Kooth – The free NHS-commissioned online mental health platform for children & young adults.

At Wemms Education Centre, we are committed to supporting the wellbeing of all our students. We are therefore delighted to inform you about a service to support the wellbeing and resilience of our students that is now available and is free for students aged 10 – 18 to access and is featured on the Mindworks Surrey website among others.

Kooth is a transformational digital mental health platform that launched in 2004. It gives children and young people immediate access to an online community of peers and a team of experienced, accredited counsellors. Access is free of the typical barriers to support – no waiting times, no referrals, no thresholds to meet and complete anonymity. Kooth provides a safe, secure means of accessing help for mental health and wellbeing issues via the internet and is accessible via a mobile, laptop or desktop.

By accessing Kooth students can benefit from:

• ·A free, confidential, anonymous and safe way to receive support online
• Out of hours’ availability. Counsellors are available from 12noon to 10pm on weekdays and 6pm to 10 pm at weekends, every day of the year on a drop in basis
• Online Counselling from a professional team of BACP qualified counsellors is available via 1-1 chat sessions or messaging on a drop-in basis or via booked sessions
• Discussion Boards which are all pre-moderated allow young people to access peer to peer support
• Online Magazine full of moderated articles many of which are submitted by young people offering advice and guidance on a huge range of topics
• Helpful articles, personal experiences and tips from young people and the Kooth team
• No referral is required – young people can access the site independently
• A daily journal to help young people track their feelings and emotions.