In her master's thesis at the University of Tartu (TÜ) Institute of Psychology, Minna Sild studied the impact of Peahea counseling – available to those aged 12-26 – on young people's mental health.

"Young people's mental health outcomes improved significantly following Peahea's rapid intervention," Sild confirmed. "The most significant improvements were seen in those who self-reported symptoms of both anxiety and depression at the start of counseling."

Youth need easily accessible services

The World Health Organization (WHO) has several primary goals in the prevention and early intervention of mental health issues among young people. Experts emphasize the importance of learning emotional regulation skills, choosing safer alternatives to risky behaviors, acquiring skills for coping in difficult situations as well as supporting social relationships. According to WHO, it is crucial to make all of this accessible to young folks.

Minna Sild noted that supporting youth mental health has become an internationally important field, focusing on prevention, early intervention as well as the treatment of existing issues.

"Nonetheless, young people's needs are largely unmet, and access to evidence-based services is limited," she highlighted. "Thus, this field requires continuous development in terms of both service provision and the research of impacts thereof."

Peahea's counseling service represents a new type of low-intensity psychological help service in Estonia that allows for early intervention. The intervention's underlying concept was developed in 2012 by Australian youth mental health organization Orygen, with involvement by not just specialists, but also youth themselves.

Several factors make this counseling more accessible for young folks. First of all, counseling can also be conducted online if desired; second, it is free and does not require a referral. Wait times for counseling are likewise short, and it is provided by specially trained counselors.

Peahea's rapid counseling has been in use in Estonia since the start of 2023, and its impact had not been previously researched in the Estonian context. The Australian program, known as Brief Interventions in Youth Mental Health (BIYMH), has likewise been minimally researched, with no randomized clinical trials thereof yet conducted. Sild's master's thesis was part of the first study of the impact of Peahea's rapid intervention on the mental health of Estonian youth.

"As this is a new service, it's important to study its effectiveness, so that data-driven decisions can be made following a trial period regarding whether the service has the desired impact on youth mental health," Sild explained, "In order to continue its public funding and expand its provision."

Peahea counseling suitable for youth facing multiple issues

"The results indicate that those youth who sought counseling for self-reported signs of both depression and anxiety experienced the most significant changes in score, meaning the results of their mental health questionnaires improved the most," Sild explained. "This suggests that the Peahea intervention may also be suitable for those youth with multiple concurrent, more serious issues, such as concurring signs of depression and anxiety."

The results of her research also indicated that the positive impact of the service persisted in followup assessments in anxiety-related areas, such as generalized anxiety and social phobia. Meanwhile, however, these effects were not sustained in the areas of depression and sleep.

"This is similar to previous research findings, where the impact of psychological therapy is greater for anxiety-related issues and lesser when it comes to depression-related issues," she noted.

The study also revealed that the extent of change in emotional well-being scores did not depend on factors such as gender, age or other similar variables. This means that outcomes improved similarly for all young people. The only factor that influenced the change in outcome was the reason the youth initially sought help and registered for counseling.

According to Sild, future research on Peahea counseling should improve the rigor of data collection and study protocols. She likewise recommends increasing the sample size and including a control group as well as randomizing participants if possible.

"At the same time, conducting a randomized controlled trial would mean delaying service provision for some youth, and the benefits and drawbacks of this need to be evaluated," she added.

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