Aaron Sefi

• MA Counselling
• University of Exeter

The adoption of digital health technologies accelerated during Covid-19, with concerns over the equity of access due to digital exclusion. The aim of this study was to assess whether service access and presenting concerns differed before and during the pandemic. Sociodemographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity, and deprivation level) were examin...

Background “Kooth” is a web-based mental health platform commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS), local authorities, charities, and businesses in the UK. The platform gives children and young people (CYP) access to an online community of peers and a team of counsellors. This study reports an early economic evaluation of the potential bene...

The adoption of digital health technologies accelerated during Covid-19, with concerns over the equity of access due to digital exclusion. Using data from a text-based online mental health service for children and young people we explore the impact of the pandemic on service access and presenting concerns and whether differences were observed by so...

Background: Digital mental health interventions comprise a potentially effective and accessible form of support for young people, particularly at times when traditional face-to-face service delivery is reduced, as in the COVID-19 pandemic. Aims: This study assessed the demographic profile of young people using a digital mental health support ser...

Background Single-session mental health interventions are frequently attended by children and young people (CYP) in both web-based and face-to-face therapy settings. The Session “Wants” and “Needs” Outcome Measure (SWAN-OM) is an instrument developed in a web-based therapy service to overcome the challenges of collecting outcomes and experiences of...

The adoption of digital health technologies accelerated during Covid-19, with concerns over the equity of access due to digital exclusion. Using data from a text-based online mental health service for children and young people we explore the impact of the pandemic on service access and presenting concerns and whether differences were observed by so...

Hanley et al. offer an overview of core principles of quantitative research and how these might be used to answer descriptive, comparative or relationship-based research questions. Following on from this, the authors discuss adventurous projects attempting to articulate a theory of change for online therapeutic services. An overarching mixed method...

Background: Young people are increasingly seeking out web-based support for their mental health and well-being. Peer supportforums are popular with this age group, with young individuals valuing the fact that the forums are available 24/7, providing asafe and anonymous space for exploration. Currently, little systematic evaluation of the helpfulnes...

Online digital mental health communities can contribute to users' mental health positively and negatively. Yet the measurement of experience, outcomes and impact mechanisms relating to digital mental health communities is difficult to capture. In this paper we demonstrate the development of an online experience measure for a specific children and y...

Background The Kooth platform is a mental health web-based platform commissioned by the NHS, local authorities, charities and businesses. Through the platform children and young people (CYP) have access to an online community of peers and a team of experienced counsellors. Objective To evaluate the potential benefits of the Kooth mental health plat...

The interest in student mental health and wellbeing has increased in recent years. Additionally, there is a rising volume of students seeking support. Numerous online resources have been developed to meet this need, including anonymous web-based therapy. To date, there has been little focus upon how students may utilise such a service, and this stu...

Purpose Literature suggests young people (YP) from ethnic minority backgrounds face barriers in accessing mental health support due to discrimination and stigma and so this study aims to explore how YP from ethnic minority backgrounds interact with online counselling. Design/methodology/approach The study used secondary data provided by Kooth, a d...

BACKGROUND Single-session mental health interventions are frequently attended by children and young people in both web-based and face-to-face therapy settings. The Session “Wants” and “Needs” Outcome Measure (SWAN-OM) is an instrument developed in a web-based therapy service to overcome challenges of collecting outcomes and experiences of single-se...

BACKGROUND Young people are increasingly going online to seek out web-based support for their mental health and wellbeing. Peer support forums are popular with this age group, with young individuals valuing the fact that they are available 24/7, providing a safe and anonymous space for exploration. Currently, little systematic evaluation of the hel...

Background Young people are increasingly seeking out web-based support for their mental health and well-being. Peer support forums are popular with this age group, with young individuals valuing the fact that the forums are available 24/7, providing a safe and anonymous space for exploration. Currently, little systematic evaluation of the helpfulne...

Online digital mental health communities can contribute to users’ mental health positively and negatively. Yet the measurement of outcomes and impact relating to digital mental health communities is difficult to capture. In this paper we demonstrate the development of an online experience measure for a specific children and young people’s community...

Single-session, brief interventions in therapy for young people make up a large proportion of service provision, including in digital mental health settings. Current nomothetic mental health measures are not specifically designed to capture the benefit or ‘change’ directly related to these brief interventions. As a consequence, we set out to design...

Within the UK, there has been a growth of services delivering online therapy to young people. This study identifies the factors that young people find helpful and unhelpful in synchronous text‐based therapy (STBT), and the processes by which these factors may be of value. Thirteen young people, aged between 14 and 18, were interviewed synchronously...

Background Clinical assessments for children and young people entering a mental health service help to identify the prevalence of need within that population, support intervention recommendations, and enable service evaluation. Evidence related to the use of standardised measures in an ever‐expanding online environment, for the purpose of identifyi...

Introduction: The immediate impact of COVID-19 on morbidity and mortality has raised the need for accurate and real time data monitoring and communication. The aim of this study is to document initial observations from multiple digital services providers during the COVID-19 crisis, especially those related to mental health and wellbeing. Materials...

Background Young people are increasingly looking towards the internet for mental health support. There has been little research on the impact of online counselling, as captured in routine outcome measures. This research aims to explore an online counselling service, using goal‐based data. Methods ‘Meaningful change’ drawing on the principles of th...

Assessment measures have been widely adopted into mental health settings incorporating idiographic (personalised) and nomothetic (standardised) approaches. Online mental health support services have developed significantly, but with very little testing of these measures. This study assesses the relative merits of acceptability, applicability and ap...

BACKGROUND Online counselling and support has become increasingly commonplace for children and young people (CYP). Currently there is limited research that focuses upon the mechanisms of change within complex telepsychology platforms, a factor that makes designing and implementing outcome measures challenging. OBJECTIVE This project set out to art...

Background Web-based counseling and support has become increasingly commonplace for children and young people (CYP). Currently, there is limited research that focuses on the mechanisms of change within complex telepsychology platforms, a factor that makes designing and implementing outcome measures challenging. Objective This project aims to artic...

BACKGROUND Background: Youths are increasingly looking towards the internet for mental health support. There has been little research on the impact of online counselling, as captured in Routine Outcome Measures. OBJECTIVE This research aims to explore an online counselling service, using the first application of the meaningful change calculation;...

This chapter explores goal-oriented practice across therapies: cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), psychoanalytic psychotherapy, psychoanalytic child psychotherapy, interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), humanistic and existential therapies, systemic family therapy, and online therapy. Each section gives an overview of the approach and sets out ways tha...

Online counselling is increasingly being used as an alternative to face-to-face student counselling. Using an exploratory mixed methods design, this project investigated the practice by examining the types of therapeutic goals that 11- to 25-year-olds identify online in routine practice. These goals were then compared to goals identified in equival...

This chapter discusses: *The philosophical and theoretical underpinnings to goal articulation within therapy. * Research issues related to working with therapeutic goals * Specific practices that therapists might use whilst working with goals in therapy * Some of the challenges that therapists might encounter when working with goals in therapy * Th...

As mental health services for young people develop, the need for evaluation and audit to justify expenditure follows suit. Counselling is being provided in more and more schools and community settings across the country, and there is an increasing focus on evidence-based funding. Practice-based evidence has an important role to play in fulfilling t...

The central thesis of this chapter has three main components. Initially, the authors propose that online counselling can be of benefit to Kenyan children and young people in providing access to psychological help and support. Furthermore, specific technological support can be developed to provide opportunities for Kenyan children and young people t...

Aims: Counsellors are becoming commonplace within the support structures of secondary schools. To date, research findings from practice-based outcome studies suggest this is a positive move. There are, however, numerous limitations to this work, and this project aims to develop this existing body of literature. Method: Nine 13–15 year olds attendin...