A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
People used to call Anika the Snap Queen. Between the ages of 19 and 21, she was “obsessed with Snapchat, to the point where I had 4,000 followers”. At the peak of her “tragic” behaviour, she reckons now – a year after quitting the image-sharing app – she was taking 25 selfies a day. She [...]
A trove of internal documents have revealed how Facebook was concerned children were spending large amounts on in-app payments without parents’ permission - but seemingly chose not to act. Discussions showed the firm decided not to implement certain safeguards as it might affect overall revenues from people paying for games. The documents formed part of [...]
A new study from the U.K. examined the link between social media use and depression-type symptoms in almost 11,000 14-year-olds. Researchers found that girls were two times more likely to be depressed than boys, primarily because of cyberbullying and harassment issues. Why are the results of this study so surprising? Almost 40 percent of the [...]
Does physical activity reduce depression, or does depression reduce physical activity? It's a quintessential chicken and egg scenario — and a question that's plagued scientists for some time. Now, thanks to the power of modern genomics, a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry provides the "strongest evidence" yet that exercise has a protective effect against [...]
Most young people in the youth justice system have been found to come from “troubled” backgrounds. However, many people with similar backgrounds don’t ever end up in youth justice services. Knowing why people with troubled childhoods may be more likely to engage in criminal activity is necessary to inform the development of effective prevention and [...]
At the beginning of this year, I was using my iPhone to browse new titles on Amazon when I saw the cover of “How to Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price. I downloaded it on Kindle because I genuinely wanted to reduce my smartphone use, but also because I thought it would be [...]
This is a longer read at just under 2,000 words. Enjoy! The beginning of the 2019 school year will be a time of planning and crystal-gazing. Teachers will plan their instructional agenda in a general way. Students will think about another year at school. Parents will reflect on how their children might progress this year. [...]
A 10-year-old boy named James has an outburst in school. Upset by something a classmate says to him, he pushes the other boy, and a shoving-match ensues. When the teacher steps in to break it up, James goes ballistic, throwing papers and books around the classroom and bolting out of the room and down the [...]
Forensic interviews are intended to gather evidence from minors who may have information about a crime under investigation. But many children who have been traumatized—often by those in a position of (supposed) care and authority—are unable to express, or explain, what has happened to them. Even highly trained professionals are at times ill-equipped to decode [...]
Could you imagine sending a sexually explicit photo of yourself to a stranger? Maybe your children can. Research published this year suggests one in seven teenagers have sent explicit texts and one in four have received them. It prompted the Australian Medical Association to overhaul its youth outreach program, Dr YES (Youth Education Session), to [...]
