S P E C I A L I S T I N S I G H T
It would be fair to say that building a welcoming , effective service is one half of the challenge . The other half is building a sustainable model to grow awareness and truly embed this service into the local community . Kooth has extensive experience in building and delivering engagement programmes to reach the whole population – through both digital an ‘ feet on the street ’ engagement teams .
For example , in the UK Kooth has dedicated community outreach and engagement teams which work with schools , healthcare systems , and local communities . In fact , we have found that over half of people join Kooth after hearing about it at school , 15 % from a healthcare professional and 10 % from a friend . As 94 % of children and young people who use Kooth would recommend it to a friend , peer support and advocacy is an important element for success .
What specific aspects of Kooth ' s mission resonate with your personal passions and drive your commitment to contributing to the company ' s objectives ?
For the last twenty years , I ’ ve been working across health and local government systems in various guises to provide more equitable and appropriate care that is designed around the service user and harnesses the power of digital to drive innovation and achieve more reach and impact .
My commitment at Kooth is to keep innovating and developing pioneering services that are actually based on youth needs and wants rather than what the system provides or thinking there is a one-size fits all approach . Using digital tools and a population health-based approach that is coupled with free at the point of access aligns to my drive of ensuring we can continue to maximise the reach of the Kooth platform . Only then will we have the positive impact of equity of access and awareness that is needed , globally .
Given Kooth ' s accreditation from the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy ( BACP ), how does the platform ensure clinical robustness in providing therapeutic support and interventions ?
As part of Kooth ’ s focus on ensuring its work is safe and evidence-based , we operate a system of improved reporting and root cause analysis . This helps the team to identify earlier on any opportunities for improvement and learning .
With the recent launch of the Soluna app in California , how does the platform meet the mental health needs of the state ' s 13 – 25 year olds ?
Soluna offers California ' s six million 13 – 25 year olds free access to one-to-one professional support , self-guided tools , content and activities , and peer support communities moderated by trained behavioural health professionals . Soluna provides professional coaching support in English and Spanish as well as telephone-based support in all 19 Medi-Cal threshold languages .
We do it all safely and securely through a mobile phone . Available through iOS and Android apps , Soluna users can access many features anonymously – self-guided tools , guides , resources , exercises , and games – or create a full account to access professional or peer support .
Soluna is part of a groundbreaking initiative spearheaded by mental health and wellness champion California Gov . Gavin Newsom , The Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative ( CYBHI ). It ' s a historic , five-year , US $ 4.7 billion initiative to completely transform the way California supports children , youth , and families . With a strong foundation of equity and accessibility , it ’ s built to meet young people and families where they are , helping them when , where and in the manner , they need it most .
Considering Kooth ' s status as the largest single access provider for mental health support for under 18s , what future plans does the company have for expanding its reach and impact in the field of youth mental well-being ?
As a social impact business , our purpose is to help tackle the growing global youth mental health challenge . Which is why our mission is to ensure anyone can access help when they need it .
Beyond the US and UK , our long term ambition is to work with healthcare operators in other geographies to help deliver behavioural health and wellness tools . Ultimately to ensure that when someone needs mental health support , they can get the help they need when they need it . �
To deliver a continuous improvement model , the i-RESPOND framework is fully embedded into our quarterly audit process for each practitioner – offering all practitioners the opportunity for individual professional development , delivering important learnings for the wider clinical team , and identifying areas of focus for training programmes as well as an enhanced offering for clinical supervision and support .
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