ChatHealth: developing a secure messaging service for young people
- Palmer, Caroline
This article has been double-blind peer reviewed
In this article…
How young people prefer to communicate about their mental health
The development of a safe, secure messaging service for school nurses
How a pilot led to uptake by healthcare teams across the UK
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Nursing Times Awards
This initiative won the nursing in mental health category in the 2020 Nursing Times Awards To find out more about the NT Awards go to awards.nursingtimes.net
Key points
Increasing numbers of young people need support with their mental health
Young people can feel more comfortable and confident relaying sensitive information via mobile technology than face to face
ChatHealth is a safe, secure messaging service developed to improve communication for school nurses and young people
Increased numbers of young males used the services compared with face-to-face contact
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for services such as ChatHealth
Abstract
Young people can be embarrassed to speak face-to-face about sensitive and stigmatised issues such as mental health, and may struggle to access services. ChatHealth is a safe and secure messaging service developed in Leicestershire to aid communication between school nursing teams and students. After a successful pilot, it has been rolled out widely and is now used across the UK by a variety of healthcare organisations. Its use has grown dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic.