Help is just a text away: accessing and scaling digital mental health support through Shout's digital service
Our latest report ‘Help is just a text away: accessing and scaling mental health support through Shout’s digital service’ is the first in a series of four joint reports between Mental Health Innovations (MHI) and the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, exploring the impact of the Shout text support service (powered by MHI) in providing scalable and urgent digital support to address poor mental health across the UK.
The report comes weeks after Professor Lord Ara Darzi’s independent investigation into the NHS, which revealed that there are one million people currently waiting for support. It also comes at the same time NHS England has specified that a 24/7 crisis text messaging service should be provided by every Integrated Care Board in England from April 2025.
"To cope with the demand for mental health services we must embrace digital. My investigation found that one million people are waiting to be seen. We need a shift to innovative digital services like Shout to tackle this problem at the scale needed. The data shows that Shout is a hugely valuable addition to the range of mental health services available in this country."
Professor Lord Ara Darzi, Co-Director of IGHI
Based on insights from a Service User Voice Group (nine people who had previously used Shout), as well as insights from interviews with national experts and commissioning leads from Integrated Care Systems, the report also includes pre-existing analyses conducted by MHI’s analytics team, as well as new insights from an analysis of Shout usage patterns.
“What I really like with the texting element is that it’s really confidential in how when you contact Shout/text the number it doesn’t come up on your phone bill – it really helps increase accessibility, especially when you’re in a situation where it’s not safe enough to reach out for support.”
Zainab Mohammed, Service User Voice Group Member
- Shout is accessible. The report finds that the highest volume of Shout conversations take place between 6pm and 5am, at times when other traditional mental health services may not always be available. The analysis also shows that texters who have reached out to the service multiple times tend to text Shout during similar times of day/night, and this is especially the case for those who text during the night/early morning.
- Shout is equitable. Text-based services were considered by interviewees to offer an additional way in for people to help everyone access the support they need, particularly for young people, for people from stigmatised groups such as the LBGTQ+ community, or for people with specific access needs, such as being deaf or neurodivergent. Furthermore, people do not need sophisticated technology to reach out for support from Shout, making it particularly accessible as a service.
- Shout has reach. Shout has taken 2.5m conversations with 830,000 children, young people and adults who were struggling to cope. 83% of texters said that they found their conversation helpful, 66% of texters said they felt calmer, and 59% of texters said they could work out their problems better. Since the service began, Shout has developed more than 38,000 safety plans for people whose lives were at risk, and intervened with the support of emergency services on nearly 33,000 occasions.
“It's about ensuring our crisis care system is genuinely accessible. We must avoid stigmatising or unintentionally excluding people, providing universal access to crisis care support from the outset.”
Modestas Kavaliauskas, NHS England and report interviewee
Help is just a text away: accessing and scaling mental health support through Shout’s digital service
Find out more about the impact Shout is having on providing accessible, scalable, 24/7 digital mental health support to people in crisis across the UK and how we're working with the IGHI to make a difference in the provision of better healthcare for all.
