kids help phone canada - web post counselling - report
TRANSCRIPT
Assessing Ask Us Online the utility of web post counselling, as reported
by service users
November, 2011
© Kids Help Phone
This paper was prepared by Tina Wilson, Research Analyst and Lila Knighton, Director, Knowledge Mobilization. Thanks to all counsellors and counselling managers for ensuring the invitation to participate was sent out with counsellor’s responses.
Contents
Implementation & Data Collection ...............................................................................................1
Sample ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Results .........................................................................................................................................2
Demographics .................................................................................................................................... 3
Relationship with Kids Help Phone ..................................................................................................... 4
Counselling Issues .............................................................................................................................. 5
What Young People Find Most Useful About Post Counselling.......................................................... 6
Which is More Important, the Process of Writing, or Receiving a Response from a Counsellor? ...... 8
The Best Things about Writing Out My Post(s) Are… .................................................................... 8
The Best Things About Getting Counsellors Response(s) Are…...................................................... 9
If Ask Us Online Wasn’t Available, Would You Call the Helpline Instead? ....................................... 11
Sub-Population Trends ..................................................................................................................... 12
Is There Anything Else You Would Like Us To Know? ....................................................................... 14
Appendix A: Client Age Distribution ........................................................................................... 18
Appendix B: Survey Questions .................................................................................................... 19
1
“We’d love to hear your feedback about our Ask Us
Online service. The survey is completely voluntary
and totally anonymous. Your counsellor will not be
able to see your responses. If you would like to
participate, click here to go to the survey. Thanks in
advance, from all of us at Kids Help Phone.”
Ask Us Online Client Survey
ver the month of October 2011, clients of Kids Help Phone’s non-synchronous Ask Us Online
web post counselling service were invited to fill out a survey to help us better understand
why they find the service helpful. We hoped their responses would help us answer five
questions:
1. Overall, what is it about posting to Ask Us Online that young people find most helpful?
2. Which do young people experience as more helpful, writing out their post or the content of the counsellors response?
3. Are posters a different group of clients than callers? 4. Would posters use the phone service if the Ask Us Online option no longer existed? 5. Are there differences in the types of
issues young people bring to the post channel in comparison to the phones?
Implementation & Data
Collection
ounsellors appended the invitation to participate to the end of web post counselling responses
published in the month of October. The invitation to participate process began at about 9am
on October 1st and the survey was closed to further responses at 6:30am on November the 1st.
Sample A combination of convenience1 and volunteer2 sampling was used to gather survey responses. This
means the findings discussed in this report reflect the responses of the group who chose to
participate, but may or may not be representative of how all post counselling service clients would
have responded.
1 Post clients responded to in the month of October.
2 Data was gathered only from those who self-selected to participate.
O
C
2
Final number of volunteer participants (N= 234)
Estimated number of invitations sent out (N= 998)
Web posts responded to in October (N=1,286)
All post counselling clients
A total of 1,286 counselling responses were published to the websites in the month of October, 1,122
in English and 164 in French.3 We estimate the survey link was sent out with 75-
80% of English responses (about 870 invitations)4 and about 80% of French
responses (128 invitations),5 for a total estimated 998 invitations. Of this
group, 234 young people volunteered to participate, with 214 English
and 20 French survey responses.6 This means
our response rate is estimated at 23%
overall; 16% for French and 25% for
English. Our survey completion
rate – the number of surveys for
which every question was
answered – was 77% (164) for
English respondents and 80% (16)
for French respondents. This is a
very good response rate for this
type of questionnaire, particularly as
no incentive was given to encourage
participation.
Please note that a single web post counselling client could be asked to participate more than once, if
they received more than one response in the month of October. Also, the invitation to participate in
the survey is both visible and clickable to anyone viewing the Ask Us Online forums, so there is the
possibility that the survey was also filled out by people other than those to whom the invitation was
addressed.
