Handling stress
Here you'll find recipes, self-management tools and blog posts to help you support young people with handling stress.
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Navigating social media’s influence on the mental health of children and young people
Findings from the literature, with a focus on self-harm and suicidality In today’s digital age, social media is integral to children and young people’s lives. Its significant challenges, however, have been well documented, particularly concerning mental health. From Jonathan Haidt’s damning book, the Anxious Generation, to Swiped, a recent Channel4 documentary showing the impacts of…
Read moreOnline Bullying – respectme
By Lorraine Glass, Director, respectme – Scotland’s Anti-Bullying Service “I don’t make it my business to strike terror into the hearts of children – after all, it somewhat goes against the brief! …however I recall exactly the moment that I did just that, and wanted to share it with you. Almost a decade ago (scary…
Read moreWhat we learned from the Online Safety Live Event in Glasgow
We recently attended the Online Safety Live Event 2024 in Glasgow, run by the UK Safer Internet Centre, and here are some of the key things that we learned: Promoting the online safety of children and young people is a key policy priority in Scotland and the UK (Online Safety Act, Internet Safety for Children…
Read moreAye Mind – A year since our relaunch
We re-launched our Aye Mind project just over a year ago and are sharing some highlights of what we achieved in that time:
Read moreWhy Digital Youth Mental Health?
It’s no longer possible for us to support a child or young person’s (CYP) mental health without thinking about the online environment. This includes being aware of the risks of the online environment and encouraging CYP to maximise the benefits of being online. It also means knowing the benefits of digital tools in promoting wellbeing…
Read moreLoneliness in the Digital World
By Dr Zhuoni Xiao, Research Fellow, and Sarah Robertson, Youth Engagement Lead, on behalf of the Loneliness in the Digital World team, Generation Scotland. Loneliness and Social Interaction Loneliness has been identified as an important public health issue, peaking during adolescence (Park et al., 2020). Previous research has suggested that social interaction is a key…
Read moreSocial Media Series – YouTube
This is the first blog in a special social media series looking at popular social media platforms that are used by children and young people. The series aims to help you develop a foundational understanding of common platforms and how to support children and young people who use them to have a safe and positive…
Read moreGaming and Mental Health
Gaming is extremely popular with children and young people: 57% of UK children aged 3-15 play games online and 38% of those 16+ do (Ofcom, 2023). It can feel hard to keep up to date with the latest games, know their mental health impact, be aware of the key safety concerns, and how to support…
Read moreWhat is sextortion and how can we protect young people from it?
Sextortion has been in the news a lot lately. Increasing reports of young people being targeted and the devastating consequences that this can have on their lives led the National Crime Agency (NCA) to issue an unprecedented alert to UK schools about the rise in risk of sextortion. Those of us supporting young people need…
Read more11 Online Safety Resources
When we think about children and young people going online, often one of our main concerns is making sure that they are safe and have a positive experience. We know there is a range of online harms that they might come across, from bullying, online pornography, sexual exploitation and abuse, to content promoting self-harm or…
Read moreChildren and young people are being left behind – here’s what we can do about it
By Jane Grant, Health Improvement Lead, and Laura Hills, Health Improvement Senior, NHSGGC, on behalf of the Aye Mind Collaborative “Access to the digital world can no longer be seen as a luxury. Instead, digital inclusion must be seen as the cornerstone to ensuring social justice and equitable life chances for every child” (Unicef) The…
Read moreScreen time and mental health: What does the evidence say?
There is an ongoing and heated debate around the impact that “screen time” is having on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This debate is being amplified across media outlets, which often claim that social media is causing a youth mental health crisis. You don’t have to go far to find alarming headlines…
Read moreTen digital tools to help with anxiety
Anxiety is a normal emotion. All of us can feel it, but sometimes it can get out of control and can lead to a mental health problem. In fact, according to the Mental Health Foundation, nearly all young people in their research (86%) had felt anxious in the previous two weeks, and for over half…
Read moreThink technology is ruining our sleep? Think again
A guest blog written for World Sleep Day by Dr Dimitri Gavriloff, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Course Tutor in Sleep Medicine at Oxford University. Dimitri also works as Clinical Engagement Lead for Sleepio. “I know I shouldn’t be using my phone.…” is something I often hear from the patients I see with insomnia. I wonder…
Read moreDesigning for people that will be using this website – that’s you!
