Significant and rising demand for mental health support continues to shine a light on one issue above all: a lack of timely access to safe and effective support.
With increasing numbers of people on waiting lists for support, debate has intensified around so-called “prevalence inflation” - the idea that heightened awareness of mental health, especially among young people, is leading to overdiagnosis.
Awareness has undeniably risen. Stigma has lessened, and mental health is now a more “normal” part of everyday conversation. This shift is, in many ways, a profound step forward.
But as Professor Peter Fonagy OBE, a leading clinical psychologist and former chief executive of the Anna Freud Centre, has indicated, evolving public awareness of mental health has “reshaped how emotional struggles are perceived and reported”.
He notes that challenges once considered part of life’s normal ups and downs “are now more likely to be classified as mental health problems”.
This isn’t to say young people shouldn’t seek help when they’re struggling. Far from it. But it highlights the importance of accessible, early support that can provide professional perspective, build resilience and prevent everyday stressors from escalating into entrenched problems.
Services like Kooth exist precisely to offer that kind of in-the-moment support, equipping young people with lifelong coping skills and vital knowledge - often on issues young people have heard about on social media.
Access alone is not enough
Few would argue access is an issue; many worry that access to safe support is an even greater concern.
In a world where access to mental health support is out of reach, many teens are turning to social media or AI chatbots for instant help.
According to one young person: “AI is helpful because you can just ask it anything whenever you feel like it. It means you don’t have to admit you’re stressing to your friends. It’s reassuring - basically because it always agrees with me and is on my side.”
Emerging evidence suggests that these tools have the potential to do more harm than good, further embedding or exacerbating concerns over the long-term.
With limited guardrails governing the accuracy, safety or long-term implications of their use, we’re increasingly seeing experts warn parents and young people that the dangers are not yet fully understood and recommending that their use be restricted.
Trust in AI chatbots and social media notwithstanding, the capacity to meet growing demand remains limited. And that brings us back to access to services: ‘mental health in catastrophes and emergencies’, the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day.
This brought to mind the essential role Soluna, our California-wide service, played in connecting youth to essential services during the LA wildfires.
Our practitioners were able to provide in-the-moment, emotional support alongside helping them find food, shelter, healthcare and longer-term resources - offering a digital front door into a wider network of care.
And in the UK, where we are the single largest contributor to the NHS’s target to increase access to children and young people’s mental health services, we can ramp up capacity to meet surges in demand following local incidents, or around exam time or results day when a greater volume support is typically needed.
And help goes further than many imagine. Recent research shows clear links between early digital support and fewer GP appointments, less binge drinking and smoking, and fewer prescriptions for antidepressants.
Positive ripple-out effects
At Kooth, we see incredibly positive ripple-out effects of easy-access mental health support every day:
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For individuals, early help can prevent escalation into more complex and acute issues
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For families, it can lighten the burden of supporting loved ones
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For schools, it can reduce absences and disengagement
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For society, it helps address the growing issue of “economic inactivity” while easing pressure on the NHS
The fact that digital offers all this equitably and at scale is why I believe we cannot talk about access without digital.
When blended with professional oversight and evidence-based practice, digital services like Kooth bridge the widening gap between need and provision.
They complement existing systems, relieve pressure on traditional services, and, most importantly, empower people to get help early, when we know it can make the biggest difference.
To read more about the importance of access from our clinical team - and to learn about Kooth's major contribution to NHS access figures, go here.