Kooth digital counselling and emotional wellbeing service for 11-18 year olds in Portsmouth

Kooth is a free online counselling and emotional wellbeing support service providing young people aged 11-18 years (up to 19th birthday) in Portsmouth with a safe and secure means of accessing support with their emotional health and wellbeing needs from a professional team of qualified counsellors.

Kooth is a well-established, award winning online counselling service and is accredited by the British Association of Psychotherapy and Counselling (BACP). Founded in 2001, they are leading pioneers of online counselling in the UK, having won a number of prestigious awards.

Kooth has no referrals, thresholds or waiting lists. Young people can access this service anonymously by signing onto www.kooth.com.

Kooth provides unique out of office hours’ provision and is open 7 days per week, 365 days a year from noon until 10pm weekdays and from 6pm until 10pm on Saturday and Sundays. .

Kooth helps to reduce waiting times for young people seeking help and removes stigma around mental health and accessing services. Kooth integrates with face-to-face local services to ensure a seamless transition for young people.

The team of qualified counsellors, therapists and support workers provide guided, outcome-focused help for each individual. Kooth take safeguarding and clinical governance extremely seriously. The safety and well-being of all service users is an upmost priority.

Kooth is also able to provide virtual presentations via Zoom to classes or year groups. Presentations will introduce Kooth and the support that is available as part of your school’s approach to wellbeing. To discuss booking a presentation or how to fully integrate the service into your school, please email Portsmouth@Kooth.com.

The Kooth digital mental health service has been commissioned by Health and Care Portsmouth and is being introduced to schools in partnership with Portsmouth Education Partnership.

CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services which are specialist services that provide assessment, treatment and support to young people with emotional, behavioural and mental heath difficulties. Solent CAMHS covers our sites in Portsmouth and Southampton.

To find out more about CAMHS and how to access support you can visit the Healthier Together Website by clicking here.

Solent Pulse is a new confidential service for young people and parents to text in and contact a qualified nurse for information or advice.

Young people and parents will get a response to their text enquiry within 24 hours.

To find out more about this service click here

Mental Health Support Teams

Mental health support teams (MHSTs) can support children and young people with mild to moderate mental health problems. They are currently working with 32 Portsmouth primary and secondary schools. Your school can advise if there is a MHST available or guide you to other support options.

ThinkNinja is an app specifically designed to educate 10-18 year olds about mental health, emotional wellbeing and to provide skills young people can use to build resilience and stay well.

The App is currently FREE during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Click here to find out more about ThinkNinja.

If you or someone you know has suffered a loss or bereavement and are struggling to cope or need some advice, Simon Says is a young person bereavement support charity that provides support and advice to young people and their families across Hampshire.

Home – SimonSays

Place2Be is a children’s mental health charity with over 25 years’ experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools.

They provide mental health support in schools through one-to-one and group counselling using tried and tested methods backed by research.

Click here to visit Place2Be’s Website.