Recent NHS data shows that 120,000 children waited six months or longer between their referral for mental health support and treatment in 2022-23.
This was the same year we launched our new ‘Integrated Digital Platform’. This service extends the capacity of crisis services teams, which can refer to us when appropriate. It supports NHS children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) teams by providing young people on waiting lists with immediate support, discharging them when appropriate.
How we worked with Lincolnshire NHS CAMHS crisis and enhanced treatment team (CCETT)
Kooth has been providing support-on-demand for CYP in Lincolnshire since 2018 so is already embedded in local services and safeguarding networks. We launched a new eight month IDP pilot with Lincolnshire County Council in 2023 - known locally as the ‘Help to Cope’ pathway - mobilising the service in just 16 weeks.
Help to Cope aimed to lower admissions to CAMHS tier 4 services and support existing pathways. It offered ongoing support to CYP on CAMHS waiting lists aged between 11 and 18 - and up to 25 for those who had accessed CCETT through A&E or local mental health leads.
Help to Cope - Highlights
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100% of the young people who received help from Kooth said that they felt ‘heard, respected and understood’
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The service saw 687 logins over the eight month period
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Out-of-hours accessibility was popular, with 82% finding help outside traditional hours
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100% of young people said they felt the practitioner helping them was a good fit; 83% said the session felt right for them at the time
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75% of young people said they would recommend the service to a friend
Meeting the criteria
Young people experiencing certain presenting issues or needs along with other criteria were referred to Kooth - namely:
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Mild-moderate mental health problems, eg. low mood, anxiety, superficial self-harm, emotional dysregulation
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Low-medium risk of harm to self with no known suicide attempts within the previous six weeks
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Willingness to engage in online interventions and ability to access a digital platform
Support offered to young people
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‘Keeping Well’ support: Interactive messaging with our practitioners + access to therapeutic resources, digital tools, such as an online journal, and moderated peer support - available 24 hours a day
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Structured chat intervention: Access to up to six online structured counselling sessions, once or twice a week
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Crisis prevention support: Support and guidance to prevent or help to independently manage a crisis episode
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Safe crisis management: Keeping young people safe through robust safeguarding procedures along with collaborative risk escalation and management
Safeguarding service users
A comprehensive Integrated Digital Safeguarding Pathway and statement were established and agreed with CCETT. This included weekly liaison with the CCETT team and the ability to rapidly re-refer young people in the event of an escalation in risk during their initial engagement. In a change from our anonymous support model, the IDP holds personal identifiable information and safety plans for each young person, allowing the service delivery and clinical team to immediately escalate significant safeguarding concerns.
Who we supported during the pilot
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22 CYP people aged between 12-18 were referred to Kooth’s Help to Cope pathway
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45% of this cohort chose to disclose additional vulnerabilities, which included neurodevelopmental conditions, physical health conditions and social vulnerabilities. Seven young people were young carers
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Four young people experienced increased clinical risk or no longer needed the intervention, so returned to CCETT. Of the remaining 18, 14 CYP accessed
practitioner chat sessions and/or used ‘keeping well’ aspects of the Kooth platform, while four did not engage.
How did CYP benefit from Kooth’s Help to Cope pathway?
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Young people were able to freely express their concerns in one-to-one chat sessions with practitioners. From these sessions, 26 distinct presenting issues were identified, most commonly anxiety/stress, suicidal ideation and self harm
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Asynchronous messaging played a key role in supporting young people: 322 messages were received, 158 of which were therapeutic in nature
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CYP accessed help when needed: 62% (423) of the total 687 logins were out of hours, with the remaining 38% (264) seen between 9am and 5pm
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Help to Cope saw young people sharing advice, socialising online and learning from others’ experiences within Kooth’s safe, moderated community space; therapeutic articles and forums were viewed over 80 times
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32 goals were set by young people - all saw meaningful positive change
According to one of the CCETT practitioners, the benefit of the IDP is clear: “For some YP (young people) it means they are not just left feeling they have no support once CCETT discharges.”
In a tough commissioning environment, we know how important it is to think of new ways to help those waiting for care.