Children in Barking and Dagenham are being offered counselling throughout the summer holidays.
The Kooth service is free and anonymous, and offers online counselling and emotional wellbeing support to 11-18-year olds.
Young people can speak to qualified counsellors and support workers via an online chat messaging system, and there are self-help materials and mood tracking tools which they can use on their own.
The service is run by Xenzone, which provides technology to help young people cope with mental health issues.
XenZone’s chair and founder, Elaine Bousfield, said: “Children and young people can feel unsupported over the school holidays.
“They don’t have the usual networks of support they can access in school, so it’s important that we ensure they can find professional help when and if they need it so that concerns and worries don’t fester and grow.
“Our Kooth counsellors are available throughout the summer holidays for those who need mental health support.”
Young people can access the service on kooth.com.
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