Kooth is an online platform that works closely with the NHS and allows its users to access free, safe, and anonymous support from trained practitioners.

Some key information about Kooth discussed in this episode includes:

• Kooth is a service aimed at 10- to 25-year-olds to provide support for children and young people. They also have a service called Quell, in order to provide support for adults.
• Both Kooth and Quell are free for anyone to use.
• From a counselling perspective, there are a few aspects to the anonymity that can be difficult to adapt to such as missing body language, tone, and voice.
• However, from a client perspective, this is actually really valuable and reduces the feeling of being stigmatised or judged.
• This may sometimes lead to a user accidentally oversharing, but in this case, the user has the option to create a new account, and once again become anonymous.
• How much the user gives away is completely in their hands.
• Training – for practitioners working with Kooth there are clear safeguarding procedures, training on how to build rapport, and guidance on how you use the typed word to define your personality to the service user.
• Kooth can also work to get users ready for face-to-face counselling, offer online counselling as an intervention, and do holding work in support of GPs.