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Description
Teenagers found themselves in a difficult situation during the coronavirus pandemic. Because they are not allowed to socialize with peers to the same extent as before, they have fewer opportunities to confide their mental distress or even suicidal thoughts to anyone. There is a “Svetovalnica” (peer counseling forum) on the website www.pil.si, where teenagers share their problems and their peers help them. During the pandemic, we noticed an increase in mental health problems. We read some messages about teens being depressed and contemplating suicide. In a period when socializing is limited, it is important to empower young people to be able to identify a peer in need, identify warning signs that an individual is in mental distress and that he is thinking about suicide, and to know how to respond accordingly. It is important to encourage young people in need to confide their problems to others, as well as to empower others to recognize mental distress and learn to respond to it.
Our project will raise awareness of the importance of mental health through the website of the magazine Pil, an article in the magazine Pil and social networks of the magazine Pil, and empower teenagers with the knowledge of how to recognize a peer in need and how to help him. We will prepare an article for the magazine and its web page, an animated video for the website and social networks, materials for social networks and an interactive online test to help teenagers recognize the warning signs that a person is mentally distressed and contemplating suicide.
Our target group is teenagers, primary school students from 11 to 15 years.
The project is implemented by Fixmedia, creative agency with extensive experience in working with and for young people, in collaboration with Pil magazine, which will offer its media space to reach the target group.
Summary of project results
Adolescence is a period of great change and many teens might feel as though no one understands them during these years. They find it difficult to confide their troubles to anyone, because they think they are "strange" due to these feelings and that something is wrong with them. Even if they pluck up the courage to talk about it, they usually confide in their peers. It is important to be aware that their peers do not have sufficient experience in recognizing and responding to severe mental distress common in this period of drastic change.
Teenagers found themselves in a difficult situation during the new coronavirus pandemic. Because they are not allowed to socialize with their peers to the same extent as before, they have fewer opportunities to confide their mental distress or even suicidal thoughts to anyone. There is a Counseling Center on the website www.pil.si where teenagers write about their distress and their peers help them. During the pandemic, we noticed an increase in mental distress, including the occasional individuals saying they can no longer endure their situation and are contemplating suicide.
In a time when socializing is limited, we find it important to empower young people aged 11 to 15 to be able to recognize when their peers are in distress and to respond appropriately. For this purpose, we will prepare attractive materials for teenagers, which will raise awareness of the above-mentioned issues. We will prepare an interactive test and an article on the Pil magazine website, which will also be published in a shorter form in the Pil magazine. Our main communication method will be a social media campaign raising awareness through attractive videos. The videos will be made in the style of "draw my life" videos that teenagers love to watch on YouTube.
The results of the campaign included: 50.000 teenagers informed, developed competencies of young people for recognizing warning signs of peers in need and for appropriate response and help, young people encouraged to trust others in need, ncreased awareness of young people about the importance of mental health.