Results7
eople who respond to voluntary feedback surveys typically have stronger than average
opinions and/or a stake in the topic. This means we need to consider if our respondents are
representative of all our Ask Us Online clients or if particular sub-populations are over or
under represented. We can estimate this by comparing our participant’s demographic and
issue/topic responses with similar data for all post counselling clients. The greater the similarity (i.e.
same gender, location and issue breakdown between respondents and all post clients) the greater the
confidence we can have that the findings from this exploratory survey also represent the opinions
and experiences of all our web post counselling clients. In addition, attending to overall differences in
who uses our two counselling channels – web and phone – will help us identify if particular sub-
3 Data source: Flexiforum data, turnEN and turnFR, “Messages Posted by End Users in this Month that made it
to the live site” (N=1,286). 4Data source: Estimated by counselling management.
5 Data source: Estimated by counselling management.
6 Data source: Total number of SurveyMonkey surveys (both complete and incomplete).
7 All data is from the month of October, 2011.
P
3
populations gravitate more to one service than the other. This comparison is important because it
draws attention to service accessibility and/or service reach.
In the charts that follow, “Post-Counsellor” refers to web post counselling session data recorded by
counsellors in the month of October (N=1,010). “Post-Client” refers to young peoples’ responses to
our survey (N=234). “Respondent” refers to those clients who filled out our questionnaire. “Phone-
Counsellor” refers to phone counselling session data recorded by counsellors in the month of October
(N=2,642).
Demographics
Demographic comparisons between our survey respondents and all post users will be briefly touched
upon here and any differences highlighted.
Gender: The gender breakdown between those who self-selected to participate in our questionnaire
and all Ask Us Online clients is fairly similar.
This said, our phone service receives proportionately more male callers than does our post
counselling service.8
Age: The bulk of our respondents were between the ages of 14 and 16. In comparison to all Ask Us
Online clients, 14 and 16 year olds are slightly over represented in our sample. Overall, those who
use Ask Us Online tend to be a bit younger than those who use the phone service.
Official Language: We received 20 French-language survey responses and 214 English. This is roughly
proportionate to the language breakdown for all post counselling sessions recorded in October.
Location: The regional distribution of our respondents was quite similar to that of all post counselling
records completed in the month of October. The only notable differences are that we received
proportionally more responses from Quebec (roughly 7% more) and proportionally fewer responses
from Ontario (roughly 7-8% less) than the post counselling record data indicates we received overall.
Data for urban or rural location is not regularly collected for all counselling contacts which make
comparisons between our respondents and all post clients especially limited. This said, 72% of young
people who responded to our questionnaire were located in urban areas (N=169) and 24% in rural
areas or small towns (N=56). One respondent was from a First Nations community or Métis
settlement. Of those post counselling records that did contain this data, 78-80% of clients were from
an urban area. This suggests, very roughly, that our respondents included about 6% more rural
clients than is the norm for our post service.
8 This higher proportion of male callers may have something to do with the number of prank calls the helpline
receives.
4
31%
20% 18%
17%
14%
When did you first post to Ask Us Online?
Last 3 months
3-12 months
1 year ago
2 years ago
3+ years ago
63% 16%
21%
Contact frequency
New users (1-5posts)
Repeat serviceusers (6-10 posts)
Regular serviceusers (11-21+posts)
Relationship with Kids Help Phone
here are a few different ways we can think about our respondents’ relationship with the Ask Us
Online counselling service: Absolute numbers of new and returning clients; the frequency with
which respondents contact us; the length or duration of their relationship; and if they use one
or both of our counselling services.
About 80% of our respondents were repeat service users and a little more than 20% stated that this
was their very first time
posting to the Ask Us Online
counselling service. As this
chart illustrates, this is a much
higher proportion of returning
clients than Ask Us Online
receives overall. This said,
more than half (N=539) of
October’s post counselling
records did not include data
about new/repeat status.
While 80% of respondents were returning clients, the majority (51%) had only started using our
service in the last year, with 31% of all respondents contacting us in the last three months. The
majority of our respondents had submitted between
one and five posts (N=137) to the service. The highest
number had submitted 2-5 posts (N=90), and the
second highest (N=47) were first time posters.
