This article was written by Anna, a neurodivergent writer. It contains the following themes: mental health support, neurodiversity, inclusivity.

There are lots of reasons why you might want to access a mental health service, but for neurodivergent people, accessing an in-person service might not always be possible or the best option for you and your brain.

That’s why this article is going to discuss six reasons why Kooth could potentially be a more inclusive, accessible and effective way for neurodivergent people to access the kind of support that they/you need and deserve.

1 You might feel less pressure to mask than you would when meeting someone face to face

Especially when meeting a stranger (which, initially, a counsellor or another mental health practitioner is to you), you might feel increased pressure to mask. You might get stuck in your head thinking about what your face is doing, are you making enough eye contact, too much eye contact, is the person thinking about your appearance, are you fidgeting too much, would they mind if you started stimming, or any other similar concerns.

However, with Kooth’s online support, you don’t have to worry about any of that. You don’t need to think about how you’re presenting yourself, there’s no eye contact to maintain – instead, all you have to focus on is getting whatever it is that you want out of your session or conversation.

2 It’s all anonymous, so it’s all up to you

As Kooth is an entirely anonymous service, your practitioner won’t know anything about you that you haven’t told them yourself. Whereas in other circumstances you might have been referred by someone and the practitioner might have access to your records, Kooth is a completely blank slate. You get to decide what they know and what you want to talk about. This could be quite an empowering experience – you get to call the shots – especially if that’s not something you often get to do in your interactions with people.

Also, as a neurodivergent person myself, I know when I was in therapy and counselling, I’d sometimes wish the practitioner would communicate with me in a slightly different way or we’d get on to a topic that I didn’t think was relevant or wasn’t quite ready to discuss, but I didn’t always feel able to advocate for myself because the pressure of having the person right there in front of me got too much. The anonymity of Kooth’s support might help lessen that pressure if that’s something you struggle with too.

3 You can choose where you use the service

In-person mental health support can be great, and lots of services have lovely, welcoming offices, but they still might not be great environments for everyone. Everyone has different sensory needs and tolerances, but especially neurodivergent people who might prefer certain lighting, certain textures to sit on, you might have a favourite blanket you like to use that you’d feel uncomfortable taking out in public, or maybe you feel more relaxed when you’re with your pet on the sofa. Or, you might even have physical health conditions that make it harder for you to leave the house sometimes, or maybe you would even struggle to get to your face-to-face support service because of transport issues.

There are lots of reasons why you might feel safest and most in control in your home (or other safe space). With Kooth’s online support, you can choose where you chat, and you control that environment. And, if you’re feeling physically comfortable and relaxed, you’ll probably feel more comfortable sharing the things you need to with someone and getting the most out of your interaction with them. A win-win.

4 You pick the time

With in-person support, you’re often told what time you have to be at a certain place, usually with very little flexibility. With Kooth, so long as it’s within the times that the service is active, you decide when you connect with the team, which can be much more accessible. If you know that you’re always tired at a certain point in the day and wouldn’t be able to engage as much as you would like, if you have ever-changing commitments (as so many of us do), or if you would just prefer to be in control of the frequency of your sessions and log on when you feel as though you need to, you can do all that with Kooth. If you have a named worker, rather than dropping in when it suits, you can also decide together a suitable time for your chat week to week. For some people having the same time every week works well, but other people might need to be more flexible and that’s okay.

5 Take your time to put it into words

We all struggle to find the right words sometimes, and having someone sitting across the room waiting for us to do so can often hinder that even more. I’ve often felt pressured to speak before I feel like I’ve found the best way to explain something, simply because it feels like there’s been too long a pause. Or, even when given time, I just think I could communicate what I mean more clearly if I had the space to write it down.

Often, we neurodivergent folk process information in different ways to neurotypical people, which might mean we need a little longer to respond to questions. Or, we might be hyper-aware of the fact that we think about things in unique ways, but struggle to find the words to communicate our ways of thinking to others, and that can feel really frustrating (speaking from experience here). Kooth’s services are all text-based, meaning you can take the time to find the right words for whatever it is you want to say, and even edit the message before you send it if you wish. Plus, typing it out and being able to read it back might help you to process what you’ve said and reflect on how you’re feeling, and you have the space and time to read and process what your counsellor says in response, too.

(But, equally, there’s no pressure to find those ‘perfect’ words. You don’t have to be completely sure of how you’re feeling to get support with it. Part of a counsellor’s job can be helping you to figure that out.)

6 Use Kooth to connect with people like you

As well as the chat and messaging services, there are also the discussion boards, where you can browse different topics and contribute to conversations. As part of that, you might come across people sharing experiences that resonate with you and help you feel less isolated. I’ve sometimes felt as though I’m the only person who understands the ways my brain works, and that will always be true to a certain extent – I’m the only one living in my brain, but finding people who share some of the same experiences lessens that feeling considerably. The Kooth discussion boards could be a great place for you to try and find this too, to share advice and solidarity. Plus, lots of neurodivergent people are involved in shaping Kooth as a platform, whether that’s in writing articles or other content, and let’s not forget that some of the Kooth team are neurodivergent themselves!

Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas of the ways in which Kooth might cater to your needs as a neurodivergent person. Everyone deserves access to inclusive support – why not try Kooth and see if it works for you? Or, if you’re already a Kooth user, what are the things that have been most helpful for you and your neurodivergence?