A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Pixabay Images Meditation is just one strand of new “positive education” methods starting to build momentum and gravitas in schools. The key idea is to teach good practices such as mindfulness and gratitude that will promote resilience and, it is thought, help children lead healthier psychological lives. Until recently, these might have been [...]
Pixabay Images A long line of research links poverty and depression. Now, a study by Duke University scientists shows how biology might underlie the depression experienced by high-risk adolescents whose families are socio-economically disadvantaged. The study, published May 24, 2016 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, combined genetics, brain imaging and behavioral data gathered [...]
Flikr Images Steve should have been celebrating. A 30-something entrepreneur in the Bay area, he had just closed a multi-million dollar round of Series A financing for his startup. Instead, he found himself in his doctor’s office—25 pounds overweight, physically exhausted, sleep-deprived and with a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. This news only [...]
Flikr Images The success of a school, district or educational program is often measured by how well students score on academic tests or whether they graduate on time. But as a school counselor, my experience says that these big-picture measures of success don’t tell the whole story. Every day there are countless non-academic [...]
Flikr Images Facebook recently updated an important tool designed to help users support friends expressing suicidal thoughts and behavior. The product, now available to every Facebook user, dispels the pervasive and dangerous myth that people who experience suicidal feelings are beyond help while also showing bystanders exactly how they can make a difference. Though Facebook is [...]
Pixabay Images The majority of antidepressants do not work on children and teenagers and prescribing them could do more harm than good, a major study in The Lancet has warned. A review of clinical trial evidence found that of 14 antidepressant drugs only one, fluoxetine - marketed as Prozac - was better than placebo [...]
Australian Health Policy Collaboration / Victoria University Almost every health indicator tells a troubling story about Australia's teenagers. Nine in 10 don't do enough exercise, three in 10 are either obese or overweight, they get 40 percent of their daily meals from junk food and the average sugar intake for teen boys is [...]
Flikr Images Aggressive behavior is often a facet of psychiatric disorders. But it also readily occurs in people with no such condition. Bullying has the potential to significantly reduce the victim's quality of life. As such, it is a topic well worthy of study. There has been a great deal of study into [...]
Flikr Images Have you ever been puzzled by a young person’s reaction to a good exam result, feel that they were exaggerating, or were jumping to conclusions? Unhelpful thinking styles could be a factor. The way a young person unconsciously thinks and evaluates the world impacts how they feel at any given moment. [...]
Flikr Images Finding out that a young person you care about has been injuring themselves deliberately can be frightening. Your first instinct is to protect them from harm, and this might lead you to try to take away any and all means of self-injury that they have available to them, and keep them [...]