If we cluster numbers of responses, we see that the
majority of our respondents (63%) were also “new”
service users in that they had submitted five or fewer
posts.
At the same time, our respondents also contain a sub-
group of longer term clients (2+ years, N= 53 or 32%)
and very regular service users (11-21+ posts, N=46 or
21%). Overall, while our sample includes more
returning clients than is average for the service as a
whole, newer service user and those that have only
posted a few times are also well represented.
T
221
47
1,141
250 172 495
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Post-Counsellor Post-Client Phone-Counsellor
New vs. repeat service users
Repeat
New
5
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Mental or emotional health
Friend relationships
Family relationships
School
Suicide and related issues
Self-injury
Bullying
Violence or abuse
Physical or sexual health
Becoming independent
Sexual orientation or gender identity
Substance use or addictions
Information about laws or rights
Counselling topics, by data source
Phone-Counsellor Post-Counsellor Post-Client
Counselling Issues
omparing what our respondents’ write about when posting to Ask Us Online to what our
counsellors document for all post counselling clients also helps us understand if our survey
participants are representative of all web counselling clients. However, it is important to note
that counsellors and clients will assess and label issues differently. For example, a counsellor
might note a substance misuse issue. The client may not identify this in our survey, either because it
is not a presenting issue for them at the time of posting, or they do not identify any issues with their
use more generally. With this major caveat in mind, this chart compares our respondents’ answers
with the both the post and phone counselling records completed by counsellors in the month of
October:
C
6
Clients who chose to participate in our survey told us they write to counsellors about proportionately
more school, suicide, self-injury and independence related concerns. They were less likely to identify
their concerns as related to mental or emotional health, or about friend or family relationships.
Counsellors recognize more friend and more health issues in their work with posters to Ask Us Online.
Counsellors also identify more family issues, and a few more bullying, legal, and violence and abuse
issues in work with phone clients.
What Young People Find Most Useful About Post Counselling
e asked post clients to tell us the reasons why the Ask Us Online counselling service was a
good option for them; they could pick as many responses as applied to them as well as
enter their own response in an essay box (N=217).
163
126
117
111
92
70
I feel too nervous or uncomfortable to call the helpline
I find it easier to express myself in writing
I don't have enough privacy to talk on the phone
I like seeing the counsellor’s response in writing
Writing out my problems helps me think
I think posting is more anonymous/confidential thancalling the help line
What is it about posting to Ask Us Online that makes it a good option for you?
W
7
70%
30%
Access vs. therapeutic benefit
Access (easier, lessdiscomfort, privacy,anon. & conf)
Therapeutic benefit(like writing,reviewing thecounsellorsresponse)
Another way to look at responses to this question is to divide the questions and answers into two
categories – those related to access (things like ease of expression, comfort level, privacy and
perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality)
and those that relate more to therapeutic
benefit (things like finding writing helpful and
being able to review the counsellors’
response in writing). Results suggest the
majority of those who responded to our
survey use Ask Us Online for reasons
related to accessibility.
The majority of respondents told us that they feel too nervous or uncomfortable to call (75%) and that they find it easier to express themselves in writing (58%).
•“I'm scared to talk to someone about this.”
•“i stutter :/ so i like being able to write it out rather than try to talk with the person on the phone”
•“When I talk on the phone I cry uncontrolably about my situation”
This was followed by privacy issues (54%) and then by a preference for seeing the counsellors’ response in writing (51%).
•“Im not aloud to us the phone :(“
•“I don't have a cellphone, but I have a personal computer.”
•“I can look back on the replies from the counselors if I still need to”
•“it helps to be able to go over the response a few times”
Many also stated that writing out their problems helps them think (51%).
A smaller but still sizable number also perceive web post counselling to be more anonymous and confidential than the phone service (32%).
Of the 17 free-text responses we received, three offered a critique of our phone counselling service as a reason for choosing Ask Us Online.
