Benefits, limitations and potential solutions for defining good practices in Online Counselling Chat Services for Youth.

Introduction: Online Chat Counselling Services (OCCS) provide accessible mental health support for young people. However, systematic, cross-cultural research from the perspective of service providers is needed to improve current practices, guide future development, and share best practices. Aims: This study explores the experiences of OCCS providers and counsellors in four European countries, identifying benefits, limitations, and potential solutions to improve services and inform future best practices. Methods: 62 counsellors or chatline coordinators from 33 OCCS in Belgium, Finland, Hungary, and Spain were interviewed online. A thematic analysis of the outputs from these interviews focused on the benefits, limitations and proposed solutions. Results: Most of the participants were female (80 %). Nearly half of the services (48 %) worked with both paid counsellors and volunteers. Eighteen percent of OCCSs did not request any user information at login. In almost half of the OCCSs, counsellors were able to see whether a user had made contact previously. Six key benefits of OCCS were identified: improved accessibility, anonymity-facilitated disclosure, future-oriented services, chat-based communication advantages, positive counsellor experience, and meaningful user support. Five main limitations emerged: unclear communication, limited resources, anonymity as a barrier, uncertainty-related negative perceptions, and low visibility and utilisation. Proposed solutions included conventional strategies (e.g., enhanced training, referrals, inter-service collaboration) and innovative approaches (e.g., AI integration for risk assessment, translation, and chatbot functionalities). Certain limitations were considered intrinsic to the OCCS model and accepted accordingly. Conclusions: This study explored the experiences of a diverse group of counsellors to identify the key benefits, challenges, and potential solutions within OCCS. The proposed strategies provide a valuable foundation for the cross-national implementation of best practices in this field. Future research should evaluate these recommendations, incorporating the perspectives of service users.