Online identification and referral for debt and mental health issues

Purpose – This paper seeks to describe a new service developed by national debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) aimed at identifying clients within its online debt counselling tool who may be suffering from stress and anxiety and then referring them for advice and support, including computer‐based cognitive behavioural therapy (CCBT).Design/methodology/approach – Since December 2010, clients using CCCS Debt Remedy, the charity's online debt counselling tool, have been asked four trigger questions which indicate whether the user is suffering from depression and/or anxiety. Clients who show these signs, after they receive a recommendation about how to deal with their debt, are offered the opportunity to complete a more comprehensive assessment known as CCCS Wellbeing. The CCCS Wellbeing assessment consists of 16 questions, nine relating to depression and seven to anxiety. The depression questions are based on the medically endorsed depression screener, PHQ‐9, and the anxiety questions are...