•“I tried calling once and the person wasn't that nice”
8
81
43
42
44
65
51
66
68
59
50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Sharing my story on a public site helps me to feel like I’m not alone
Knowing that someone who cares will know aboutmy situation
The chance to express myself/ tell my story
Writing helps me to sort out my feelings
Writing helps me figure out what to do next withmy situation
Number
The best things about writing out my post(s) are... choice 1+2 & choice 4+5 combined:
1st &2nd 4th &5th
Which is More Important, the Process of Writing, or Receiving a Response
from a Counsellor?
The Best Things about Writing Out My Post(s) Are…
We asked young people, “thinking about your experience with posting in general (not just your last
post), please rank the following in order of importance (with 1 being most important to you and 5
being the least important to you). The best things about WRITING out my post(s) are:” and gave five
options (below). We expected to see a clear ranking of options, but instead found considerable
dispersion, with a loose trend becoming evident as high count responses were clustered together.
This is illustrated in the following table (N=182):
1st choice
2nd choice
3rd choice
4th choice
5th choice
Response count
Knowing that someone who cares will know about my situation 34 32 34 21 22
N=143
The chance to express myself/ tell my story 33 35 25 15 27
N=135
Writing helps me to sort out my feelings 23 36 30 27 17
N=133
Writing helps me figure out what to do next with my situation 22 28 36 40 25
N=151
Sharing my story on a public site helps me to feel like I’m not alone 35 16 24 31 50
N=156
As another way of looking at the responses to this question, the next chart contrasts the combined
number of first and second choices with the combined forth and last choices. Looking at the data this
way, we can see that in terms of numbers, each possible response was important to a sizable number
of clients but not important to another sizable number:
9
25%
29% 19%
14%
9%
1% 3%
In general, how helpful do you find WRITING out your post(s)?
1 - Very helpful
2
3
4
5
6
7 - Not at all helpful
Next, we asked young people to tell how helpful they find the process of writing out their post(s)
overall. 73% of respondents told us that writing was helpful to them (scale points 1-3 falls on the
“helpful” side of the neutral midpoint on
our scale). 25% told us they find writing
to Ask Us Online “very helpful.”
Overall, the majority of our respondents
find the process of writing out their
response very helpful, but the reasons
for this vary from person to person.
Respondents’ rankings show a
tendency to value “the chance to
express myself,” “knowing that some
who cares will know about my
situation,” and “writing helps me sort
out my feelings” more highly.
The Best Things About Getting
Counsellors Response(s) Are….
Similarly, we asked young people,
“thinking about your experience with
posting in general (not just your last
post), please rank the following in
order of importance (with 1 being most
important to you and 5 being the least important to you). The best things about getting the
counsellor’s RESPONSE to my post(s) are:” and gave them an additional five options. Compared to the
“best things about writing” question, we can see somewhat clearer trends as to which aspects of
counsellor’s responses our participants consider to be more and less important. Out of the number
who ranked the options, 57% chose “getting a supportive response from someone who cares” as
most important and “getting a referral” as least important (65%):
1st choice
2nd choice
3rd choice
4th choice
5th choice
Response Count
Getting a supportive response from someone who cares 55 27 24 20 18 144
Getting practical tips or suggestions 25 36 38 29 8 136
Reading the counsellor's response helps me figure out what to do next with my situation 27 41 28 34 25 155
Getting information about my situation or concern 26 32 35 36 12 141
Getting a referral (i.e. information about a service in my community) 22 15 15 24 73 149
On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is very helpful and 7 is not at
all helpful, in general, how helpful do you find WRITING out
your post(s)?
Not at all helpful
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Very helpful
10
The following chart, representing the respondents’ first and second choice combined and their fourth
and fifth choice combined, reinforces this trend.
When we asked young people to rate, on a scale of one to seven, how helpful they find responses
from counsellors, more than 80% of respondents indicated that they find them helpful. 29% rated
counselling responses “very
helpful.”
ne of the questions
we hoped to better
understand was if
the process of writing was
more, less or equally
important to getting a
response from a counsellor.
