Adolescents show positive changes in distress and hope after single session, post-based, anonymous counselling at kids help phone

Adolescents face barriers to mental health services and value confidentiality when seeking help. Kids Help Phone (KHP) is Canada's only free and confidential service for adolescents seeking help over the Internet. 188 participants responded to questionnaires to determine the client characteristics in terms of gender, age, culture, generational status, and socioeconomic status (SES), as well as their risk levels and types of presenting problems. Efficacy of service was also evaluated. Clients' posts were analyzed qualitatively for symptomology indicative of the Youth Self Report (YSR) syndromes, as well as for the level of risk and topics discussed. Level of distress, level of difficulty of the problem, and self-efficacy were evaluated using client self-report scales and found to improve after counselling. A non-significant positive trend was found in clients' self-efficacy after counselling. Distributions of demographic characteristics are presented alongside youths' reasons for choosing the Internet instead of the telephone. Implications for service delivery are discussed.