Derbyshire CCG had already commissioned Kooth for children and young people for a number of years and Kooth had become a significant part of their mental health strategy and mental health pathway for CYP in recognition of parent wellbeing being integral to a child’s development.
In October 2019, we launched Qwell for Parents, an anonymous platform for all parents across Derbyshire to help improve parental mental health. Parents were reluctant to access traditional named services and really wanted support that was safe, anonymous and available out of office hours.
Working closely with the CCG, we created an ongoing social media campaign to promote the site to parents and our Integration and Participation worker works across the county with a wide range of stakeholders and parents groups to promote the service.
The service has over 900 active users. Key presenting issues at counselling are anxiety, depression and family relationships. Our counsellors also regularly work with service user on issues such as suicidal thoughts, emotional and physical abuse and low self worth.
I feel like I have made some good steps forward and have put some changes/controls in place which have really helped me” Service user quote.
Firstly, I find this service very useful indeed. There are great benefits to seeing the discussion evolving and what I found helpful before also was the distinct feeling that person on the other end understood how I felt.” Service user quote.
"We made the decision to commission Kooth as we recognise the importance of having a range of different mental health and wellbeing support options available to children and young people and parents. Kooth provides people with the ability to access support from the comfort of their own homes at a time that’s convenient for them." Seth Hemingway, Commissioning Manager, NHS Derby and Derbyshire CCG