My recent talks about digital youth mental health

Hello readers,

I must apologise for the lengthy gap between my last blog and this one. My blogging activity (or lack thereof) is directly linked to the amount of time I have spent running around working, speaking and campaigning so as you can imagine I’ve been very, very busy recently.

I will be following this post up with a blog on what young people want when it comes to mental health support, and in particular what role they want technology to play. It’s something I care about passionately and have dedicated much of the last six years of my professional life to.

There have been two events I’ve spoken at recently that have acted as the catalyst to the aforementioned blog which I thought I would summarise to give you all some context and an update on what I’ve been up to recently if you haven’t been following my Twitter account.

The Kings Fund:
The Art of The Possible: How will health and care be transformed in the age of information sharing?

This first event was a roundtable discussion, it was incredibly popular as you can imagine given the title and by the end it was standing room only. It heartens me that there is such a clear, strong appetite for discussions of this nature.

It’s also one of the first events I’ve been to in a long time where I knew next to no one- often I feel I am just preaching to the converted so this was a chance to share my experiences and ideas with a new crowd.

We adhered to Chatham House Rules during the event so I can’t divulge who said what but I will say that it was very interesting how many people started their contributions with comments along the lines of “I could never say this at work..”. This suggests to me there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to bring digital to the masses in the health sector as well as a fair amount of resistance to new ways of working which is something I certainly experienced while working for the NHS.

I gave the opening talk, sharing my personal experiences of using mental health services for the last 11 years and being a digital entrepreneur and activist. This involved a quick run through of my own health journey from the age of 6 when I became symptomatic right up to where I am now aged 25.

I spoke about how much the internet and the support I received online not only helped but probably saved me, especially during my teens when I was at my lowest point. If you’ve heard me speak before you will know I have spent a good 12 years using online support such as chat rooms, message boards and in the last few years social media to provide and receive advice, information and very importantly peer support.

If you’d like to read more I strongly recommend you read this article by Dr Roger Stedman who attended the event which has the brilliant title; Time For a Digital Citizens Revolt.

Westminster Briefing: Improving Mental Health Services for Children and Young People: Identifying Need and Targeting Support 

Yesterday I found myself on a list of speakers which pretty much sums up my dream team- three incredible women who I’ve had the distinct pleasure to work with over the last few years:

Geraldine Strathdee- When I first started working at the NHS a few years ago everyone, and I mean everyone that had anything to do with mental health said to me, “Kat you have GOT to meet Geraldine, she is your kindred spirit” – I was not disappointed.

Geraldine has some serious clout as National Clinical Director for Mental Health in England but what I find truly inspirational about her is that she’s so down to earth and when it comes to mental health she just “gets it”. She  works, often 18 hours a day, always seven days a week, to try and improve mental health services. She is a passionate advocate for service user voice and involvement and I think she, against all odds, bringing about real change in the system.

She’s on Twitter and always open to ideas, comments and suggestions- in particular if you know of good practice happening in mental health please tell her so she can share the learning. She also blogs and you can find some of them here.

Lise Hertel- Lise is one of most inspiring and driven GPs I’ve ever met. She’s based in East London and also works for Newham CCG. It has crossed my mind on more than one occasion that I should probably move to her catchment area so I would never have to worry about having a bad GP-mental health experience ever again!

Lise is very forward thinking and a real believer in innovation and technology. As a service user, before I met people like Lise and other CCG mental health leads in London the idea of GPs commissioning mental health services scared the **** out of me because of my many awful experiences previously. However many of my concerns simply evaporated when I met people like Lise. I think, as much as there is a lot of risk, there is also a huge opportunity in GP led commissioning for mental health and will be watching closely to see what happens in the next few years.

Sarah Brennan– Sarah is the CEO of a charity you’ve all heard me rave about before: YoungMinds. I got involved in the organisation six years ago in January and I can honestly credit them with entirely turning my life around and giving me purpose.

Before YoungMinds I didn’t talk about my mental health offline, I didn’t wear short sleeves and I lived essentially in the mental health “closet”. YoungMinds helped me find my voice and gave me a platform to share my experiences, build my confidence and also introduced me to a group of young people who are essentially now an extension of my family.

I’d strongly recommend you:

Sign up to the YoungMinds VS campaign which has five areas in which we want to fight the pressure experienced by young people and create a mass movement for change.

