Rose Firth, Mental Health Commissioning Officer
“We are working with Tellmi to ensure that children and young people can access the right support, in the right setting, at the right time.”
Somerset Case Study
A pilot of the Tellmi service has led to an increase in the number of young people benefiting from anytime, anywhere access to mental health support in Somerset.
In 2020, Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) commissioned us to run a pilot to understand whether the Tellmi Service would be an effective early intervention to improve the mental health of young people in Somerset. The Tellmi service was made available to young people within the Taunton and Yeovil area via eight partner schools. The pilot ran from April 2020 until December 2021.
Key benefits and outcomes
Improved mental health and wellbeing in children and young people who used the Tellmi app.
Increased the level of support available to young people with mild to severe mental health issues at all stages of the care pathway.
Immediate access to appropriate help and support for children and young people, regardless of where they present or what the presenting issue is.
Novel use of data to better understand the needs of children and young people
What the organisation faced
The NHS reports that 1 in 6 children and young people suffer from a mental health issue and it is widely recognised that CAMHS waiting times are increasing. Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) recognised that they, like other areas, were facing increased demand even before the pandemic.
The Somerset CCG Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing (2015-2020) states that Somerset CAMHS accepts a higher rate of referrals per head of population, compared to other Trusts nationally, which they were keen to address.
Somerset is also one of the most rural counties in England with 48% of its population living outside towns and cities. Children and young people living in rural areas can find it harder to access real world services so smartphone solutions provide immediate support and help them to feel less isolated. About 14,300 Somerset children live in low-income households. Whilst not all will be ’vulnerable’, poverty is a strong indicator of poorer wellbeing. A&E attendance and hospital admission for injuries and substance misuse among children and young people is significantly higher in Somerset than the England average and these problems are also concentrated in the more deprived areas.
In Somerset, there is a drive to provide services that are built around the needs of children young people and their families.
What young people in Somerset liked about Tellmi
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85% said that using Tellmi helped them to connect to other people with similar problems.
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75% felt that anonymity made it easier for them to be open about their issues.
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70% said that helping others on the Tellmi app made them feel useful.
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55% said that they had found new ways to help themselves and to seek support through the Tellmi Directory.
Note: These results match the statistically significant results from the independent evaluation completed by the Anna Freud Centre in 2021 (Ravaccia, 2022).
“In Somerset we are committed to and ambitious for our plans to transform the way we support children, young people and their families. By investing in early help and prevention we aim to provide timely and effective support affording protection from the personal, social and economic costs of mental ill health.”
Somerset CCG Transformation Plan 2015–2020
What the organisation did
Somerset CCG commissioned us to provide a programme of youth engagement activities with the goal of encouraging children and young people from the Yeovil and Taunton area to use the Tellmi app to benefit their mental health.
The engagement included:
Delivering student engagement programmes in local secondary schools to raise awareness of the Tellmi app.
Targeted social media marketing to raise general awareness.
Building bespoke information portals in the Tellmi app for the NHS and schools to increase signposting and access to other locally commissioned services.
Using data generated from the app provided Somerset CCG and the local schools with regular insight reports to help improve their understanding of the issues facing local young people. Through this activity 542 local young people benefited from support both via the Tellmi app and via their local NHS in-app portal.
Results and benefits
Local young people are now able to access support as and when they need it, with no wait time or restriction.
Our work has provided the CCG with a new platform to signpost CYP to local support.
Engagement boosted uptake in the target regions by 335% and across the county. A total of 542 people made use of the support.
Schools and the CCG benefit from local data which highlights the top areas of need (as shown in the app) and are able to apply this to their planning and procurement.
Through this work Somerset schools and the CCG have learnt that engagement with young people is crucial in order to encourage them to seek support sooner and prevent problems escalating and that Tellmi are experts at delivering measurable engagement strategies. Evaluation of other digital support services within Somerset indicates that engagement activities are often underfunded and under-resourced leading to poor take up of other services.
Takeaway tips
Following on from this pilot we have since worked with Warwickshire and Staffordshire County Councils to further refine the service. They have shown that school buy in is critical to participation and using the lessons learned from the pilot in Somerset, the metrics for uptake in both Warwickshire and Staffordshire are exceeding expectations.
Get in touch
If you’d like to know more about Tellmi and how we can help you to support young people, do get in touch.