A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Could you imagine sending a sexually explicit photo of yourself to a stranger? Maybe your children can. Research published this year suggests one in seven teenagers have sent explicit texts and one in four have received them. It prompted the Australian Medical Association to overhaul its youth outreach program, Dr YES (Youth Education Session), to [...]
This is a longer read at just over 1,300 words. Enjoy! A new school year can be daunting for any parent, prompting many questions: will my child settle in, make friends and progress academically? If your child has a disability these worries can seem too big to overcome. In Australia, teachers often feel unprepared to [...]
The human need for connection leads young people to be especially vulnerable to extremist groups who promise deep connection, comradeship, brotherhood and belonging. Even a cursory glance at recent books on extremism makes clear the kinds of emotions that most scholars and policymakers see as central to the appeal of the radical right. Titles like [...]
The Invictus Games has highlighted the plight of veterans who are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But how does it impact their families and children? Veteran and co-founder of Soldier On, John Bale, said while the veteran community had become much more open about PTSD, families were still suffering from associated anxiety and depression [...]
Teenage boys as young as 16 are experiencing symptoms of erectile dysfunction due to excessively viewing violent and hardcore pornography, an expert has revealed. And the ready access to porn on every device at any time of the day is teaching dangerous lessons about what healthy sexual relationships should be like. Psychologist and writer Collett [...]
They call themselves the King Stones after their home suburb in Logan — Kingston. Get it? Like all teenagers, they love listening to music. But these teens from Logan, south of Brisbane, face a whole lot more than just the usual adolescent angst. Aged from 17 to 19, the members of the King Stones all [...]
Cyberbullying peaks when students are on summer break, but parents are leaving teachers to deal with the fallout when the school year resumes, educators and experts say. Melbourne teacher Joel Hamilton* has had enough of your children. Specifically, he's had enough of you. "Teachers are fighting a losing battle against parents," the primary school educator [...]
We know from new research that children whose mothers are depressed may respond differently to stress, have altered immunity and be at greater risk of psychological disorders. This work adds to the body of research showing children can be affected in negative and long-term ways by their mothers’ mental ill-health. But what about dads? Men’s [...]
I care deeply about young people and have done since I too was a moody, often confused adolescent who made some big, sometimes life-threatening, mistakes. The development of the physical body together with sexual urges, novelty seeking behaviours, rapidly changing moods and emotional states make adolescence a very interesting time. The developing pre-frontal lobe affects [...]
If you feel you consistently fail at your New Year’s resolutions, you are not alone. Despite our good intentions, we’re pretty poor at changing our own behaviour. We continue to smoke, eat or drink too much, and exercise too little, all of which affect our health and well-being. In trying to change behaviour (including our [...]