Sign the YoungMinds petition to stop cuts to children and young people’s mental health services– you will be in good company as over 16,000 have already signed.

The event

I did my usual talk, very like the one I gave to the Kings Fund around what young people want from mental health services and also gave five examples of really great digital tools and services currently available including the amazing organisation I work for; BuddyApp..this will be the subject of a blog coming shortly.

We also heard from the awe inspiring work of Highfield Community Primary School in Sunderland who, through work with Place2Be have become a real beacon of hope to the children, parents and community they work with. As someone who had an awful time with mental illness at my own school growing up I really wish I had a Tardis so I could do my time again and attend this school which really prioritises the health and wellbeing of their pupils.

If you have any questions or ever want to pick my brains when it comes to technology and youth mental health please don’t hesitate to contact me, either through my twitter account or by email at kat@buddyapp.co.uk

Acceptance speech perhaps?

It’s taken me awhile to put out this first blog of the year. After the literal and figurative madness that sums up the end of 2013 I for some reason naively thought January might be a bit quieter..how wrong I was!

Over the Christmas holidays I was surprised to discover I had been nominated for not one but two awards from Mentally Wealthy. I’m a long time reader of the site and previous iterations such as This Week In Mentalists and have a huge amount of respect for the bloggers involved so I was certainly not expecting to see my own name appear in the nominations!

I came runner up in This Week In Mentalists Award 2013 in “Campaigning” and the Twitter based
Twental Health Awards 2013  in “Professional Not Otherwise Specified”.

Clearly all those teenage years hidden behind a computer screen blogging, moderating and being on social media paid off!-I have of course pointed this out to my parents to show them I didn’t waste my teenage years online! It is still something I have to pinch myself over though. As someone who at points genuinely didn’t expect to see her 16th birthday let alone their 24th it amazes me how far I have come. I’ve said many times before that if I could go back and tell my 14 year old self what things would be like in a decade I would most likely laugh in my own face. I am proof that it can and does get better even if “better” isn’t what you expected or planned.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough (and believe me i was taken aback as it was), Vinspired announced that I was a Regional Winner in their Vinspired National Awards as “Most Outstanding Social Entrepreneur” for my work on the WellHappy app.

This is a huge thing for both myself personally and for the WellHappy project and I am still so stunned that I’ve won.

So I guess I have to do some kind of acceptance speech? Don’t worry i’m not going to sit here for the next 10 pages and bore the pants off you but I do have some people that need to be thanked for their part in this.

YoungMinds

Firstly I need to thank YoungMinds which includes all the young people and staff I have been so fortunate to have in my life these past five years. It’s corny but it’s also fair to say that I could not have done this without you all and you deserve a lot of the credit for this award. Before I started volunteering with the charity I was very much in the mental health “closet”..now I am winning awards for speaking out about mental health & wellbeing. Participation helped me find my voice and campaigning gave me a platform and a purpose and I don’t dare think where I would be now without your support.

NHS

I also want to thank the NHS or more specifically my employers and colleagues within the NHS and in particular at myhealthlondon. When I was brought in to work in the NHS on secondment from YoungMinds for the WellHappy project it was a test, a trial run for 4 months. 15 months later I am still working with you after repeated contract extensions and a promotion. You took a chance on me, knowing full well all of my mental health history and that I was still technically a “young person”. It has been a pleasure having a job where I actually feel accepted and like I am able to do some good and make changes for the better.

And I would also like to say a big thank you to my wonderful friend Jenny Hills for nominating me.

And one last thank you to my long suffering boyfriend Ryan Jackson for putting up with me while i run around like, (once again both a literal & figurative) crazy lady. I certainly couldn’t have done half as much over the past 5 years without your support.

Anyway that is quite enough gushing for me for one day, i’m not sure it suits me! At this point I would probably trip over my feet on the way off stage.

And the thing is, this was only the start of the year and much has happened since then, but that is for another post.

Week Two: Eating Disorders Awareness Week

The second week of February, well from the 11^th to today, the 17^th of February it has been the annual Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

Every year i am blown away by the amount of support and awareness raising that goes on during this week, especially by Beat the eating disorders charity.

