
Effective and personalised
We establish the evidence base for Kooth to contribute to best practice in digital mental health innovation
What makes us effective & personalised?
We create a welcoming space for effective personalised digital mental health care. Available to all. Our mission is to establish the evidence-base for our services and contribute to innovation and dissemination of knowledge in the field of mental health and digital interventions through robust, inclusive and objective research.
Research
Our mission is to establish the evidence base for Kooth and demonstrate the impact of digital mental health support. Kooth was built to serve the needs and wants of people with issues around their mental health. Our work so far has demonstrated that Kooth works as a Positive Virtual Ecosystem, providing many touch points of support as when and how people want to access it, with outcomes to match. Our research team work with the best academic partners to ensure all of our research is independently validated and of the highest quality. We are leading the way in providing evidence for this unique approach to mental health support, and committed to providing outcomes that reflect the needs and wants of users as a priority.
Insights
Our team of data analysts work tirelessly to democratise data within Kooth to enable data-informed decisions. Data control, governance, security and validation are paramount to Kooth Insights team’s data processes. Our Insights team provides analysis and insights for ground-breaking peer-reviewed research, to drive user behaviour-led product development, for optimum efficiency and consistency of service and for Safeguarding and Clinical governance. Our data also informs the Cabinet Office and Public Health England trackers of the state of the nation’s mental health and is submitted to the NHS Mental Health Service Data Set (MHSDS), to measure performance against mental health access targets across the UK.
Data Science
As a leader in digital mental health services in the UK, Kooth has millions of data points covering the mental health journey for over half a million individuals. Using that wealth of data, we leverage data science to improve the Kooth service and to support our service users in achieving optimum outcomes for their mental health. Data science is key to improving the service we provide, covering projects such as early recognition of risk, matching service user needs to the most appropriate practitioner, and improving the service user experience through shorter waiting times for support and moderation. We use data science to evaluate the trajectories our service users take through Kooth, partnering with experts in both academia and machine learning technology. We are always ethical, collaborative and open about our assumptions, throughout every project.
Featured Research
Supporting Adults with Stressful Life Events in a Digital Service
This report demonstrates how digital services can directly mitigate some of the root causes of stress, including those associated with the pandemic.
Download paper


Helpful and Unhelpful Aspects of Online Therapy
Roehampton University interviewed Kooth users and established key aspects of online therapy, highlighting importance of sense of control in therapy
Supporting Parents: a personalised approach to Mental Health
Research publications relating to the development of appropriate outcome measures for a digital and social model of support.
- 2019
- Defining the Theory of Change for Kooth (Children & Young People)
- We identified the mechanisms of change and outcomes for the pathways on Kooth: community support, immediate drop in support, structured counselling, and ongoing therapy
- Implementing a Measure of Need
- We piloted three standardised measures to identify acceptability, applicability, appropriateness and reliability
- 2020
- Developing a Community Measure
- From the Theory of Change a measure was developed to assess the value of the Kooth Community (Forums, Magazine, Activities)
- Evidencing impact using goal based outcomes
- In collaboration with CORC at the Anna Freud Centre, we identified 55% of users engaging with goal setting achieving meaningful change
- 2021
- Defining the Theory of Change for Kooth (Adults)
- Working with New Philanthropy Capital, we identified mechanisms of change and outcomes for adults using Kooth
- The Reliability of Using Standardised Measures Online
- To understand the reliability of standardised assessments for measuring need, we assessed the concordance of practitioner assessed need vs. user-rated need
Other peer-review papers, reports and publications relating to evidencing the Kooth model of a positive virtual ecosystem
- 2011
- Therapeutic Alliance Online
- Dr Terry Hanley interviewed 15 young-people online and found that good relationships with counsellors were established online reflecting those of a face-to-face environment
- 2016
- Therapeutic Goals in Student Counselling
- The University of Manchester examined therapeutic goals using grounded theory. Goals fit into three core categories, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Intrapersonal goals related to others
- 2017
- Independent review of Kooth by Education Policy Institute
- The Education Policy Institute reviewed literature related to online counselling and investigated how young people respond to the Kooth model
- 2019
- The Ethical Challenges of Accessing Online Data
- The University of Nottingham explore the ethical considerations and potential challenges with accessing Digital Mental Health data
- 2021
- Experiences of young people completing the YP-CORE
- Kooth users shared their motivations and experiences for completing a standardised mental health assessment online
Our Partners and Collaborators
Dr Sara Evans Lacko
LSE Care Policy and Evaluation CentreProfessor Ann John
Swansea UniversityDr Terry Hanley
University of ManchesterDr Roisin McNaney
Monash UniversityProfessor Dan Stein
University of Cape TownMindtech
University of NottinghamCORC
Anna Freud CentreNew Philanthropy Capital
Think Tank and ConsultancyYHEC
University of YorkA Positive Online Community
An Evaluation of the Kooth Community
LSE ran an independent evaluation of the Kooth community to identify how community can support young people with mental wellbeing
Download paper

Developing a Community Measure
From the Theory of Change a measure was developed to assess the value of the Kooth Community (Forums, Magazine, Activities)
Why Young People Use Online Forums For Support
Universities of Manchester and Bolton ran focus groups with nineteen Kooth users, finding that Kooth forums are supportive and connected spaces
Peer Communication in Online Mental Health Forums for Young People
Universities of Manchester and Bolton analysed forum posts to understand how young people communicate and seek support within forumsGet in touch
If you have any interesting collaboration or research that may involve our services, we'll be pleased to hear from you!
Contact us