Transparency Center Information 

Kooth is a forward-thinking digital behavioral health platform providing proactive support to youth and young adults. Our population health model is meticulously crafted to intervene before issues escalate. We offer three distinct pathways: self-guided educational tools and resources, safe and moderated peer communities and support, and the option to connect with either a coach or a licensed clinician (currently available in PA only). Our counseling services in Pennsylvania, while non-diagnostic, deliver a therapeutic intervention both on a single-session model as well as through the more traditional modality of 6-12 sessions of person-led and integrative support. These pathways combine to align with our commitment to empower and educate young individuals in understanding and navigating their mental health challenges. 

Kooth empowers young people with proven tools and techniques to address areas of concern, including stress, anxiety, sleep, self-esteem, trauma, relationships, and more, through its Kooth Klassic platform in Pennsylvania and in California through our app, Soluna. 

Kooth and Soluna blend immediate online access to experienced counselors (in PA) and coaches (in CA) through 1:1 chat and messaging functionality, alongside digital, self-guided tools, including journals, goal trackers, therapeutic tools, and mini activities. Additionally, they offer a pre-approved, safe, and active community (nothing is published to our site without being reviewed by a member of our safety team) delivering peer support through discussion posts, live forums based on current presenting issues, and an extensive library of peer-and-professional-created educational and therapeutic content.

Please note: Every word posted is reviewed first, all interactions with coaches and counselors are subject to audit, and there is no way for users to directly message each other within the app or to share contact information.

No, Kooth is not a social media platform. Young people cannot directly engage with each other, add friends, post likes and comments, or directly message others as they would on a gaming platform or social media site.

Kooth partners with school systems, state departments of health, and payers so that Kooth is free to the user. Users will never be asked for payment; there aren't any in-app buys, and there aren’t any ads.

Our data shows that 98% of users value Kooth’s anonymity, which prevents young people from communicating with peers and support staff outside of the Kooth platform. All user-generated content is moderated and posted anonymously, which allows users to choose the right support when needed. Our model of professional support allows young people to comfortably engage while getting the support they need, knowing their identity will never be released publicly or within the app. The anonymity of our community pages ensures user safety so that users cannot communicate within – or outside of – Kooth’s platform. For more information on how service user data is used and shared, please see our Privacy Policy.

Kooth supports young people between the ages of 11 and 25, depending on the state or insurer sponsoring the platform. In Pennsylvania, Kooth Klassic supports users 11- to 18-years-old, while California’s app, Soluna, supports 13- to 25-year-olds.

Anyone in the health plan's age range or in a state with a contract with Kooth can use Kooth’s services completely free.

If a person falsifies their age and lies about their eligibility, someone outside of the eligibility criteria could make a profile on Kooth Klassic or download Soluna and sign up. However, it is very important to note that if someone were to access Kooth or Soluna inappropriately, there is no way that a user can contact, talk, or engage privately with another user. It is not possible for any user to share personal information with another. Any user submission (e.g., a comment or post or journal entry) is reviewed by our safety team before it is published to the site/app.

No, Kooth offers exclusively accessible services digitally - through a web app, mobile app, and via telephone.

• In Pennsylvania, 11- to 18-year-old students, in partnership with the school districts, have access to Kooth Klassic's clinically robust and accessible resources funded by the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Governor's Office.
  
  
• In California, Kooth’s app, Soluna, is a confidential behavioral health and wellness app available to millions of Californians ages 13 to 25 as part of the state’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), a historic $4.7 billion initiative designed to transform the way California supports children, youth, and families.
  
  
• In Illinois, thousands of teens and young people have access to Kooth through Aetna Better Health® of Illinois.
  
  
• In Kentucky, students at The University of Pikeville have access to Kooth.

Our purpose is to build mentally healthier populations, leaving no one behind. We achieve this by providing everyone with effective digital support from their first moment of need. Our strategy is to focus on supporting youth to help turn the tide on the growing mental health crisis and apply our learnings to deliver support for adults throughout life.

Kooth aims to deliver equitable, appropriate, and timely services to youth at their first moment of need. With this in mind, it has created an upstream accessible mental health service with clinically evidenced impact delivered at a whole population level. At the heart of our person-centered approach is a commitment to clinical excellence, digital best practices, and inclusivity. There are no thresholds for support and no waiting lists. Kooth’s free, safe, and accessible service is currently available to more than 17 million users worldwide.

