"Like talking to friends" Young people`s experiences of councelling i Danish headspace centres.

Introduction: Poor mental health amongst young people is a serious public health concern and traditional services are not equipped to address the barriers that young people often face, in accessing sufficient support. To address these challenges, headspace centers have been established in Denmark, by the non-governmental organization Det Sociale Netværk. The headspace centers offer young people between 12 and 25 years, free support, and counselling, primarily delivered by trained volunteers. Limited scientific knowledge exists, about how the counselling is experienced by the young people using headspace, and how the counselling affects their mental health and well-being. 



Methods: The study is part of a process evaluation of headspace, where the overall goal is to investigate the implementation of key activities, their mechanisms of impact, and their interactions with contextual factors. Young people are recruited from headspace centers in Denmark, for semi-structured interviews. All interviews are transcribed ad verbatim and subjected to thematic analysis.



Results: Preliminary results will include, among others, descriptions of how the participants perceive the counselling and support they have received in the headspace centers, their perspectives on how the centers operate and are designed, and how they experience counselling have impacted their mental health and well-being.



Discussion: Study results will contribute to knowledge about mental health promotion initiatives, how they can be implemented to successfully match young people's preferences and needs, and how the volunteer-based counselling offered in headspace centers in Denmark might create an impact on youth mental health and well-being.