Evaluating Tellmi, a digital peer support for Mental Health

Tellmi, is a platform that provides moderated digital support, anonymous age banded peer support, and signposting to local and national resources and therapy sessions (in commissioned areas) to anyone aged 11 years and over. Edge Health was commissioned by Health Innovation East Midlands (HIEM) to independently evaluate Tellmi across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB), focusing on its implementation, adoption and impact on users.

Challenges with access to mental health support for those transitioning from child to adult services

Mental health services across LLR ICB are facing growing demand and increasing complexity of need. Consequently, waiting lists are growing and access to support is becoming more challenging, particularly for those transitioning from child to adult services. While individuals wait for specialist care, they face gaps in mental health and wellbeing support. To address these challenges, LLR ICB’s mental health strategy focuses on early intervention and prevention, digital innovation, improving access to support, and providing help during waiting periods and key transition stages.

LLR ICB commissioned Tellmi in April 2024 as an all-age digital mental health support offer. Tellmi assists users in managing their own health, its main purposes are to enable peer support, social sharing of emotions, building resilience and fostering wellbeing through a psychologically safe, anonymised platform.

“The independent evaluation has given us valuable insight into how Tellmi is being used across LLR and the difference it is making for people accessing support. It has strengthened our evidence base around prevention, early intervention and digital mental health, and importantly has helped us make informed commissioning decisions based on outcomes, user experience and the value demonstrated through the service. The evaluation has provided not only evidence of impact, but valuable learning about how digital mental health models can add greatest value within the wider system.”
Selina Tumani,
All Age Mental Health & LD Transformation Lead, LLR Commissioning Team

We utilised a mixed-methods qualitative and quantitative evaluation framework triangulating findings across five key data sources:

Our evaluation of Tellmi, commissioned by Health Innovation East Midlands, found that the platform is providing meaningful, accessible mental health support across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR).

“This independent evaluation has demonstrated the significant impact of Tellmi in Leicestershire and Rutland, in particular young people who are struggling with mental health and often waiting to access NHS services. We commissioned this work in response to a clear need articulated by one of our local health systems and are very pleased that is has gone on to inform future commissioning intentions in this space.”
Nick Hamilton
Digital Health Navigator, Health Innovations East Midlands

Over 2,700 individuals in LLR ICB engaged with the platform (from 2024-2026). While Tellmi attracts users across a broad age range, engagement was heavily concentrated among young people aged 11 to 25. Users showed to routinely engage in peer conversations, browse self-help resources, and access signposting or therapy-related features.

Feedback from service users was also positive, where they described Tellmi as a safe, anonymous, and supportive space that reduced fear of judgement and made it easier to talk openly about mental health. Many users reported poor mental wellbeing when they joined, with statistically significant improvements loneliness (-9%), social connectedness (20%), hope (33%) and self-esteem (64%) following use. The evaluation found no significant change in self-reported mental health service use, although baseline use was already low. Further longitudinal and system-level evidence is now recommended to better understand long-term outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

By understanding how and for whom Tellmi works best, the evaluation informs commissioners on any future investment decisions based on measurable impact, system fit, and long-term sustainability.

The evidence base generated through this evaluation have directly supported LLR in future commissioning decisions. Our findings were also presented as a poster at the Sheffield Young Person and Healthcare Transition Conference on the 6^th of October.

“The Tellmi app generates lots of impact data but having our outcomes independently validated is the gold standard. We are delighted with the results; they confirm what young people regularly tell us, that Tellmi helps improve their mental health.”
Kerstyn Comley
Co-founder of Tellmi

Read our report