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Teen Mental Health in an Online World

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Teen Mental Health in an Online World: Supporting Young People around their Use of Social Media, Apps, Gaming, Texting and the Rest

Social media and technology can be a force for good in young people's lives, but it also has the potential to be damaging to their mental health. How can adults engage with teens' online lives in order to support their mental health? 

Bell House and Connections in Mind Foundation are collaborating over this year to co-host a series of events focused on how adults can support children and young people to flourish. This first event will see Dr Victoria Betton and Dr James Woollard talking about the findings in their book ‘Teen Mental Health in an Online World'. They will be offering their insights on how adults can engage with teens' online lives to support their mental health and will also explore some of the latest research insights into this topic.

Their talk will draw on interviews they carried out with young people about how adults can have open and inquiring conversations with teens about both the positive and negative aspects of their use of online spaces. At the end of the evening we will also be hearing first hand from some young people about their thoughts on the topics and their responses to the key messages that Victoria and James offer.

Tickets cost £15. 

We have bursary places available - please contact [email protected] for more information.

About the speakers

Dr Victoria Bretton is founder and director of mHabitat – an NHS hosted organisation which supports people-centred digital innovation in health and care. She is a qualified social worker with over twenty years experience in local government, third sector and the NHS. She is a qualified coach and has Masters degrees in Women’s Studies, Social Work and a Diploma in Public Sector Relations. Her doctoral research was on the theme of mental health and online social networks. You can find her blog at www.codesigndigitalhealth.co.uk. She is involved in steering HealthTech Women North and Digital Leaders Y&H and is an Improvement Fellow at the Y&H Improvement Academy. You can find her on Twitter @VictoriaBetton and her Pets as Therapy dog Bibi on Instagram at bibithepatdog.

Dr James Woollard is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Senior Clinical Fellow in Mental Health Technology and Innovation at NHS England. His role involves bringing together and co-ordinating the national policy programs for Mental Health and Technology. He is chair of the national Expert Reference Group for Digital Innovation and Adoption in Psychological Therapies as part of the Improved Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme.

Connections in Mind Foundation

Our mission is to to support children and young people to develop executive function skills, a fundamental aspect of brain development which has a profound impact on students’ learning and wellbeing. These are skills we need to flourish in life, and poor executive functioning can negatively impact on academic achievement, emotional wellbeing, and job outcomes. We achieve this mission by raising awareness through training parents and schools; evaluating approaches to strengthen children and young people’s executive function skills; and offering executive function coaching for children and young people from all backgrounds.