“Signposting” young people online to informative webpages and helplines

There are some good young person specific informative webpages online; substance misuse, cyber bullying, sexual health, mental health and housing support etc offering a variety of services such as freephone calls for advice and support or 24 hr helplines, short film clips that clearly explain what the provision provides and what to expect if you make an appointment.

The challenge – Promotion

“How to let young people know that they exist and for them to check out the info?”

I view online social networks as “High streets where a vast majority of young people spend time ’surfing online’. So an organaisations profile on a social network site could be discribe as a ’shop window’ where offline support, information and contact numbers can be ‘advertised’ – and young people encouraged to ‘click’ onto young person appropriate, relevant, informative webpages.

Web pages can empower young people to:

• Have the control to check out the information as and when they choose
• They don’t have to ask, make an appointment and meet a practitioner till they are ready
• There is anonymity, their friends/family don’t have to know they are exploring support online
• A young person can ‘forward’ the information/contact numbers to friends

I believe that it is important for young people to visit relevant provision ‘offline’ if they need support/information!

In my experience of face to face work, a young person will only discuss an issue in the last ten minutes of a session where they usually share the real reason for the appointment. As a practitioner you are trained to signpost to appropriate youth support agencies and identify any safeguarding concerns.

These signposts may not exist online. I have observed in numerous ‘youth provisions’ (statutory/voluntary/schools/colleges) where young poeple jump onto the computer/laptop and start ’surfing’. Possibly only viewing a few sites and not check out if the content is ‘true’ or not. Its a shame as there are some really good webpages online, it’s not all evil! – honest!

With the empowerment that the internet can bring to young people comes a responsibility and requirement for training to bring awareness and understanding. There are many ways we could tackle this EG As a youth practitioner I encouraged young people to choose a ‘topic’ such as coping with exam stress, depression, sexual health questions etc.

As a group I would discuss with group members to be aware of inappropiate websites they may come across during the online search. I would be clear about the defintaion and reasons of inappropriate webpage(s) and discuss with group members if they agreed. If appropriate discuss with group members what they do at home if they click onto webpages that make them feel uncomfortable. I would also promote think u know and kid smart web information pages on being safe online.

Then in pairs, young people could go online to ’search’ for webpages/information they would recommend to friends. Then together they can ‘rate’ their chosen webpages and give reasons for their selection to other group members:

• Which webpages offered easy to understand information?
• Was it appealing and easy to use?
• What would you change?
• Would you recommend/forward it to a friend?
• What did you not like? The reason(s)?

This could provide potential benefits for both the young people who learn about provision plus group work skills, and there are also potential benefits for the support organisations regarding their ’shop windows’.

With group members permission, the feedback could be collated and forwarded onto each of the webpage organisations. The feedback could be flip chart paper notes, photos of the session or even short film clips of the young people doing their presentations. This would deliver valuable information for that orgainsation to either continue the good practice or develop it to improve the appeal to their target audience.

If the group has an online social network profile (parental consent granted) the above session could be uploaded and shared with online members. These members could be invited to check out the web links and share their views/opinions.

Skills each young person could learn:

• Using online search engines to search for info on chosen ‘topic’
• Reviewing and evaluating webpage information and advice on chosen ‘topic’
• Collating the evidence and presenting to peer group