Feeling empty, hopeless, or like you want to disappear

It’s normal to have moments where life feels too heavy — in fact, research shows that 40% of U.S. high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2023 (CDC; page updated June 5, 2025). On Koko, you can share these feelings anonymously and get supportive responses from peers who understand. You can try our service on WhatsApp, Discord, or Telegram.

Koko’s approach is backed by studies in peer support and cognitive behavioural science (our research partners include Northwestern, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Darthmouth, and others). If you’re ever in crisis, please call or text a crisis line through our trusted global directory.

Coping with stress, overthinking, and low mood

When your thoughts won’t stop racing, you’re not alone — studies show that over 60% of young people report struggling with stress or anxiety each year (APA, 2023). Koko offers short coping exercises to help you reset, such as rethinking stressful situations or managing your mood. These 5–10 minute self-guided courses are designed to calm your mind, reduce overthinking, and make stressful moments easier to handle.

Handling self-harm urges safely

If you’re struggling with urges to hurt yourself, these feelings are more common than you might think — according to Surgo Health’s Youth Mental Health Tracker, nearly 3 in 10 young people aged 10–24 (29%) reported engaging in or considering self-harm in 2024 (YMHT, 2025). Koko offers evidence-based exercises to help you cope in the moment and create a personal safety plan for the future. And remember — if you need more immediate help, please call or text a crisis line from our trusted global resource directory.

Body image and body neutrality

It’s easy to feel pressure about how you look — nearly 46% of U.S. teens (ages 13–17) say social media makes them feel worse about their body image (HHS, 2023). Our inclusive mini-course is designed for all gender identities and body types, helping you step back from harsh self-criticism and practice body neutrality (read: Why Body Neutrality Works Better Than Body Positivity, Time Magazine, 2023) — valuing your body for what it does, not just how it looks.

Supporting a friend

Sometimes it’s not you who’s struggling, but someone you care about. In fact, surveys show that over 60% of teens in the U.S. say they’ve had a close friend share mental health struggles with them (Pew Research Center, 2023). Koko’s Mental Health First Aid course teaches you simple, effective skills — like active listening and asking open questions — so you can feel more confident being there for your friends.

Koko is built for safety, privacy and trust

Koko is a non-profit service dedicated to helping young people — always free, always anonymous. We never sell or commercialize your data. Our tools and mini-courses are backed by rigorous research, designed in collaboration with mental health experts and young people themselves.

We uphold our ethical commitments to users by:

• Protecting your privacy: No collection of personally identifying information. Your interactions remain anonymous, and your data is never used for advertising.
• Evidence-based impact: Our platform has been analyzed in over eight peer-reviewed publications, including multiple randomized controlled trials.
• Ethical oversight: We maintain internal and external review through an independent ethics advisory board, in addition to Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes.
• Transparent ethical standards: We publish our Ethical Commitments and Research & Insights so you can see how we build, test, monitor, and protect the experience for every user.

Learn more about our ethical commitments →
View detailed research & insights →