And this year was no different with both their “Sock it to Eating Disorders” and “Everybody knows somebody” campaigns which both received a lot of high profile support and attention.

Some things i absolutely must mention..

My wonderful friend and London VIR for YoungMinds Amy-Louise posted this inspirational video. Amy-Louise reached out to the online community and asked them to send her their videos and the result is both heartwarming and heart breaking in equal measures.

You can also visit her blog and Youtube channel to see more of the wonderful work that she does.

There were also some amazing blogs this week on YoungMinds website from young people and their families on the themes of Eating Disorders and Recovery. Please remember that all blogs of this nature can be triggering if you are struggling and should be watched only if you are feeling up to it.

And i know this is a bit of a selfish and silly one but i was incredibly excited that i was re-tweeted by Stephen Fry even if it did involve airing his dirty laundry!:

Stephen Fry retweets WellHappy!

 

There was also a groundbreaking debate on Eating Disorders held in Parliament on Friday and chaired by Caroline Noakes MP, Head of the APPG on Body Image and a vocal campaigner for change and awareness. I have started talking to her over Twitter and am hoping to meet with her soon.

I will be posting more specifically about this debate in a blog coming soon. Watch this space!

When targeted advertising sucks: eating disorders, childhood bullies & dead friends on Facebook..

I just had a friend call me up to see if i knew that there was a large picture urging you to lose weight at the bottom of my last post on Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Now as far as i can see there isn’t one (but i am paranoid) so this leads me suggest it is our dear old enemy targeted advertising.

Unfortunately because my blog discusses things such as “anorexia” and “eating disorders” and other key words like this, I and many Eating Disorder websites and forums suffer from very inappropriate, triggering and potentially dangerous targeted advertising.

I see it all the time, well i used to before i got Ad Block, and it was horrible. Diet pill ads on Pro-recovery websites for people with eating disorders, babies toys advertised on bereavement forums. And there are just so many more examples out there.

And who out there hasn’t had Facebook suggest they befriend their old childhood bully, or wished a dead friend who just can’t bear to “remove” just yet a happy birthday or asked why you haven’t spoken to them recently. Unpleasant!

Targeted advertising is still  a shockingly blunt tool at times and the best way i’ve found to deal with the problem is..

Get rid of all the Ads and Pop-Ups altogether!

Adblock

I did this awhile ago and i can barely remember what life was like before, i tend to recoil in horror at other people’s computer screens.

And it’s really easy i promise and a great way of avoiding triggers online, especially when we’re talking about Eating Disorders.

Just google Ad Block and download the one that is compatible with your browser.

Remember, it’s almost Eating Disorders Awareness Week!

Tomorrow is the start of the annual Eating Disorders Awareness Week. I have been looking forward to it because i know what an amazing job people like the Beat Ambassadors  taking the stage they have been given to tell us their stories, to show their campaigns, raise awareness and fight some of the terrible misconceptions about these dangerous disorders.

This year the leading UK Eating Disorder charity Beat are asking us to “Sock it to Eating Disorders!” and i know i will be!

To find out how you can get involved check out Beats helpful page here where you can find out more on how to celebrate and raise money for a great cause. You can also talk to other sufferers and carers on their great message boards and even attend events which you can find here.

You can also Follow Beat on Twitter  

As well as these people on Twitter:

Me: I will be tweeting a lot during EDAW13 mostly with my service user hat on here

The big London mental health project i am currently working on which will be tweeting about London Eating Disorder Services, resources and more here :

The absolutely wonderful VIK Project:

And of course  YoungMindsUK

It seems everyone these days uses some form of social media; from the omnipresent Facebook to the quick witted Twitter there seems to be no escape from it. And the same goes for the negative connotations that seem to inevitably follow. The internet is something to be feared we’re told and parents and schools should clamp down, censor or ban outright the channels that young people are going to communicate through.

And they’re going to communicate in this way, for the meantime at least, whether you like it or not and so i’ve always thought we need to stop being so reactionary and be more constructive.

So when i was asked to present at a conference titled Engaging young people through the internet and social media in educational settings i was more than ready to take on the challenge.

And so last week i was lucky enough to find myself working once again with Katie Bacon and the Online Youth Outreach team. It has been nice recently to step back from my “main” job as that draws to a close and focus more on freelance work and this was a fantastic follow up to my experiences the week before in Lambeth.

