ChatHealth: support for 11 - 19 year olds

Advice and Information - 10 July 2023

ChatHealth is a confidential text service enabling young people to discuss a range of issues with a school nurse, including emotional health, relationships, stress, self-esteem, bullying, drugs/alcohol and sexual health.
A teenager talking to a school nurse

Children and young people aged 11 to 19 can use ChatHealth to get advice from health professionals by texting 07312 263093. ChatHealth is not an emergency service.

When can I access it?

The service is open on Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, excluding bank holidays. It's available during term times and school holidays. Health professionals aim to reply to you within one working day and you should get an immediate bounce-back to confirm your text has been received.

Texts won't seen outside of normal working hours. If you need help before you hear back from us, contact a member of school staff or your doctor. Out of hours, you'll get a bounce back message with information about what to do in an emergency and details of alternative sources of help locally.

Is it confidential?

Health professionals won't inform parents, teachers or anyone else if you contact ChatHealth. However, if they're concerned about your immediate safety, the school nurse working on ChatHealth has a duty of care to act on this and may escalate the concern. They would usually speak to you first.

Your messages are stored on a secure system. They can be seen by the school nursing team who run the ChatHealth Service and may also be seen by other healthcare staff who follow the same confidentiality rules.

Who runs the service?

ChatHealth is funded by the local authorities in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire and run by the school nursing team. It's provided alongside existing school nursing services to enable more people to access support outside of school hours.

The text number does not receive voice calls or MMS picture messages. It supports messaging from UK mobile numbers only (which does not include messages sent from landlines, international mobile numbers and some 'number masking' mobile apps). You can prevent the school nurse from sending messages to you by texting STOP to the ChatHealth number. Messages are charged at your usual rate.

How can I find out more about ChatHealth?

ChatHealth was first launched by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust in 2013 and it has now been adopted by more than 53 organisations. To find out more, visit the ChatHealth website at www.chathealth.nhs.uk.

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