Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.

Hi everyone out there in Reach Out PRO land! My name is Jenna and this is my very first blog for ROPRO (you'll be hearing more from me!). I am a young person, an Inspire Foundation Youth Ambassador and Research Study Champion and on top of this I am a Student Paramedic in my final three months of uni.

Today's blog is more of an introduction from me and why young people contributing to the blog is such an awesome thing. I've seen a lot out on road and in my personal experiences as being the next-of-kin to a young person with a mental illness and for us as professionals to be able to understand fully and continually learn about the young people we work with we require to listen to what young people have to say as ultimately (and speaking as a young person here) we know our age group the best!

On road we are being called out to more and more young people in crisis (which is different to an emergency… but that gets pretty technical and I shall leave it for another day) and we are noticing significant trends such as; the initial act of help- seeking (differences between guys and girls), follow up care in the community, metro vs. rural and many more (which I will touch on at different points). So that's it for now.

These blogs will *hopefully* be pretty regular and I hope to be able to provide an insight as both a young person and a health care professional.

Check out this blog post published by a psychologist in the US, talking about Mobile CBT programs: Positivity Works!

One is on Reach Out Central and the other on the role of the internet as a setting for the promotion of mental health, which explores patterns of internet use by young people in Australia and assess the usefulness of online resources for mental health problems, exploring functionality that may be relevant in the development of online mental health services.

To sign up and access these articles, please click here:

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/192_11_070610/contents_suppl_070610.html

Technology is fast becoming the key way for youth workers and other professionals to interact with young people on various levels. This can be highlighted through providing information on websites, instant chat via a social networking site or sharing personal stories though blogs and assisting in facilitation.

Technology is a great foundation to allow youth work practice to build from. Technology allows youth workers to dig under the surface of young people and understand and support them without having what sometimes is the confronting face to face contact. A survey conducted by The National Youth Agency in 2008, regarding social networking and involving 120 Youth Work Managers and Practitioners, key findings were established. These key findings suggested technology and online social working benefited youth work in the following ways: promoting events for young people to attend, establishing views on various topics from young people, keeping in contact with young people and sharing photos from events young people have participated in (Davis & Cranston 2008).

When discussing technology benefiting youth work facilitations, many key factors can be observed. Firstly, using slideshows, cameras and video or sound recordings often assists the youth worker in maintaining engagement with the young people. In addition, technology allows young people to express their feelings and emotions; which words or writing may not be able to effectively. For example, a young person may take a photograph or film an image which best represents how they feel about a certain topic, which words or speaking may not be able to achieve. By applying certain creative technology approaches to youth work facilitations the youth worker is able to provide easy alternative methods in gathering information.

It is essential to include the use of technology within youth work practice. When technology is applied correctly, the youth worker is able to build rapport, engagement, understand young people and their emotions and support young people without face to face contact.

Davies. T., Cranston. P 2008 Youth Work and Social Networking, The National Youth Agency and Practical Participation (online) http://www.gallomanor.com/files/GFSR.pdf. Retrieved June 8, 2010.

Psychiatrists Ian Hickie and Tanveer Ahmed debate whether the recent spike in depression cases signal the end of an old problem or the beginnings of a new one. (An ABC Production)

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The pursuit of happiness is one of the unalienable rights enshrined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. But is our relentless striving to feel good no matter what actually making us miserable? Would we be better to accept that life comes with good times and bad, and make peace with that?

This IQ2 debate, held in Sydney in March 2010, pits those who believe that happiness is a worthwhile goal that can be found in pleasures material and social, against those who hold that people should abandon unrealistic goals and seek quiet comfort within. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Professor Ian Hickie is a professor of psychiatry and the Executive Director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute, based at the University of Sydney. Hickie was the inaugural CEO of Beyondblue: the national depression initiative, which aims to address issues associated with depression.

Tanveer Ahmed is a psychiatry registrar and writer. He is a former television journalist who is a regular contributor to the major circulars, primarily The Sydney Morning Herald.

While Ahmed has varied interests (he is an appointee to the Advertising Standards Board, has been a national representative for the Australian Medical Association, has been chosen as one of 100 future leaders of Australia, and has even appeared as a co-host on a prime time game show), he is most well-known for his writings on Islamic affairs and multiculturalism.

http://fora.tv/2010/03/09/Is_the_Pursuit_of_Happiness_Making_Us_Miserable

We know that involving young people in service planning, delivery and evaluation results in services that are more effective, relevant and able to meet young people's needs.  There can also be significant benefits for the young people involved who may develop new skills, become more confident and experience a sense of self efficacy.  There are some excellent resources available to support professionals who work with young people to practice youth participation face to face, but how do we effectively utilise technology to involve young people in making decisions to inform the services they access?
The principles of youth participation remain the same - regardless of whether the engagement with young people takes place online or offline.
These principles include:

• Empowerment:  young people have greater control over their lives through participation
• Purposeful engagement:  young people taking on valued roles, addressing issues that are relevant to them and influencing real outcomes
• Inclusiveness:  ensuring that all young people are able to participate (Office for Youth and Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, 2003)

Providing access is available, technology enables young people to participate in more flexible ways.  For example, a young person who may not be able to make it to meetings or workshops face to face due to mobility issues, may be able to contribute online from their own home.  Similarly a young person with caring responsibilities who is unable to leave the home during the day without respite being provided, may be able to participate online out of hours.
Some strategies others have found useful to foster participation include:

• Establishing secure online forums and conducting structured or unstructured online discussions on issues relating to service planning.  These forums can also be utilised by young people to plan actions they would like to undertake or plan their involvement in service delivery.
• Utilising a private group on Facebook to allow young pople to provide feedback on a service or policy
• Empowering young people to blog (either by writing or posting photographs or video content) about issues they care about as an advocacy strategy
• Conducting workshops with young people to skill them in digital storytelling and multimedia production
• Supporting young people to facilitate peer support forums to improve the well-being of their peers.