We used the hahtag #SMYP2012 and encouraged people to tweet live at the event and afterwards.

On the day we heard from @StephenCarrickD talking about Munch, Poke, Ping and the risks vulnerable young people in Pupil Referral Units (PRU) can face online.

We also had a talk my colleagues @Katie_Bacon and @tashaturb , the latter  of whom i actually only met for the first time that day; a common but still curious occurrence when a lot of the work you do is online!

I also found myself sitting on the debate panel fielding questions from the audience which produced some really interesting, quick-fire conversations; in fact i could have happily spent half a day doing just that which is why i was so thankful for the time allocated to just talking to each other, mingling and sharing ideas.

Part of the debate was also spent with me talking about my own personal experience of running online support groups for people with mental health problems for the last nine years. I also mentioned issues such as the right to anonymity online and how many people choose not to disclose their identities online for good and not nefarious reasons.

But my favourite conversation of the night was the one started by @YPFI when they took the stage to talk about the impact of social media on young disabled people. They are a group of young disabled people committed to campaigning to improve equality and equal access and the work they do is fantastic.

Overall an excellent but somewhat exhausting day helping to run a conference from start to finish and not just turning up on the day and speaking! However it was absolutely worth it and i can’t wait to attend similar events and work with Katie again in the future.

#TalkOut with young people

#TalkOut with young people

Last Sunday saw our first ever live discussion on Twitter for young people affected by mental health problems. The title of our talks is #TalkOut and will be something we run on a regular basis alongside Youth Mental Health (@time4recovery) and Talk Out (@Talk_Out).

We  decided to look at the impact of social media on mental health issues and recovery and it was an undeniable success, so much so that it was very difficult to keep up with multiple conversations all at once!

We had a real mix of people too, Twitter cutting through hierarchies often found in clinical settings and opening up the door for young people and adults to talk openly and honestly about their experiences of mental illness and the internet.

This is of course something that is of huge interest to me personally. For me the internet had a powerful role in my mental health both in terms of illness and recovery and i think it is an area that needs much more attention given to it.

All too often, or in fact from what i see in mainstream media, the internet is reported as a dangerous place, a cyber wilderness or even wasteland populated by Innocent children and Bad adults. Pornography, gambling, bullying; these are all things that make headlines and sell papers (or get more “hits” online) but they are not the whole story, not by a long shot.

For me (and judging by Saturday’s conversation a lot of other young people) the internet was a safe place and at times the only place i could go. I did not abuse the anonymity granted to us when we step into the World Wide Web, i used it to use a voice i could not find IRL or “In Real Life”. In fact it was on the internet, in one of those infamous chat rooms the tabloids love to condemn that i found others like me, first opened up. It was because of strangers i met online that i sought help for my mental health problems in the first place.

Stories like these don’t sell papers but they do have a place and they do deserve to be told. The internet is one of, if not the, most powerful tools we have created and it has almost infinite uses, and i can’t stress this enough, some of them are good, some of them save lives.

Similarly i saw an inspirational talk on TED recently about a text messaging service in the US which has had resounding success:

http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_lublin_texting_that_saves_lives.html

We talked about how the internet and social media had affected our own recovery:

“[It] took me years to seek help for #mentalhealth problems, only did because friends online told me to and told me how #TalkOut”

And what could be done to help others:

“Social Media not only helps by providing a platform for awareness & support accounts but also for ppl to talk to each other/friends #TalkOut”

“I think if schools had a forum for students to discuss MH it would benefit pupils 🙂 #TalkOut”

“In my experience somehow utilising social media to help pupils would be great, I know it would have helped me enormously #TalkOut”

You can read more comments from #TalkOut here at Storify:

http://storify.com/Time4Recovery/first-talkout-tweet-up-asks-does-social-media-help?utm_campaign=&awesm=sfy.co_h03g&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter

Overall we had some amazing, insightful and even inspirational conversations around the internet, social media and recovery and made some new friends along the way.

“Perhaps now’s the time to change this. A community is louder than 1 advocate, more resounding as one united voice #TalkOut”

In the future we are hoping to hold bi-weekly Talk Outs on Thursday and Saturday evenings, please follow us at @vikproject or me directly at @KittyCormack and remember to look out for and use the #TalkOut hashtag.