If writing was clearly more
important, than our
counsellor moderated Express Yourself forum might be a reasonable substitute for our Ask Us Online
counselling service.9
9 Clients can submit posts to either Ask Us Online, where they will receive a counsellor’s response, or Express
Yourself, where counsellors review the submission before it goes live on the website, but do not provide a response.
97
48
37
59
38
37
58
61
68
82
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Getting a referral (i.e. information about a service inmy community)
Getting information about my situation or concern
Getting practical tips or suggestions
Reading the counsellor's response helps me figureout what to do next with my situation
Getting a supportive response from someone whocares
Number
The best things about getting the counsellors' response to my post(s)... choice 1+2 and choice 4+5 combined:
1st & 2nd 4th & 5th
O 29%
29%
22%
8%
3% 6% 3%
In general, how helpful do you find counsellor's RESPONSES to your posts(s)?
1 - Very helpful
2
3
4
5
6
7 - Not at all helpful
11
77%
19%
3% 1%
How do you usually get in contact with Kids Help Phone?
Post to the Ask UsOnline forums
Mostly post butsometimes phone
Mostly phone butsometimes post
Phone thehelpline
Looking at the ratings of how helpful writing and getting a response are side-by-side shows that while
both are rated as helpful, counsellor’s work is rated as more helpful by most participants.
If Ask Us Online Wasn’t Available, Would You Call the Helpline Instead?
n additional important area to explore was whether limiting or discontinuing the Ask Us
Online counselling service would result in Kids Help Phone cutting service to a group of young
people who would not seek out support from our other services. To this end, we asked our
respondents which Kids Help Phone
counselling services they use. A
significant majority were dedicated Ask
Us Online service users; they do not use
the phone service. 19% of our
respondents mostly post but sometimes
phone. Only 4% use the phone service
more than they post.
45
53
34
25
16
3 5
50 53
44
12 4 9 6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 - Veryhelpful
2 3 4 5 6 7 - Not at allhelpful
Comparing user reported helpfulness for 'writing' & 'getting a
counsellor's response'
In general, how helpful do you find WRITING out your post(s)?
In general, how helpful do you find counsellor's RESPONSES to your post(s)?
A
12
23%
36%
41%
If Ask Us Online wasn't available, would you call the
helpline?
Yes
No
Not sure
We also asked, “if Ask Us Online wasn’t available, would you call the helpline?” Roughly a quarter of
our respondents said they would call us. A significant number (36%) claimed that they would not use
our phone service and the larger number (41%) was
not sure.
While we do not have a comparable set of data for
all our clients, our participant’s answers to these two
questions indicate that discontinuing or limiting out
Ask Us Online counselling service would have
significant implications for the accessibility of our
total service offerings.
Sub-Population Trends
iltering our data by response or respondent demographics can help us determine if there are
sub-group based trends or themes. It must be noted, however, that filtering reduces the
sample size, which has implications for the generalizability of the findings. To determine if
there were any sub-group trends, we filtered the larger data set in the following ways:
Willingness to use other service channels
Respondents who would not call the phone line; Respondents who would call the
phone line; Respondents who are not sure if they’d call the phone line.
Respondent age
• 12-15; 16-20; 21+
Relationship with the service
• Infrequent users (those who posted 1-5 times); Heavy users (those who posted 16+
times); Historical relationship with service (use over 2+ years); New relationship with
service (first use within last 3 months).
Respondents who write to us about mental health and related issues (including self-injury and
suicide)
Male respondents
Respondents living in a rural area or First Nations community
Those who had a low overall rating of the service
Those who prioritized receiving a referral to a community based resource
Not all filters revealed notable trends. Some of the trends we were able to identify include:
F
13
Respondents who identified mental health as an area of concern
A disproportionately high % of our overall respondents noted that they contact us about issues
related to suicide and self-injury (35.4% and 32.8 respectively)
More of the respondents who wrote to us about mental health related issues stated that they
would not call the help line if AUO was not available, and fewer said they were not sure if they
would call or not.