We began the re-boot project for Aye Mind with a big objective: learn from what we had done before, and have conversations with the community who will be using the site to really understand what you need from it (and our wider service).
Read morePartner insights: The power of digital tools for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing
The launch of Aye Mind is the result of months of hard work between the Mental Health Improvement Team at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and local partners. Everyone involved shared the same belief that digital technologies have a key role to play in child and youth mental health and wellbeing. We had the privilege…
Read moreThe Aye Mind co-production journey
By Heather Sloan on behalf of the Aye Mind Collaborative @heatsloan “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” (Benjamin Franklin) What is co-production and why does it matter? The Scottish Co-production Network defines co-production as a way of making decisions that combines everyone’s strengths so that…
Read moreProject 99: Perceptions of Mental Health
This blog is one of a series which showcase the findings from our Project 99 work. As part of this project, we gathered a range of insights from the young people regarding their views and experiences of mental health, social media, and online behaviour patterns. This blog looks specifically at young people’s perceptions of mental…
Read moreProject 99: Social Media and Mental Health
This blog is one of a series which showcase the findings from our Project 99 work. As part of this project, we gathered a range of insights from the young people regarding their views and experiences of mental health, social media, and online behaviour patterns. This blog looks specifically at young people’s perceptions of social…
Read moreProject 99: Social Media Challenges
This blog is one of a series which showcase the findings from our Project 99 work. As part of this project, we gathered a range of insights from the young people regarding their views and experiences of mental health, social media, and online behaviour patterns. This blog looks specifically at young people’s perceptions of the…
Read moreProject 99: Young People & Social Media
This blog is one of a series which showcase the findings from our Project 99 work. As part of this project, we gathered a range of insights from the young people regarding their views and experiences of mental health, social media, and online behaviour patterns. This blog looks specifically at young people’s views on social…
Read moreAnother Giant Leap – Digital Approaches to Youth Mental Health, Revisited and Refreshed
By Trevor Lakey, on behalf of the Aye Mind collaborative How time flies! Around a decade ago, we took our first giant leap for youth mental health, and started out on a bold journey to explore digital approaches to youth mental health. Today, our Aye Mind relaunch gives us the opportunity to look back at…
Read moreProject 99: Case Study – Lisa’s Story
This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we identified a number of young people who were able to provide some in-depth (anonymised) stories in a case study format. This gave us tremendous insights into experiences of mental health issues, use of…
Read moreProject 99: Case Study – Jenny’s Story
This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we identified a number of young people who were able to provide some in-depth (anonymised) stories in a case study format. This gave us tremendous insights into experiences of mental health issues, use of digital…
Read moreProject 99: Case Study – Greig’s Story
This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we identified a number of young people who were able to provide some in-depth (anonymised) stories in a case study format. This gave us tremendous insights into experiences of mental health issues, use of digital…
Read moreProject 99: Case Study – Ben’s Story
This case study is one of a series which were developed as part of our Project 99 work. Through a variety of youth work contacts, we identified a number of young people who were able to provide some in-depth (anonymised) stories in a case study format. This gave us tremendous insights into experiences of mental health issues, use of digital…
Read moreProject 99: Literature Review
This page provides an overview of a rapid review that we undertook into digital youth mental health as part of our Project 99 work. It frames the project’s context and provides key points from the literature, and from practice in Scotland, the UK and beyond. We begin with a brief analysis of quantitative data gathered by…
Read moreCo-designing Mental Health Services with Young People
During 2013, as part of our Project 99 work, we worked with local youth group to explore internet-based approaches to support young people’s mental health. In this blog, we share some of the tools and activities that we used to gather these insights. 6 one-to-one interviews and 5 group sessions The sessions were part of…
Read moreCo-design mental wellbeing tools
We ran a range of co-design sessions with young people where they explored the kind of services that would help foster mental wellbeing. Developing the ability to understand, express and share problems and emotions constructively is key to manage mental health and wellbeing. Throughout the process, four steps to mental wellbeing emerged which sit under…
Read moreOne giant leap for youth mental health
Fifty years ago, on 2nd June 1966, NASA landed Surveyor 1 on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for the Apollo missions. If you grew up in the 1960s and 1970s you were surrounded by the buzz of the space-age, with the advent of satellites and lunar rovers. It looked for a time…
Read moreYoung people’s manifesto
The young people we spoke to in our engagement sessions had an important message to share with anyone who designs resources for young people. They called it a Manifesto.
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