Kooth does not use AI within its clinical services. All professional support and moderation is done by trained staff and licensed professionals.

Kooth employs both counselors and coaches, depending on the clinical model requested by our partners. Coaches are mental health support professionals, certified peer support specialists, or substance use disorder counselors. Kooth counselors hold a master’s degree in a behavioral health field and active clinical licensure. All licensed clinicians follow their respective state guidelines and regulations regarding practice.

We recruit a diverse range of team members that best reflect the communities we support, all of whom have undergone rigorous background checks that include identification, qualifications, education, and certification in line with state-specific guidance and regulations. 

A team of clinical professionals provides support, oversight, and guidance for all coaches and counselors. They are all licensed (LPC, LSW, or LCSW) by the state in which they operate and are supported by a senior team of (licensed) Clinical Leads and Safeguarding Specialists. Coaches and counselors have been trained by Kooth, are supervised by an experienced team of qualified clinical specialists, and their work is governed and audited internally through an industry-standard best practice governance and clinical quality framework.

As user safety is our No. 1 priority, we have designed our solution to ensure clinical safeguards are in place at every turn. 
Safety and clinical quality underpin our three main service pathways:

• First, there’s self-guided support. These self-led journeys include therapeutic content and tools. All content is evidence-based and clinically reviewed, meaning that a Kooth-trained team member has reviewed it to ensure its relevance and appropriateness for different age groups.
  
  
• There’s also our peer-support component. While this allows young people to benefit from the lived experience and support 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. Any user submission (e.g., a comment or post or journal entry) is reviewed by our safety team before it is published to the site/app to ensure it is both safe and supportive. User-generated content is anonymous, and users 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.
  
  
• The Kooth team offers professional support through our messaging and chat functions in a single-session model or a structured pathway. A team of licensed clinical professionals provides support for all Kooth team members, including coaches and counselors. They are all licensed (LPC, LSW, or LCSW) by the state where they operate and are supported by a senior team of (licensed) Clinical Leads and Safeguarding Specialists. Our staff undergo a comprehensive vetting process that includes extensive background checks. Team members are trained by Kooth and supervised by an experienced team of qualified clinical specialists. Their work is governed and audited internally through an industry-standard best practice governance and clinical quality framework.

We have rigorous policies and procedures to ensure our users’ safety and privacy. Kooth’s site and apps are pre-approved, which means all user-generated content is subject to a thorough review process by our dedicated safety team, who screen for both safeguarding issues and appropriateness, ensuring the material is in line with our clinical moderation guidelines so that safety is prioritized. Only after careful examination and approval is the content published to the site and, therefore, then visible to other users. Further, all user-generated content is anonymous, and users cannot chat directly with each other, share private messages, or share personal contact information.

There is no way that two young people can talk privately on our site, nor can they share or access contact information to communicate offsite.

Kooth as a platform and service has over 20 years of evidence and over 40 independent peer-reviewed publications that investigate and examine its therapeutic value and effectiveness. Kooth as a virtual ecosystem of mental health and well-being support provides choice and autonomy to young people, with the ability to choose to engage in 1:1 chats with a professional, contribute or engage in the safe online peer-to-peer community or use tools, such as journaling and goal setting. Kooth values independent and impartial research, as well as investing in a specialist team internally that conducts research and evaluations. Kooth’s chronology of research and evidence demonstrates an effective impact on the individual level but also effectiveness on population levels. Here we focus on the evidence of Kooth’s clinical effectiveness. 

A notable evaluation conducted by The London School of Economics, a leading international university, independently assessed Kooth’s effectiveness. The findings revealed that after just one month, students demonstrated significant improvements, including reduced psychological distress, significant decreases in suicidal ideation and self-harm, increased confidence, decreased loneliness, and heightened levels of hope (full article here). There were significant increases in the percentage of young people seeking professional support compared to the baseline. Interestingly, 1 in 5 of young people said their positive changes were due to being part of the Kooth community and peer-support elements on Kooth (Stevens et al., 2021). Additionally, among respondents using the community spaces only, statistically significant improvements were found across four outcomes: psychological distress, suicidal ideation, hope, self-esteem, and loneliness. Kooth has additional evidence to demonstrate the helpfulness of the peer-to-peer community and its effectiveness in helping youth with their well-being, demonstrated by 74.6% (8240/11,045) of the scores on the POCEM indicating that the individuals found the posts helpful (Banwell, et al., 2022). 

