Who uses Shout?

Shout’s digital platform particularly appeals to young people, with 62% of texters aged under 25, making it an accessible lifeline for those who are digitally connected from an early age.

Shout users have become ever younger since we first launched. We have seen an 86% growth in the number of our youngest texters aged 13 or under since 2020, with the percentage of all texters in this age group growing from 7% to 13% since launch. The growth was driven following a surge of viral TikTok posts in January 2022 featuring Shout.

We took 5,200 conversations in a single day as a huge number of children and young adults sought mental health support all through the night.

Suicide rates among 15- to 19-year-olds in England have reached their highest point in 30 years and suicide is the most common reason those under 18 text Shout, accounting for 38% of their conversations.

Our younger texters are far more likely to discuss self-harm than all texters. Self-harm is an issue in 16% of all Shout conversations and this rises to 24% of conversations with texters aged 14-17 and 30% of conversations with texters aged 13 or under.

Bullying was an issue in 5% of conversations with children under the age of 18; more than double the rate seen in all conversations (2%). In the majority of these conversations, texters were being bullied by schoolmates, and they were predominantly concerned with in-person bullying.

More than one million of our conversations have been with school, university and college students. 15% of Shout texters are in higher education, navigating significant change in their lives and coping with the pressures of studying and exams, managing personal finances and making new friends can all be difficult.

The Covid-19 pandemic added to the difficulties faced by students and Shout was ideally placed to support large numbers of students at a time when they were unable to access face-to-face services.

We were able to significantly scale-up our offer to students by collaborating with key organisations such as Student Minds to provide a range of holistic support to students in a moment of acute need.

While 3% of our conversations are with texters specifically contacting us about financial difficulties, we are contacted every day by hundreds by people who are much more likely to be in poverty and impacted by the cost of living crisis.

Among children who contact the service, 25% of texters under the age of 18 are from a disadvantaged background and in receipt of free school meals.

More than a fifth (21%) of adult texters are unemployed. Additionally, we see demand for Shout across the UK correlating with national indices of deprivation. This means that people from more deprived areas in the UK are more likely to contact Shout than those living in the least deprived areas.

Of autistic adults, 90% are thought to have a co-occurring mental health disorder so it is no surprise that our texter population is considerably more likely to report being autistic (14%) than the UK population (around 1%). Studies have shown that verbal or in-person social interactions can be perceived as stressful by people who have autism and 58% of autistic texters say they are more comfortable texting than talking about private things.

Men are three times more likely to die by suicide than women, with men aged 40-59 being the highest risk group for suicide based on age and gender demographics. Despite this, many men are unlikely to seek support or speak to others about their experiences or emotions. Men are four times less likely to text Shout for support with their mental health than women (18% vs 75%) and 42% of Shout’s male texters have never asked for help elsewhere.

Shout works in partnership with a diverse range of organisations who work with male audiences to extend the reach of Shout and to help men start a conversation about their mental health. Partners since launch include Harry’s, The Burnt Chef Project, Newcastle United Foundation, Lighthouse Club and Tough Enough to Care.

Of our first two million conversations, 1.5 million have been with 528,000 female texters. Key issues faced by women are suicide (38%), anxiety/stress (34%) and depression (32%). While males mention self-harm in 9% of conversations, females mention it in 20%. They are also twice as likely to mention eating disorders and body image compared to males.

Perinatal mental illness in England can affect up to 27% of pregnant and new mothers and 20% of women who suffer with perinatal mental health conditions will experience suicidal thoughts or engage in self-harm.

For many parents, having someone to talk to anonymously and in confidence can help during a time in their lives when they might find it hard to let friends and family know they are struggling. Over the last four years, Shout has taken 53,000 conversations about pregnancy or baby-related topics.

In 2023 we convened a roundtable of experts in perinatal mental health including representatives from The Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) and the NHS, to discuss how digital services such as Shout can play a key role in delivering positive outcomes alongside traditional pathways across the UK.

We have also partnered with PANDAS Foundation, Best Beginnings and MumsAid to provide support to their audiences.

LGBTQ+ people are two to three times more likely than heterosexual people to report having a mental health problem in England, yet they find it hard to access mental health support, often finding services to be discriminatory.

The LGBTQ+ community is over-represented among users of the Shout service; whereas just 3% of the UK population identify as LGB, 38% of Shout texters identify as LGBTQ+. We have had around 880,000 conversations with around 255,000 members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Poor mental health is exceptionally common in prison, with 45% of adults experiencing anxiety or depression and nine out of ten prisoners having at least one mental health or substance misuse problem.

In 2023 Shout launched a groundbreaking pilot with Serco, which runs six male prisons across the UK, to offer 24/7 crisis support via a messaging service to people in prison via their in-cell technology. The service has seen a significant take up with more than 650 conversations with prisoners reaching out for support with their mental health. The service, which was trialled in London’s HMP Thameside, will be extended to an additional two prisons in 2023.

We extend our reach by providing support to people via our website and social media accounts. Over the course of two million Shout conversations, our website has been visited by three million people who have generated seven million page views as they browsed relatable case studies and downloaded helpful resources.

Through our website we reach and support a broader audience than through the service alone. 37% of our website visitors who are aged over 18 are male.

We have built up a combined social media following of 166,000 people. Through our social and web channels we provide educational material via infographics, blogs and videos to help support and improve supporters’ mental health, as well as inspirational content such as testimonials from our texters, case study stories, illustrations and peer-to peer tips.