-depressant prescriptions.

The way Kooth services are embedded means that local populations benefit from outreach from the outset. With school and college visits, mental health training and access to free resources, positive impacts are felt individually, across communities and by wider healthcare systems.

The power of prevention

Kooth has a huge role to play in making early intervention possible, delivering professional support at speed, out of hours and in the moment.

Sean Duggan OBE discusses the tragedy of seeing inpatients with mental health conditions, knowing how life-changing preventative support could have been.

The ripple effect

In a broader context, health economics recognises that population health has a direct impact on our overall wealth and happiness.

We often see these positive 'ripple out', such as:

  • The individual who goes on to find better relationships with family and friends

  • The student who is able to engage with school, positively impacting teachers and classmates while increasing their future life chances

  • The parent who feels able to return to work, finding a sense of pride and recovered self-esteem

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Kooth's positive health economic impact

There are multiple positive 'ripple out' impacts associated with Kooth, not just on healthcare but on costs to the wider system, according to a paper by the York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC). Findings show the significant potential of Kooth in tackling fundamental societal issues, such as:

  • Suicide and self-harm

  • Low workforce participation

  • Low school attendance

  • Health inequalities

Building brain capital

Like GDP and national infrastructure, brain capital – which considers the importance of mental and neurological health and wellbeing alongside cognitive skills and abilities needed for success in a new knowledge economy – is increasingly being recognised as key to economic growth, societal development and global equity.

Following successful partnerships with the UN, OECD and The World Economic Forum, Kooth hosted a UK Brain Capital Strategy and Working Group, bringing together leaders from across disciplines to build a vision for the future.

A report on this event will be published shortly.

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Contact us

Learn how Kooth and Qwell can deliver early, effective and measurable whole population mental health support