Each week on ReachOut Pro we highlight the discussions and
activities happening on ReachOut.com that you can
encourage young people you work with to get involved in. Click here to learn more about
ReachOut.com - Australia's leading online youth mental health
service.
The ReachOut.com forums are a safe
space where young people are encouraged to connect with other young
people who have been through similar issues and talk about these
issues in a positive productive way. The forums provide a valuable
support community for young people seeking to improve their mental
health and wellbeing, and can provide additional support between
sessions for young people you are working with.
MONDAY: School / Uni / TAFE Results - Getting Real discussion
Each Monday night ReachOut.com hosts discussion sessions on
general issues and topics that affect the mental health and
wellbeing of young people.
Next week Getting Real talks about getting results from
school/tafe/uni: how to deal with result anxiety, how to tell your
family and friends what you got, what if they're not what you
expected, how to deal with your family's reaction to your results
and how to keep things in perspective.
Date/Time: 8.00pm AEST (5pm in WA), Monday 12th
December
Link: http://forums.reachout.com/forumdisplay.php?6-Getting-Real-open-every-Monday-Night-from-8.00pm-AEST
Community Challenge - Get motivated!
December community challenge is under way, the challenge is to
make your own motivational poster and we've had lots of fantastic
contributions so far.
Ongoing
Link: http://forums.reachout.com/showthread.php?1811-Demotivate-to-motivate-December!
5 Things!
Zen-Den and Toolbox are the
two areas of the site that provide practical things to do to
improve your well being or get through a tough day. Zen-den
contains user generated activities to do in the forums mostly based
around positive psychology and mindfulness. Toolbox contains user
generated activities to do offline, and helpful practical
suggestions and ideas around help seeking.
The 5 things game is in Toolbox and has been
viewed nearly 8,000 times. It's a grounding activity that asks you
to name things you can see, feel, hear, smell etc. A user posted
this activity saying that: It's a good one to do if you
are heading off into a bad headspace and need to come back as it
helps to make you aware of your surroundings. It can be hard if you
are having a really tough day but it is good to try.
It's a great example of young people sharing coping strategies
and helping each other to understand their experiences.
Link: http://forums.reachout.com/showthread.php?69-Five-Things-Game
Want to learn more about what young people are getting out of using
online spaces like ReachOut.com?
Read Beck's story
about her help seeking experience and how she uses online spaces to
support her mental health and wellbeing.