Every day, young people worldwide log on to Kooth for the tools they need to build better lives. Kooth is an accessible and self-directed platform that empowers young people to identify, manage, and address life’s challenges. For some, that could mean anxiety, for others, it could be loneliness or stress associated with school, academics or sports.
We give our users access to culturally relevant, evidence-based tools and techniques to better deal with whatever they face. And we do so in the time and manner that our users choose.
The safety of our users is our No. 1 priority, and we have architected our solution to ensure that clinical safeguards are in place at every turn.
Let’s take a look at how Kooth works.
Kooth empowers young people with a variety of proven tools and techniques to address areas of concern, including stress, anxiety, sleep, self-esteem, trauma, relationships, and more. We do this through three main pathways, all moderated and supported by our team.
First, there’s self-guided support. These self-led journeys include therapeutic content and tools. All content is clinically safeguarded and evidence-informed, meaning that a Kooth-trained team member has reviewed it to ensure its relevance and appropriateness for different age groups.
There’s also the peer-support component. While this allows young people to benefit from the lived experience of their peers, this should not be confused with social media. Kooth is not and never will be a social media platform. We have rigorous policies and procedures to ensure user safety. Our safe community spaces are moderated by trained professionals and nothing is posted without our team’s review.
User-generated content is anonymous, and users do not and cannot chat directly with each other or share personal contact information. There is no way that two young people can talk privately on our site.
Professional support is available with the Kooth team through messaging and chat or ongoing, structured support. Kooth employs those certified to practice as counselors, community health workers, peer specialists, substance misuse counselors, and behavioral health professionals.
Clinical safeguarding for those who interact directly with users
Again, the safety of our users is our No. 1 priority at Kooth. We do this in three key ways: How we recruit, how we onboard, and how we continue to support our team.
We recruit a diverse range of team members that best reflect the communities we support, all of whom have undergone rigorous background checks. These extensive background checks include identification, qualifications, education, and certifications.
Our onboarding process is designed with safety as our foremost priority.
We support those who support our users. We have licensed clinicians who provide clinician governance, which includes safeguarding and training for individuals. Our governance team audits user interactions for clinical continuity and ensures they work within our guidelines and safety procedures. We have transcripts of every conversation between a user and our team members, which are reviewed regularly.
Safety is embedded at every step in Kooth's processes.
Data safeguarding and user privacy
At Kooth, we take the privacy and safety of our users very seriously. When someone signs up with Kooth, they are asked for their location and date of birth. While an email is required for registration, we do not ask for any other personal information.
Kooth maintains a Data Protection Policy that requires data to be processed in a manner that ensures privacy and confidentiality, including protection against unauthorized access. Kooth adheres to HIPAA and CCPA data protection standards and implements procedures to manage users' rights, including access to their data, request corrections for inaccuracies, and receive an account of unauthorized disclosures and certain other disclosures.
Kooth exercises efforts to safeguard the confidentiality of the personal information processed. Transmissions are protected by industry-standard security technology. Kooth also has been certified by an independent, third-party organization to comply with ISO 27001. Kooth implements technical, physical, and administrative safeguards, including access controls, encryption, protection from improper alteration, verification and authentication, transmission security, and workstation security.
Safeguarding, not social media
The most important distinction to make about our safeguarding at Kooth is to understand that Kooth is not and never will be a social media app. Kooth is a mental health well-being platform that pairs confidential chat-based support with self-led pathways and peer support to give young people the tools they need to build better lives.
While the evidence demonstrates the value of the peer-support component, it’s important to remember that there is no way for young people to connect directly with one another or for an individual posing as a young person to communicate with a user.
Worldwide, 17 million people have access to Kooth to identify, manage, and address challenges to successful daily living, including anxiety, loneliness, and more. We do this safely and effectively, by giving users access to culturally relevant, evidence-based tools and techniques – all of which are safeguarded at every step to protect the user.