Of the heavy users who have used the service 20 or more times, all but one identified mental
health as one of the issues they contact us about.
Male respondents
Our male respondents are older, on average, than all respondents. The majority of respondents
(57%) are 16, 17 or 18, whereas the majority of female respondents (65%) fall into the 13-16
range.
There was a slight skew (approx. 10%) towards living in a rural area among male respondents.
Lack of privacy was identified by fewer males (41% vs 54% in full sample) as a reason why AUO
is a good option for them.
Fewer males identified that they would call the helpline if it AUO was not available (10% said
they would vs 23% in larger group) and more said they weren’t sure if they would or not (55%
vs 39% in larger group).
Males were more likely to identify “getting information about my situation or concern” as a key
component of a counsellor’s response than the larger group (35% males ranked this first,
compared to 19% of the larger group); conversely, males were less likely to value “getting a
supportive response from someone who cares” than average (20% of males ranked this first,
versus 40% of the larger group)
Respondents from rural areas or First Nations communities
On average, this group rated the experience of both writing and post and receiving a response
from a counsellor more highly than the larger group, with 35% (vs 25%) using a rating of ‘1’ –or
‘very helpful’ on the 7 point scale for question 12 (‘how helpful do you find writing out your
posts?’) and 44% (versus 29%) using a rating of ‘1’ for question 14 (‘how helpful do you find
counsellors’ responses to your posts?’).
Heavy or longstanding service users
Heavy users were more likely to select “I find it easier to express myself in writing,” “writing
out my problem helps me think,” and “I like seeing the counsellor’s response in writing” than
the larger group.
Heavy users were more likely to identify mental health as an issue they write to us about that
other users (92.6% vs 67%).
Heavy users were more likely to highlight the importance of ‘getting practical tips or
suggestions’ in a counselling response (25% ranked as #1 vs 15% in the larger group); this,
14
however, does not apply equally to longstanding service users (those with a 2+ year
relationship with the service). Longstanding users valuation of tips and suggestions was
comparable to the larger group, but they were more likely than average to prioritize “getting
a supportive response from someone who cares” (45% v 40% ranked this #1).
Longstanding service users had a lower overall rating of service than average (the most
common ranking was 3 -- where 1 was ‘very helpful’ and 7 was not at all helpful -- compared
to 1 and 2 tied as the most common ranking among the larger group)
Longstanding users ranked the act of writing out the post higher than the average group
(higher, indeed, than the counsellor response).
New and Infrequent users
Infrequent users were slightly more likely than the larger group to identify bullying as an issue
they write to us about (32% vs 25%)
Infrequent users had a higher overall rating of service than average (the most common
ranking was 1, or ‘very helpful.’
New users (those who first posted in the last 3 months) were somewhat less likely to identify
feeling “too nervous or uncomfortable to call the help line” as a reason for choosing AUO
All new users identified as already using the service more than once (75% said they have used
the service 2-5 times, and 17% 6-10 times).
New users were less likely to identify “getting a supportive response from someone who
cares” as the best thing about a counsellor response (only 30% of new users selected this as
#1, vs 40% of the larger group)
New users were more likely to identify that “*the+ response helps me figure out to do next
with my situation” as the best thing about getting a counsellor response (25% selected this
option as #1 vs. 17% in the larger group).
Is There Anything Else You Would Like Us To Know?
Four main themes emerged
from the 71 responses we
received to our final
question:
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Positive feedback
Critical feedback
Want live chat
Other
Is there anything else you would like us to know?
15
Other Responses
Other responses including things like:
“Please change the KHP name, the site is not just for kids and putting the word kids
pushes away indirectly some people. Also, please make KHP a little more
community based. It's good to have support from adults who work on their free
time to help, but also getting input from someone of our age or background
ACTUALLY does help too.”
“It would be nice if there was a more integrated way of replying to posts after a
counselor has made them. This makes answering any questions the counselor
asked as well as getting more consisten help easier”
“I would like a mobile app. like for android or iphone.”
