Young People and The Digital World Building resilience for the future Sarah Brennan Chief Executive,

YoungMinds champions the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people across the UK. Driven by their experience we create positive change so that children and young people can cope with life’s adversities, find help when they need it and succeed in life.

Helping you address the stresses and strains of school life Training for school leaders, staff, parents and governors Develop your team’s understanding and skills through training from our experts. Sessions can be held in or out of house and tailored to all levels Consultancy Support Employ our Academic Resilience and other specialist consultancy support your school Working with young people Contact us to book our YoungMinds Vs workshops to help pupils fight the pressures that contribute to poor mental health and emotional wellbeing School and Community Fundraising Taking part in fundraising on behalf of YoungMinds is a great way to have fun, raise vital funs and improve awareness of the importance of young peoples mental health and wellbeing in your school

 Experimentation  Adult decision making  Exploring identities, sexuality  Building self confidence  Learning to care for themselves  Heightened impulsivity  Attention seeking  Sexual interest  Locus of identity shifts from family to peers

 Exposure to messages, images, peer discussion can reinforce negative self image and beliefs  Excessive use of social media linked to depression  Continuous checking of messages, likes and refreshing content streams can contribute to heightened anxiety, lowering self- esteem, addictive or obsessive beliefs/behaviours  Online risks often connected to offline patterns behaviour and can escalate existing problems

 Amount of screen time affects sleep patterns: lack of sleep due to obsessive patterns of behaviour (social media late into the night) and from blue light emissions.  Lack of sleep affects mood, causal relationship with depression and anxiety  Impact on healthy brain and social skills development of overdependence on screen time and online relationships – age and amount of time impact

 Considerable concern about children and young people’s online safety  Introduction of blocking, private views, reporting functions  Initiated once young person already exposed to the violent/sexualised imagery  Some evidence to show overly controlled creates a risk  Siblings play important role; tutor, controller etc  Family dynamics important – parents confidence, overly controlled prevents learning

 Enhance children’s workforce skills in positive digital engagement  Help children learn how to manage online: build ‘digital resilience’ in school & home:  How to create positive content  Learn how to stay safe; for yourself and others  Build empathy on and offline  Identify, understand and deal with challenging content  How to balance lives and identities on and offline

 Identify early indicators of mental distress online and introduce prompts e.g. supportive signposting or messaging triggered by length of time online, or obsessive behaviours  Develop apps, games, interactive activities to help children learn and understand about themselves and each other  Develop new online solutions enabling young people to have online communities of peer support + education around digital world

 Targets 5,000 schools in 5 years schools with “Mental Fitness” Activity Pack, sessions led by our Young Activists to help develop understanding and peer support. New online peer support site.  A ‘cool’ campaign – Mental health is a positive  Information resources for parents and professionals e.g. films, guide for parents, curriculum content for schools, training  Reflected approach for 18+ – young adults and students  Policy and industry influencing strategy to develop technology and schools

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