A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
In a split second, her body would heat up. Her eyesight would start to go, leaving her with tunnel vision. And, if she wasn't careful, she would start to hyperventilate. As she sat in the classroom of her Taranaki high school, 17-year-old Nuutea Itchner's anxiety would render her mute and she would be unable to [...]
Almost half of the poorer mental health we see in teenagers with a disability is due to bullying, our new research shows. If we could stop the high levels of bullying that adolescents with a disability experience, we could make a big difference to their health, learning and wellbeing. So school anti-bullying programs need to [...]
Childline has seen a 14% rise in the number of children contacting the charity about loneliness. In 2017/18, the charity delivered 4,636 counselling sessions on loneliness, compared to 4,063 the year before. Nearly 80% of sessions went to girls. Some said watching their friends socialise without them on social media made them feel increasingly isolated. This [...]
More than 56 per cent of students with disabilities had experienced bullying over a 12-month period, a national survey has found. The survey, by Children and Young People with Disability Australia, revealed students experienced a range of bullying including being punched, kicked, headbutted, cyberbullied, spat on and having food or rocks thrown at them. Some [...]
Living with Tourette's isn't easy for sufferers or their families - mostly because of the way people react to sudden outbursts of swearing or strange sounds and movements. But there's one place, once a year, where they can feel free. "It's just good to be around other people who understand," said Jack Van Hees in [...]
It was winter 2013 - late in the evening - when my mobile began buzzing from the kitchen table. Alastair Clarkson’s name was flashing brightly on the screen, and immediate panic set in. When a head coach calls after dark, it’s like a police officer knocking on the front door: it can only be bad [...]
Children and young people under 25 who are victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to self-harm and enact suicidal behavior, according to a new study. The research also suggests that it is not just the victims of cyberbullying that are more vulnerable to suicidal behaviours, but the perpetrators themselves are at higher [...]
Humans are the most social species on the planet. Most of us spend most of our lives working, eating, sleeping, and playing in groups that range in size from two people all the way up to nations and humanity as a whole. Woven through the tapestry of our relationships are several major threads. One of these [...]
"Your kids are living in a world that you are not invited to be part of. And they know how to keep you out." That's the stark warning one teacher has issued to parents about their teens' use of social media, urging them to "wake up". Skipper Coates, from Pleasant Grove, Utah, asked her 14 [...]
Glued to screens and with nothing else in town to entertain them, Warwick youth carry their problems everywhere and there is no escape. Former Warwick State High School student and young leader Jacob Meiklejohn said many adults did not understand the unique challenges millennials faced in an age of social media. On the National Day [...]