Support for Live Chat Counselling
Thirteen of our respondents specifically requested we begin providing live chat counselling:
“I want to know if you guys are starting and Instant Messaging thing. People like
me, are to scared/shy to call but they need immediate support, moreover, some
don't have enough privacey--like me. And asking online, people can't get
immediate support, but at least they don't feel too scared and they have no one
eavesdropping.”
“I really think that it takes to long to get a response.. Like I think the next day you
should have a response.. Most people go online b/c they dont feel comfortable
talking to someone on the phone so I think you should give people a more.. fast
response any way they want it... and i also think that a instant messaging thing
would be great.. for people who need help now but dont know how to talk on the
phone”
“It would be great if there were some kind of live chat type of thing. I am too afraid
to call but sometimes i would like a faster response.”
“The counselors are very nice and supportive, I thank you. Please make the IM
messaging, we need it. :)”
16
45%
20%
35%
Critical feedback
Problem w/post responsetime
Negative exp.w/phones
Critiquecontent of postresponse
Critical Feedback
Critical feedback was most often related to the extended wait to receive a response:
“Replys take way too long.... If I'm gonna
commit suicid do you think I'm just gonna
sit around and wait for a resons? The max
waiting time for a reply should be an
hour.... Either get caught up with the posts
, or hire more councilors!!!!!”
“It sometimes takes too long for the
counselors to reply. I know they are
handling a lot of different posts and phone
calls, but sometimes things are urgent and
need a quick response.”
Critiques of counsellor’s post responses were most often to do with wanting more detailed
responses:
“Regarding to responses, I find they aren't specific enough to help me. So I make
more posts hoping for a better response. Maybe if the responses were more
specific, you wouldn't be as flooded with posts. I hope I helped!”
“I dont know...msot of the time its a big probleme and i get comments all "Aw im
sorry you feel this way" Uh yeah that didnt help much......”
« C'est bien que vous marquez les références pour nous aider. Par contre, moi ce
que je recherche c'est surtout des suggestions que je pourrais faire pour aider monc
cas. »
Last, four of our respondents explained that they use Ask Us Online because they had a bad
experience when they called the helpline:
“So far when ever I send a post to KHP I get pretty helpful responses. But out of the
three times I've ever called the counsellor's I got seemed frustrated with me infact
one of them raised there voice at me.....it made me feel like I was annoying and
kinda made things worse cause I felt that my situatuion was to frustrating for even
a counsellor.....it wasn't a nice feeling I call only cause I want a quick answer and I
only post when my situation isn't that bad.....but I don;t plan to ever call anytime
soon cause the cousellors sound depressed and mono tone when you call.....it's not
very welcoming or warming. And when you've been pacing back and forth trying to
gain the courage to call and pour your feelings out over the phone to a stranger
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and there sounding unwelcoming it's not a nice feeling......Like they don't even say
Hello back when you say it to them. Thank you for your time :)”
Positive Feedback
Positive feedback was most often stated in general
terms:
“thanks for being awesome and helping me
through stuff.”
“continuer votre bon travail!”
Some of these answers indicate the role Ask Us Online has played in supporting respondent’s well-being over time:
“You've helped me through a lot of my lifes hard times. Thank you.”
Other positive feedback included statements like:
“It's been a great way for me to organize my thoughts without worrying about
being judged by others”.
A few stressed the importance of the service to specific participants:
“Just never stop doing the online help... I have nothing else but this :( Judging from
these questions, thats what I've concluded, your considering stopping the online
help... I'd have to start asking Yahoo :(“
81%
19%
Positive feedback
Generalappreciation/thanks
Other pos.feedback
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Appendix A: Client Age Distribution
In the two charts that follow, “Post-Counsellor” refers to web post counselling session data recorded
by counsellors in the month of October (N=1,010). “Post-Client” refers to young peoples’ responses to
our questionnaire (N=234). “Phone-Counsellor” refers to phone counselling session data recorded by
counsellors in the month of October (N=2,642). All data is from the month of October, 2011.
