Safety and governance
Every aspect of Kooth is designed with safety in mind.
Go Somewhere Good
A safe space facilitates trust and enables people to access the help they need.
From our safeguarding framework to identify users who are vulnerable and at risk, to pre-moderating every piece of content. From the experience and on-going training of our staff, to compliance with national safety frameworks - Kooth is a gateway to safety for all our users.
A place to speak up
Kooth is anonymous at the point of initial sign up, and all service users are anonymous to one another.
This creates trust and confidence. Young people consistently tell us that anonymity enables them to disclose things that they wouldn't otherwise tell anyone. We are seen as a safe space to try out speaking to a professional.
However if we are told something that constitutes a concern around safety, we ask for personal identifiable information to help us safeguard them.
Perspectives
Developing our clinical governance frameworks
Digital requires shift in thinking compared to face-to-face services. We have our own framework (iRESPOND), working on what good looks like when it comes to a digital mental health service.
Kooth as a trusted 'front door'
We know from decades of research, how people do not speak up about abuse or neglect when it happens. At Kooth we work with them, we develop the relationship, we develop trust...
An evidence-based age-gating framework
The online world can be an amazing space for people to seek help. It also has its risks and dangers. We are focused on creating a space that is a positive experience for all our users - of every age
Ensuring safe content
We pre-moderate every single word on Kooth. This means that no user generated content - such as a poem, a story or a forum comment is published to our site until it has been “moderated” by one of our moderating team.
All our content is age-gated to ensure service users only see what is appropriate and relevant for their age. Based on an evidence based framework, our age ratings are 10-11, 12-13, 14-17 and 18+.
In addition there is certain content we would never publish, such as details or methods of self harm and unhelpful content relating to eating disorders.
Why we pre-moderate every piece of content
Compliance frameworks
Kooth has earned accreditations from a range of clinical and safety bodies
Moderated by real people
Our moderators are a team of passionate, dedicated professionals:
Safeguarding framework involves clear, safe recruitment processes
All have a degree in a relevant subject, such as psychology or social work
Extensive training for our staff in relation to safeguarding fully aligned with NHS guidelines
As our service grows, we are trialling the use of AI to improve the speed and effectiveness of our moderating team.
92% of our users recommend
Michael Brioude
Testimonial
CYP benefitted from improvements across nearly all mental health and wellbeing measures after just one month of using Kooth’s web-based platform.
Thomas Marks
Speaker
Test Item