A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Today's teens have a reputation for being accomplished, fluent, and effective social media users. But they learn these skills the way we learn most life lessons: through trial and error, by making mistakes and learning from the outcomes. While these trial-and-error experiences can be educational in many contexts, social media makes trials public and errors difficult to [...]
Lessons about the risks of gambling have been trialled in secondary schools in an attempt to address high levels of gambling among school-age children. Around 25,000 children in the UK are currently classed as problem gamblers, with one recent survey finding that one in six 11-to-15-year-olds admitted to gambling in the last week. Yet according to the cross-party thinktank [...]
Resilience is one of those buzzwords that was dropped in the lap of parents and educators a few years ago and has sat there since like a puppy – squirming, whining and demanding our attention. It’s adorable and you’d definitely like to keep it, but hold it too tightly and it will jump right out [...]
The year 2012 was the moment our kids lost their childhood. Recent research out of the United States reveals a sharp decrease in wellbeing among adolescents from 2012 onwards — the year when smartphone ownership became commonplace among teens. Using survey data from 1.1 million young people, the researchers found that adolescents who spent more time on [...]
When children learn about news like the deadly school shooting that claimed more than a dozen lives on 14 February 2018 in Broward County, Florida, a logical question for them to ask is: Will the same thing happen to me? As researchers and clinicians who have studied the problem of violence over the past three decades, we have [...]
The parents and carers I meet through my job as a child and adolescent psychiatrist often tell me about young people in their lives who are suffering from anxiety or low mood. I can sometimes hear an element of desperation or hopelessness in their voice, which may come from the fact they have no idea what [...]
Children as young as five are experiencing suicidal thoughts according to the latest data released by Kids Helpline. The Leader can reveal the national counselling service figures show that almost 10 per cent of the 400 children aged between 5 and 12 called the helpline to talk about suicide. The data also revealed out of 395 people [...]
When young people are “looked after” by the state, they can live in a variety of care placements including children’s homes, foster parents or with friends or birth family relatives. These young people are known to be especially vulnerable to poor mental health. Many share too much with people who may do them harm – [...]
Many children as young as three are sleep deprived because they've spent too much time on smart devices such as phones and tablets. Up to 17 per cent of children aged three and younger own their own smart device, News Corp reports, and many are falling asleep at pre-school and their child-care centres. - 9News [...]
A group of ex-Facebook, Google, and Apple employees have announced the formation of The Center for Humane Technology, a coalition designed to fight the growing threat of tech addiction among teens and adolescents, the New York Times reports. The coalition will first launch a campaign called The Truth About Tech. One of the main goals is [...]
