So what's in the video Program?
Course Curriculum
- Introduction: MySociaLife's unique perspective (5:35)
- We need to understand the dynamics of the 'digital divide' between generations (6:12)
- What do teens and tweens have to deal with online? (6:25)
- Monitoring tools: Observation, assessment, agreement and settings (4:40)
- Categorising risk within the vast landscape of apps (4:04)
- 19 support apps and online tools for MH professionals, during social distancing (and after!) (17:38)
- Summary list of supporting apps (as mentioned)
- Take The Quiz! (5 minutes)
What kids have to deal with online
Unless you specifically work with teens and pre-teens daily, most adults have a limited sense of the complexity of life online. There is an inevitability for those with devices to experience bullying and trolling, identity theft, obsessive use of screens, approaches from strangers, and the impact on their esteem from comparing themselves to others. And much more.
Monitoring tools
As mental health practitioners know all too well, a problem is easier to tackle, when you can identify and then accept there is a problem. And the more they are online, the more they experience challenges without realising that screen time and levels of anxiety are related, in some cases. The course offers links to the universal addiction test, plus apps which will help to monitor, assess and identify screen time and usage.
Apps and therapeutic support tools
We have collated 13 apps for mental health practitioners to first test, and then share with their patients. Due to social distancing, therapists may not be able to physically meet with their patients, or video call is insufficient, these interim support tools - used by cognitive therapists - include meditation, sleep assistance, anxiety monitoring and support, self-harm, values-based work (ACT), and journaling.
It's an unprecedented and impossible situation right now. And kids need help. But do adults understand their social context?
Hi, I’m Dean McCoubrey, and my company MySociaLife is the leading digital citizenship educator to grades 4 to 12 in South Africa. We teach thousands of teens and pre-teens via 8-modules (of 60 minutes each) unpacking the risks and pressures of life online. This means we have unique access to what teens and pre-teens are struggling with across bullying, self-esteem and anxiety, privacy, sexuality and the incessant pressures of overwhelming media and comparison.
Testimonial from Willem de Jager, Principal Psychologist at Red Cross Children's Hospital Africa, Child Psychiatry Unit
"Clearly, you know this topic from the inside-out and you have a manner and style of presenting that makes the staff here grasp the roles these devices play in our patient’s lives. Though your talk to us was short and a condensed version, it left me with clear understanding that our children are in trouble, with the failure of older generations to manage this technology unleashed, qualifying to be seen as “psychological neglect”. We are placing them at risk and the excuse of “don’t know how it works” just isn't good-enough."