• School and education staff throughout North Tyneside to benefit from access to online digital mental health platform Kooth

  • Kooth is available to any staff member over the age of 18, with no referrals or thresholds to meet

  • Demand for Kooth’s adult service continues to grow in the wake of the pandemic – +89% on last year’s figures

London, May 24th 2021

North Tyneside Council has commissioned Kooth, the UK’s leading digital platform to provide free online mental health and wellbeing support to school and education staff across primary, secondary, special and further education settings. Any member of staff over the age of 18 will have access to Qwell, Kooth’s online counselling service for adults. 

The pandemic has placed increased pressures on those working in education as they struggled to deal with the sudden transition to online teaching, an increased workload and social isolation from pupils and colleagues. The commission signals the council’s commitment to making mental health and wellbeing a priority and ensuring that teachers and education staff feel well supported when it comes to their emotional health. 

Recently released data from Kooth – Pulse Report 2021 – has highlighted the significant impact of Covid-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of adults across the country. Key findings from the study, include:

  • Kooth platform usage up by 89% amongst adults.
  • 17% of adults say they think about hurting themselves or feel suicidal nearly every day – +40% on 2019.
  • 39% adult service users are feeling down, depressed or hopeless nearly every day – +28% on last year.
  • 43% of adults felt bad about themselves, that they were a failure, or they had let their themselves or their families down, nearly every day – + 17% on 2019. 
  • 38% of adults said they could not or control their worrying nearly every day – +25% on last year.

Qwell, an accredited British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy service, offers adults early preventative care and support without any prior thresholds to meet. Users have access to an extensive range of self-care and psychoeducational materials, peer-to-peer support via moderated forums, personal tools such as an online journal. As well as, one-on-one anonymous counselling sessions with fully trained and qualified counsellors and emotional wellbeing practitioners. Sessions are available 365 days a year, from midday to 10pm on weekdays, and from 6pm to 10pm at weekends and holidays. They can be booked in advance or accessed via drop-in instant text-based chats. 

North Tyneside Councillor Peter Earley, cabinet member for Children, Young People and Learning, said: “It’s without doubt that the pandemic has been difficult for many of us and has adversely affected people’s emotional and mental health, and schools have faced many additional pressures.

 “Our teachers and support staff have continued to do an outstanding job and have adapted remarkably, ensuring our children and young people continue to receive the best education possible and support in very hard circumstances. We need to ensure that they are supported with their own mental health and help address any wellbeing issues.

 “I would like to thank North Tyneside CCG for commissioning this important service and I would really encourage our school staff to use this support.”

Dr. Lynne Green, Kooth’s Chief Clinical Officer, added: “We welcome the chance to offer mental health and wellbeing support to school and education staff in the North Tyneside region. School staff have had an exceptionally difficult and stressful year and we urge people not to wait until they are at crisis point before reaching out for help. Qwell is a safe, confidential space that provides support wherever and whenever you need it. From community support and self-help tools, right through to individual counselling from trained and experienced professionals, we aim to help at a range of levels and create a much needed sense of community.”

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