How have you effectively utilised technology to foster youth participation?

Resources

• Taking Young People Seriously Series
• Taking PARTicipation Seriously Kit

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.

Blaise Pascal

While we work together to promote the mental health and wellbeing of young people, it's important we consider how our workplaces support mental health and wellbeing. Take a moment to consider the relationship you have with your colleagues, or if you are a manager, those you support. Do your work relationships support your colleagues' happiness and that of your own?

Some of the best managers I've worked with keep their focus on what's working well and expressing appreciation of the team's efforts as well as helping the team identify goals for improvement. In particular, they resist pointing out what a person is doing wrong. The thing is that knowing what the problem is, doesn't necessarily mean that workers know what they should be doing differently.

Well functioning workplaces usually have people who can clearly identify what needs to be done, and who are focused on that. And while it's great to be future focused on what can be done better, it's important to also appreciate what the team is currently doing well.

Managers can develop their teams so that they support and express their appreciation of each other. Consider the questions below:

• What are the strengths of your team in achieving your vision?
• What good systems and practices do you have in place that keep you working well?
• How do you show appreciation to each other?
• How do you survive in the tough times?
• How can you unlock the potential of your team to achieve its best?

Fear is one thing that holds a lot of people back from a lot of things. In my coaching work I find that fear is one of the biggest issues in people be willing and able to change and get healthy. It is easy for people we work with to focus on the negative aspect of fear and let it determine so many of their decisions. This can happen in their work, in relationships, with friends, in sport, and anywhwere else you can think of.

I decided to google FEAR and found that the number 1 result was a game (followed by good old Wikipedia). It's funny how fear is something that can be so entertaining (like all the movies I can't stand) but also can keep people in bad patterns in life. I have found so often that the fear of the unknown is often stronger than the desire for change, even when things have gotten really really bad in peoples lives. Fear is an aspect of working with people that can bring a significant level of change when addressed.

To keep things simple this blog, I have thought of 3 quick questions that may be worth asking when your working with someone dealing with fear (or even to ask yourself).

• If you think ahead 2 years from now, what could a current fear have stopped you from doing?
• If you could overcome your fear, what is 1 thing you would change right now?
• On a scale of 1-10 how ready are you to face some fears that hold you back? What is 1 thing you can do to move up the scale?

Hope this helps some people let go of some fears and take hold of some things that have seemed out of reach.

Do online service providers like Google and Facebook have a social responsibility for how people use their sites? Are they morally obliged to amend results for things like suicide searches? And if they do, will that help keep people alive?

Google's latest big move is to intervene in suicide searches, in partnership with a U.S suicide prevention helpline. It's a big move. Until now, Google have been a strong advocate of giving you what you ask for when you search - be it good, bad or ugly. The new move has re-opened a giant can of worms over the moral obligations of web giants like Facebook and Google. Can changing search results be good corporate social responsibility or has Google gone too far?

Rather than just delivering the search results you ask for, Google has recently adopted a 'we know best' approach, starting in the United States. From now on, certain searches deemed suicidal will no longer generate automatic results from a complicated algorithm. Instead, searches like 'I want to die' or 'ways to commit suicide' will automatically generate a red telephone icon and the number of a suicide helpline at the top of search results. The same approach was adopted for poison control not long ago, after a mother found it difficult to locate a phone number for poison information.

Does it work?

So far, the Google move has got a big pat on the back for increasing traffic to the helpline by 10%. Though there's no way to measure how many suicides this new measure has actually prevented, it's hard to argue that, in terms of suicide prevention, the new search results could be doing much harm.

On the other hand, it could definitely be doing more good. There is a lot of potential for Google to introduce the measure in other countries (like Australia!) and expand the search criteria as well. At the moment, the helpline icon only turns up in U.S search results. Even then, the search terms used have to be spot on with those ear-marked by Google. Anything that doesn't match up exactly to Google's very short list will turn up regular search results, including pro-suicide websites. The icon also only shows up on the first page of search results.

What's all the fuss about?

It's hard to say that providing or emphasising a helpline contact for those at risk of suicide could be a bad thing. For some though, Google's interference with search results sets a dangerous precedent.

There is potential for Google to start 'prioritising' results on searches around other social concerns. Issues like murder, child abuse and obesity are some of the suggestions being put forward. Who knows? It may be great thing, it may be a disaster. That's the problem. Deciding on which issues it's ok to intervene in and which aren't is a very slippery slope. There's also some debate as to which organisations should get Google's priority placement. Why not someone else doing similar work? The questions we face here aren't that different to those raised by Google donating ad or 'sponsored link' space for charities in a similar search here in Australia.

The saving grace of the Google move is that the rest of your search results aren't altered. There's an extra result added in and emphasized at the top of your page, but the rest of your search will show up as normal. Google isn't seeking to remove anything that isn't in line with its philosophy from your line of view, but prioritise something that was a little hard to find before.

At the end of the day, the discussion really boils down to the role of service providers like Google in social issues like suicide. Some of us may think Google (and others) have some moral responsibility for how people use their service. In this vein, the Google move isn't that different from Facebook intervening in cases of cyber bullying, or YouTube taking measures to keep children safe from online predators. In a way, this kind of behaviour becomes an online form of corporate social responsibility.

Taken from 3things newsletter produced by Actnow.com.au