Children and Young People's Counselling Service update

Following a public consultation, Kent County Council (KCC) has taken the decision to close the Kent School Health’s Children and Young People’s (CYP) Counselling Service and commission a new therapeutic support service, for children with mild-to-medium emotional wellbeing needs.

As part of a gradual transition toward the eventual closure of the service in March next year, the CYP Counselling Service will stop accepting new referrals from the 17 May. The new Therapeutic Support Service will be fully operational by January 2026 and will start to accept referrals from November 2025. This service has yet to be commissioned and we will share details of the new provider when this is confirmed.

From now, professionals, parents, carers and children and young people should seek support from the alternative emotional wellbeing services available in Kent. Kent County Council has provided a list of providers which you can download from our website. The services being signposted to are not designed to deal with an immediate mental health crisis. Anyone experiencing an urgent mental health crisis should call 111 and select option 2 (for mental health), when prompted, to speak to a specially-trained mental health practitioner. If someone's life is at risk or if you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe, dial 999. For more information on urgent mental health help, visit Kent and Medway’s Mental Wellbeing Information Hub.

The School Health referral form details the support they continue to offer to families including emotional wellbeing support. Any young people already on the waiting list will be seen as soon as a counsellor becomes available. In the meantime, the service has selected some helpful resources and websites to support young people and their families while they wait: https://family.kentcht.nhs.uk/waiting-well/