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Appendix B: Survey Questions
Invitation to participate: “We’d love to hear your feedback about our Ask Us Online service. The
survey is completely voluntary and totally anonymous. Your counsellor will not be able to see your
responses. If you would like to participate, click here to go to the survey. Thanks in advance, from all
of us at Kids Help Phone.”
Thanks for taking the time to give us your feedback about As Us Online!
This information will help us understand how useful our online post counselling service is and decide
how to provide this type of support in the future. The information we collect here may also be used in
conversations with media or other groups who support Kids Help Phone.
Your answers are always anonymous (none of this information could ever get linked back to you) and
your counsellor will NOT see your answers.
1. Are you: [dropdown menu]
Male
Female
Transgender/ Genderqueer
Other (please specify) [text box]
2. How old are you? [dropdown menu]
3. What province or territory do you live in? [dropdown menu]
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskatchewan
Yukon
4. What kind of community do you live in?
City or large town (more than 10,000 people)
20
Rural area or small town (less than 10,000 people)
A First Nations community or Métis settlement
Other (please specify) [text box]
5. How do you usually get in contact with Kids Help Phone?
Post to the Ask Us Online forums
Phone the helpline
Mostly post but sometimes phone
Mostly phone but sometimes post
6. What is it about posting to Ask Us Online that makes it a good option for you? Check all that
apply:
I feel too nervous or uncomfortable to call the help line
I find it easier to express myself in writing
I don't have enough privacy to talk on the phone
Writing out my problems helps me think
I like seeing the counsellor’s response in writing
I think posting is more anonymous/confidential than calling the help line
Other (please specify) [text box]
7. If Ask Us Online wasn’t available, would you call the help line instead?
Yes
No
Not sure
8. In total, how many times have you sent us a post?
This is the first time [trigger to skip the next question]
2-5 times
6-10 times
11-15 times
16-20 times
More than 20 times
9. When did you first post to Ask Us Online?
In the last three months
In the last six to nine months
In the last nine to 12 months
Last year
Two years ago
Three or more years ago
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10. What issue or issues do you write to us about?
Choose as many as apply:
Friend relationships
Family relationships
Violence or abuse
Bullying
Mental or emotional health
Substance use or addictions
Physical or sexual health
School
Information about laws or rights
Sexual orientation or gender identity
Becoming independent
Self-injury
Suicide
WRITING to Kids Help Phone
11. Thinking about your experience with posting in general (not just your last post), please rank the
following in order of importance (with 1 being most important to you and 5 being the least important
to you).
The best things about WRITING out my post(s) are: [Forced ranking, 5 levels]
The chance to express myself/ tell my story
Writing helps me to sort out my feelings
Knowing that someone who cares will know about my situation
Writing helps me figure out what to do next with my situation
Sharing my story on a public site helps me to feel like I’m not alone
12. On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is very helpful and 7 is not at all helpful:
In general, how helpful do you find WRITING out your post(s)? 1 - Very helpful 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -
6 - 7 - Not at all helpful
GETTING A RESPONSE from Kids Help Phone
13. Thinking about your experience with posting in general (not just your last post), please rank the
following in order of importance (with 1 being most important to you and 5 being the least important
to you).
The best things about getting the counsellor's RESPONSE to my post(s) are: [Forced ranking, 5 levels]
22
Getting a referral (i.e. information about a service in my community)
Getting information about my situation or concern
Getting practical tips or suggestions
Getting a supportive response from someone who cares
Reading the counsellor's response helps me figure out what to do next with my situation
14. On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is very helpful and 7 is not at all helpful:
In general, how helpful do you find counsellor's RESPONSES to your post(s)? 1 - Very helpful
2 3 4 5 6 7 - Not at all helpful
One last question!
15. Is there anything else you would like us to know about your experience of our Ask Us Online
counselling service? [Essay box]
Thanks for your feedback!
Once we've had a chance to look at everyone's answers, we will analyze the overall results and report
back to you. Check the website in early December for the results.
Assessing Ask Us Online
November, 2011