headspace Denmark was established in 2013 and was an early innovator of the volunteer-based approach. Through 38 (soon to be 41) centres, young people receive free, anonymous counselling with volunteers who have been trained in an accredited counselling method. headspace Denmark aims to provide early support, so young people don’t need to have an existing diagnosis or referral – rather, they can talk about whatever is most important to them.

A recent first-of-its-kind evaluation of headspace Denmark, led by the Copenhagen Research Unit for Recovery, found statistically significant improvements in wellbeing for young people. This research employed a quasi-experimental design, comparing young people who received counselling through headspace Denmark with a matched control group. In addition to this impact evaluation, the study also included process and economic evaluations to fully understand the headspace intervention. You can read more about this study in the protocol paper, and the qualitative process evaluation results here.

The quantitative results have now also been published, showing a statistically significant improvement in wellbeing among young people who received headspace counselling at the six-month follow-up. You can read the newly published results here.

headspace Denmark will also be collecting data for the YOUTHreach study, but on a smaller scale. The team intend to validate MyLifeTracker in Danish and share routinely collected data which can be used to compare intervention outcomes across YEAH study sites. In addition, headspace Denmark holds strong relationships with policymakers and the European Parliament, and will provide key support in the dissemination of results and translation into advocacy strategy.

You can read more about headspace Denmark here, or get in touch with Nina Moss if you have any questions.