Today we launch a new report looking at how young people access support online. We find a range of experiences, good and bad. The report proposes a new model of essential digital support which finds young people where they are, respects privacy and autonomy, and joins up services.

This post shares our emerging thinking about some of the big themes we found through our research, and how they point towards areas for change. Our overall aim for the project is to understand how and why young people are using online services and support to help them with their essential needs, like health, housing and money, and to identify where there are opportunities for strategic change to make support more accessible and youth-led. Seven areas stood out to us from the interviews and workshop as opportunities.

We share our emerging observations from our research looking into essential digital support for young people. Our overall aim for the project is to understand how and why young people are using online services and support to help them with their essential needs, like health, housing and money, and to identify where there are opportunities for strategic change to make support more accessible and youth-led.

We’re interested in understanding what online support young people need, how services are responding, and what some of the key challenges are to designing and delivering essential support online.