OUR Generation - Creating Change Event - Social Media & Mental Health NI

This online Creating Change Information Event is aimed at key contacts (parents/carers, teachers, youth leaders and any adult who surrounds the child or young person) focusing on the internet and social media and how to help children & young people use the online world in a way that's safe and positive for their mental health.

This session delivered by Childnet will focus on the key areas of online risks whilst offering practical tips and useful tools to support young people online. It begins with conduct: the kinds of behaviours we see from young people online, including screentime and sharing.

There will be specific advice around privacy settings and time management strategies as well as online content including topics like fake news, adult content and the perfect lives young people see online. The advice incorporates guidance around parental controls, critical thinking and age ratings. Finally, the session will explore contact with others online including online bullying and grooming. The sessions will finish by highlighting key reporting tools and signposting key contacts to sources of further help and information.

Through recent community consultation across the five Urban Village Areas in Northern Ireland, digital safety for children & young people was highlighted as an area of concern given the amount of time people are now spending online so we hope you can join us to gain knowledge, enhance understanding and discuss issues around this important topic and how best we can help support children & young people within our communities.

Speakers:

Childnet is a UK-based charity who empower children, young people, and those who support them in their online lives, and its mission is to work with others to make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people.

Launched in 1995, just two years after the public launch of the open web, Childnet has delivered a positive impact with its empowering, youth led, evidence based and collaborative approach to online safety and giving children and young people the skills they need to navigate the internet safely and in a positive way.

The OUR Generation project is a Peace IV funded project that provides a unique opportunity for communities, north and south of the Border, to work together to halt the intergenerational impact of trauma and to build emotional resilience and peace for generations to come.

This three-year project will run to December 2022 and engage with 36,000 children, young people and their key contacts. The project will be delivered in education, youth and community settings aimed at the five Urban Village Areas and border corridor of Northern Ireland and the five Border Counties of Donegal, Sligo/Leitrim and Cavan/Monaghan in Republic of Ireland.

The cross border partnership of seven regional organisations will be led by Action Mental Health in partnership with Donegal Youth Service, Co-operation Ireland, Youth Action NI, Youth Work Ireland, PlayBoard NI and Ulster University. Funding for the OUR Generation project has been awarded through the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), match-funding for the project has been provided by The Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.

OUR Generation will collaborate with existing community–based initiatives to offer accessible, age appropriate prevention, early intervention and recovery activities delivered on a cross-border and cross-community basis to support the mental and emotional well-being of children and young people. Children and young people will engage in programme design and delivery, including provision of peer support, developing skills and confidence to improve well-being within their communities and act as agents of change, building peace for future generations.

As a partner, Co-operation Ireland will undertake outreach, engagement and relationship building activities with those communities and groups most affected by the legacy of the conflict, i.e victims & survivors, ethnic minorities, ex-prisoners/former combatants, youth at risk, displaced persons and former members of the security services, especially for those whose experiences can be passed onto subsequent generations for the purpose of shared learning, building resilience and promoting positive relations.

Our work will focus on connecting groups on a cross community and cross border basis based upon common needs and shared interests with the development of activities and training to address issues, specifically around the promotion of emotional resilience, empathy and understanding underpinned by building peace & reconciliation in post conflict Ireland.

This Information Session will take place on Zoom and the link will be sent to you once you have registered. Look forward to seeing you then!

Any Questions or Queries please drop us a line:

Claire Heaney-McKee - claire@cooperationireland.org or mobile 07513870237

Katrina Mcilmail - kmcilmail@cooperationireland.org or mobile 07799871000

Laurie Ferguson - lferguson@cooperationireland.org or mobile 07871622381

Design & Development Officers, OUR Generation Project, Co-operation Ireland, Unit 5 Weavers Court, Linfield Road, Belfast, BT12 5GH