Learning from our #RESET mental health programme

New research has shown that insecure employment, climate crisis and social media are driving a 'dangerous' and 'alarming' decline in the global mental health of young people. Responding to preferences when accessing mental health support is more important than ever - where digital channels can present opportunities to reach people on their own terms.

Nominet's #RESET mental health programme was launched in 2019 to "explore the potential gaps and opportunities of digital mental health and wellbeing services for young people." Our original theory of change set out with the belief that young people experiencing mental health challenges could receive better support if we help #RESET the system.

Over five years #RESET granted £1.4 million to eight expert national charities including The Mix, Young Minds and Place2Be. Projects reached over 2 million young people in the UK, delivering digital mental health services​ and taking a systems approach to supporting digital initiatives that boost collaboration, service quality and signposting.

As our current chapter of work closes, alongside our learning partner inFocus, we have captured and reflected on five keys learnings across #RESET, from a wide array of topics related to addressing mental health challenges among young people.

1. Collaboration is key

Initiatives working on digital within organisations are challenging to fund, meaning troubleshooting solutions often end up as "back office" tasks. This can make organisations feel alone when tackling challenges, with little incentive or resource to collaborate. This has resulted in focused, yet independent solution development in supporting young people around particular service delivery models.

Many of our #RESET partners actively expressed a need for a sector-wide common agenda and engaged their leadership and other stakeholders to orientate around this. This involved identifying similar digital needs and the benefits of a common infrastructure to support the journey of a young person as they often move between different referral pathways and navigate options. Effective mental health solutions (particularly around supporting young people navigate to the right support) require unified efforts, involving collaboration among organisations, funders, and stakeholders to share resources and create impactful outcomes. Building strong partnerships with service providers and sharing data and resources enhance the effectiveness and reach of signposting services.

Being part of the #RESET network enabled our partners to engage in the bigger picture and recognise shared challenges. Many organisations adjusted people, role allocations, and workload distribution to increase capacity to design and develop content and build or adapt digital applications.

2. Data for impact

Regularly collecting and analysing data helps in understanding young peoples' needs and maintaining high data quality standards on feedback can lead to improvements in service delivery. Establishing robust data governance and standardised data collection practices is critical for equitable representation, and advocacy amplification. This ensures that data is representative and used to improve services rather than solely for accountability purposes. Collective impact measurement can amplify advocacy efforts.

3. Young people at the heart

Most #RESET partners had to overcome a lack of knowledge in user research. There was often difficulty in engaging and validating services with users. Many partners do not have direct access to the end user because of anonymity or signposting them to the services they require. Service designers often do not want to put barriers in the way of access to support, especially at times of crisis. The ability to convene users for testing, especially those already marginalised or in need, was sometimes either inappropriate or meant going through a gatekeeper.

All #RESET partners set up user groups or youth groups via partner organisations to integrate youth voices and prioritising the perspectives and experiences of young people in content creation and service design ensures authenticity and practicality in the support provided. They actively involved youth in creating tools, resources, and decision-making processes to ensure that their initiatives met their specific needs and reflected their complex realities. Involving youth in co-creation processes ensures services are accessible and consider diverse needs such as language and disabilities.

Partners ensured accessibility of services, both digital and physical, by addressing user feedback for immediate solutions, mitigating traffic drops and optimising user engagement strategies, and adopting inclusive policies that consider diverse needs. This included looking at alternative communication options, multi-lingual support, disability needs, and situational factors. All partners recognised the need for a slower pace in project development and delivery when working alongside marginalised groups.

4. Engaging funders for sustainability

There are significant challenges in securing funding, in part due to an increased demand in the sector for mental health services. Many struggle to fundraise due to due to sector-wide impacts including less available funding and public sector budget cuts.

Educating funders and developing sustainable investment strategies, including exit strategies, are necessary for the longevity and success of mental health projects. This includes developing reducing competitive practices that hinder collective progress. This prompted efforts by Nominet to streamline funding approval processes for universal support. There were also lessons learned in terms of proactive time management and workflow improvement as sustainability measures were adopted into the monitoring and evaluation of the projects.

5. Responding to change

During the Covid-19 pandemic there was decreased capacity but increased need for mental health services. The financial strain prompted reliance on reserves for covering wages.

Navigating the benefits and challenges of digital technologies is critical for mental health services. Partners adapted strategies and showed resilience in the face of these challenges by accelerating digital strategies amidst social distancing, which ultimately impacted online content positively. Most partners transitioned to virtual training and online income generation efforts. Since the pandemic, focus has been on adapting project objectives and deliverables to post-pandemic relevance, progress, and further digital innovation. This includes addressing data security, digital exclusion, and the ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR).

In five years the #RESET programme has achieved great things, from directories of support available, to off-the-shelf resources for young people, their parents, carers and teachers and opportunities to directly act on feedback from young people. We hope by sharing this learning and the legacy of #RESET, we can promote collaboration and building blocks for the future of digital mental health services.

By Amy O'Donnell (Nominet) and Graham Francis (inFocus)

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