Goal-based outcomes align with Kooth’s person-centered model and show meaningful change in young people’s lives as an outcome of setting and working towards their goals on Kooth (Jacob et al., 2020). In Kooth, 74% of young people who engage with goals achieve their life and therapy aims.

Additional novel and innovative measures (SWAN-OM and POCEM) on Kooth, created for digital mental health services, enable quantifiable measurements that align with digital engagement patterns. Over our 20 years of operation, we have found that “responsive chat,” “in the moment” is highly valued and effective for youth, (Roberts et al., 2023), so our delivery model is designed to support this preference. By developing a new outcome measure (SWAN-OM), and validating it independently with highly respected international research partners CORC (Child Outcomes Research Consortium) and Anna Freud (De Ossorno Garcia, et al., 2023), we can evidence that 72% of users achieve their wants and needs. This is an impressive outcome in an environment where typically 50% is considered a good level of efficacy.

For more detailed information on evidence of Kooth's effectiveness and commitment to research, see here. 

Specifically in Pennsylvania, our data demonstrates that 94% of Kooth users engaged in the community aspects of Kooth, while 88% of users were likely to use Kooth again in the future for support. 

The most-used features of the Kooth platform include: 

• 55% read articles (93% found them helpful)
• 53% completed the “journal,” which asks users, “How do you feel today?” (86% found them helpful)
• 41% used the “mini activities” (97% found them helpful)
• 40% used the peer discussion boards (95% found them helpful)

We have policies and procedures in place that address any level of risk along with an escalation pathway, when needed. All team members are trained to assess risk. We employ a consultation model where team members (coaches and counselors) have immediate access to licensed clinicians who review the potential risk and provide guidance on appropriate actions to take, up to and including mandated reporting or escalation to appropriate services.

Kooth adheres to the parental consent laws of every state concerning minors seeking mental health care.

As a parent or caregiver, we know that you want to be aware of any important aspects of your child’s life, including their mental health. It is also important to have spaces that feel safe for young people to share their thoughts and feelings without worry. 

In Pennsylvania, users older than 14 have the right to consent to use Kooth. For those younger than 14, Kooth requires parental permission to use the platform. Kooth will inform the school, who will reach out to parents, as needed, for any instances in which we notice a need for additional support from caregivers or other external parties. 

In California (in the Soluna app), youth over the age of 12 have the right to consent to their own medical treatment and the right to health information privacy. If we identify an issue, we will work with the user to help them access appropriate help.

We have never given advice “not to tell parents.” Parents and caregivers play an indispensable role in supporting their student's mental health and well-being. It's our ongoing practice to advocate for students to engage with trusted adults in their lives.

User privacy is paramount. Kooth doesn’t share details or app activity unless a user provides consent, such as in the case of using aggregate data for research purposes, or as outlined in our Privacy Policy. Parents, teachers, and employers do not have access to view users’ activity within the app.

Kooth maintains internal privacy and security policies, which require data to be processed in a manner that ensures privacy and confidentiality, including protection against unauthorized access. Kooth is compliant with stringent data protection and security regulations, including HIPAA, CCPA, DTAC, ISO 27001, and SOC2 standards. Additional information can be found in our Privacy Policy and Notice of Privacy Practices, as applicable, or by emailing us at privacy@kooth.com.

At Kooth, we welcome all individuals regardless of background, and our aim is to encourage those individuals to achieve their wants and needs through respectful and safe interactions. 

Kooth offers our services to young people regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. LGBTQ+ minors face some of the worst bullying and highest rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts; their access to mental health services is extremely important. Kooth offers evidence-based, appropriate mental health support to all teens facing mental health challenges.

However, Kooth is not a diagnosis or treatment service. Content relating to gender identity is not persuasive in any nature and does not provide or imply advice in relation to physical methods or treatments.

While anyone who engages with Kooth professionals will receive the same clinically informed and supportive response, users improperly engaging with Kooth professionals take time and resources away from young people we’re committed to helping through our platform.