A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
90% of children play computer games. 10% of them are addicted. The dangers of computers games have been in the news again recently with the death of a teenager in Taiwan after playing for 40 hours straight without refreshments or leaving the computer. Internet computer games have and addictive dimension to them that some young [...]
Despite the fact that nearly a year has passed since the Australian and New Zealand Food and Health Ministers recommended that the alcohol industry be given two years to voluntarily implement alcohol warning labels, less than 16%* of alcoholic products carry a consumer information message. Of those that do, 98% take up less than 5% [...]
The teenage years are trying at the best of times. Young people experience huge hormonal changes which often lead to mood swings and confused emotions. Then there is the added stress and anxiety about getting good grades at school, fitting in with their social group and how they can enter the adult world. Feeling unable to manage [...]
We’ve all seen the footage of violence erupting in the city on a Saturday night, or the increasing violence in public places such as train stations. The police are trying to contain and defuse it, hospitals are treating it and the families and friends of victims are trying to come to terms with it. But [...]
Violence on the streets seems to be on the increase. Displays of anger, unprovoked aggression and violence against strangers are reaching epidemic proportions. However, how young people handle their anger is learnt early in childhood. So how can we help children manger their anger? It should be pointed out that anger is a normal and [...]
The arrest and charging of a NSW teacher for engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 14 year old girl in the USA has again brought to light the dangers of children ‘chatting’ to strangers online. Online predators are experts at internet grooming and luring young people into compromising situations that they are not able [...]
10% of children have problems coping with anxiety* Some children are very easy going and nothing seems to bother them. However many other children worry about all sorts of things, and when these normal everyday worries turn into anxiety it can be very difficult for a young person to participate in and experience school and [...]
A separation or divorce in the family is all too common now days with the divorce rate in Australia at almost 50%*. Many young people are placed in a situation where they need to learn new skills to cope with the changes. It can often bring out a mixture and extremes of emotions from sad [...]
Paul Dillon, author of "Teenagers, Alcohol and Drugs"and Generation Next speaker says that in today's society children are introduced to drugs from an early age; if they have a cough we give then ‘medicine’ for it. So there is no reason why we can’t introduce the idea of drugs at an early age and build [...]
65% of year 4 students experienced covert bullying It seems ironic that a young student in the USA, Jessica Barba, was recently suspended for highlighting the dangers and traumas that many students struggle with when they become the targets of cyber bullying. What started out as a school assignment ended up as an online anti-bullying [...]
