As greater emphasis is being placed on mental health, youths’ lack of knowledge of peer support has become more apparent. The pandemic has also strained youths’ mental health even further and has limited their opportunities to support their peers physically.
How can we empower youths to support their peers during the pandemic?
You’th aims to empower youth to support their peers more effectively through a mobile application and build a community of youths who are educated on how to peer support. The application will utilise gamification and scenario-based learning to educate youths on how to share and support each other.
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes, facing negative body image
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes.
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
anxiety and depression
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
No
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yea
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes , as a matter of fact I have.
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
yes, mainly depression
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Na
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Definitely
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes, stress management and anxiety attacks.
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
yes i have. I usually keep them to myself but sometimes things get out of hand so I usually voice call my friends for advice.
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes. I feel stress from school work and also difficulty in understanding my studies.
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
No`
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
no
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Struggling but getting better at dealing with anxiety.
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
Yes
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
No
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
No
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
No
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "Have you ever faced any mental health difficulties?"
Yes
In response to "Did you receive the support you wanted during your time of need?"
Yes
In response to "Do you think everyone is able to receive help?"
No
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I would suggest the app to consist the following features too: 1) Match the troubled youth with a peer helper. They can converse on the app and it can be anonymously matched. These peer helpers can be volunteers trained in providing sound mental-related advice. The app can help to regulate advice given by peer helpers by blacklisting certain words like \"suicide\" or giving suggested responses to help peer helpers to give the troubled youth. 2) Categorise words of wisdom based on the topic of interest on different microsite. E.g. One microsite for Body-image, Another microsite for Eating disorder, Another for Mood disorders. 3) Suggest activities for youths to participate at subsidised rates. If they face eating disorder, they can participate in Nutritional Classes & Exercise classes with HPB.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Taking advice from strangers on the internet is a bad idea. Offering advice from valid, verified personnel might be a safer option. Preventing grooming of youths/students who are probably already in a bad place should be an important conisderation.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I\'ve seen couple of teams introducing the mobile app as a solution and also placing emphasis on peer support. What and how can you differentiate your app from theirs? I believe there are quite a few similar apps out there in the market and also several apps by governmental and non profit organizations. So what feature does your app has that is different or more superior compared to others? Also, since your app gathers words of support from and for users, how are you able to moderate the comments such as you sieve out those comments that are demeaning, rude or perhaps those that seek to belittle others? You mentioned about paid subscribers in the project description. Is the user experience different between a paid and free to use subscriber? Are the paid subscribers entitled to more features compared to those who are using it without paying? What kind of features are they? How then can your app compete with other apps that provide ALL features to users without having to pay a single cent?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
its a good idea! but how can you ensure civil and helpful discussions and not echo chambers of bad thoughts (eg, suicidal thoughts)?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
There is no need for app to do whatever you have described. You can just start a telegram group.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
How will you be attracting users to come to use this app? Perhaps something like a government/school supported app will encourage more users to sign up. Will feedback from one youth to another be beneficial or can they do harm - are there filters or moderation set in place?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I doubt youths will have money to pay for subscription.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
It’s great that you guys are creating a mobile application that could help our youths with that mental well-being. However , I cannot help but feel that one of the main reasons why youths are the majority with mental health issues is due to social media itself. The application is exclusive of this. But in my opinion, less virtual and more physical could help our youths better as we all have been stressing about the fact that everything went virtual due to covid as well. So your solution could do something like using App to organize real life meetings or support groups that provides our youths with a more secure environment to share their problems as well. But the App is a great idea since it can reach out to people in the most efficient and convenient way as well.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
i think that its a good idea to create such a platform for students to feel supported as students that are facing mental health difficulties are in the rising stage. I feel like you all can improve on allowing students to speak to someone that they can trust like a counseller or someone their age to have a listening ear, and not keep everything to themselves.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
You guys might want to take a look at creating communities in real life to tackle mental health. Coz Appa is a great idea. However , it might not feel safe and secure for people who are going through mental well being issues.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Any forum will require significant moderation and professional intervention, especially with sensitive issue like mental health.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Perhaps describe on what are the specific resources you are going to provide to educate youth on peer support. Will it be better or more unique than what is already provided in schools during the civics education lessons? Also, for the paid subscription model, maybe you could add more incentives that are mental health-related such as first-hand access to therapists or councillors via video calls.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Support is very important, especially that from one’s peers and family. However, the only form of support I can identify through the write up are that on supportive words, resources and discussion forums. While support words are useful, would there be any form of regulations or monitoring within this platform to ensure that the right sort of support is given? Also, would there be training to ensure that youths are able to support each other well and in an acceptable manner? An extreme example is if a youth says ‘i hate how my mother is a narcissist and it makes me feel mentally drained’. What kind of support can untrained youths give? Would they say ‘you can move out’ when the youth may not have the funding, or ‘speak to a psychologist’ which may cause the youth to feel that the group is not able to support him? perhaps, this might be an aspect to consider.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
The App needs more structure on how it can help support youth mentally. How does the paid subscription help youth mentally with an Avatar? What will be the topics of interest for discussion in the forum that can help support youth ?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
I\'m not sure students would want to pay for app use
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
it might be difficult to get people to download the app and use it regularly as there are so many apps out there that have similar functions. perhaps instead of jumping into an app, creating an instagram page where users can share their stories and get words of support from others in the comments might be a lot-fidelity prototype that is easy to create to test this idea!! :)
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
What would the profits earned from paying subscribers be used for? Perhaps to incentivise them, the money can be donated towards mental health causes or be used to subsidise mental health services for the needy.
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
Perhaps for paying subscribers, you could include something like consultation from professionals for whoever wishes to seek help?
In response to "How Can We Improve?"
A thought to consider is \"Why would people want to pay to have their own customisable avatar on this app?\" If it\'s not a game and they are seeking immediate help, no one would want to pay for a customisable avatar.
