New App for School Children's Mental Health Launched in Oxfordshire
After 33% of students in the year groups 7 to 13 reported having serious thoughts about self-harm, Oxfordshire County Council steps in to support teenagers.
A new mental health app for young people has been commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council to tackle the increase of poor mental health across the county.
Tellmi, which is a mental health app for anyone between the ages of 11 to 18, provides young people with an anonymised space to discuss their feelings 365 days a year.
The app has in-house counsellors who can intervene at any point in time to support any high-risk users. While it also gives users access to over 700 crisis specialists as well as local support services through the Tellmi directory.
Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, Inequalities and Community Safety, Nathan Ley, said the app is there to help “deal with young people’s concerns about mental health and wellbeing.”
Mr. Ley states that there’s been “a consistent increase in the number of school pupils with social, emotional, and mental health needs,” and the app is there to support those people.
The commissioned new app comes after 1 in 4 students between year group’s 7 and 13 reported feeling lonely, and 33% of students reported having serious thoughts about self-harm, according to a 2023 survey by the charity OxWell.
Kerstyn Comley, who’s the Co-Chief Executive Officer at Tellmi, said they looked forward to working with schools and other such organisations to “improve outcomes for young people.”
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