Discussion 2 (Week 5)

After tutorial, we have another discussion. We discuss about the target audience and the topic that we want to focus for the campaign. The target audience for this project is school going teenager. After doing some research and discuss, the topic that we want to focus is their mental health problems. During the discussion, we have also separated some tasks. Each of us have to do more research on specific topic, such as mental health problems, campaign logo and colour and so on. Florence and I will do research about the mental health problems, Chloe will focus on the campaign colour and logo, and Sudarvili will focus on how DiGi can get it to the campaign.

What I have researched about:

1. What is mental health?

a. Mental health refer to the maintenance of successful mental activity

b. Including daily activities, and maintaining fulfilling relationship between others

c. Maintain ability to cope stress

d. Mental illness = the brain not working well / working in the wrong way

2. What mental health they are facing nowadays?

a. Depression

b. Anxiety

c. Eating disorder

d. Psychosis

3. Why do they have mental health?

a. School pressure

b. Lacking of coping skills

c. A brain that’s still growing

d. Nature deficit disorder

e. Bullying, harsh parenting

f. Desire for greater autonomy

g. Exploration of sexual identity

h. Increased access to and use of technology

i. Media influence and gender norms (exacerbate the disparity between an adolescent’s lived reality and their perceptions or aspirations for the future)

j. Quality of their home life 

k. Relationships with peers

4. Mental Health problem may lead to:

a. School drop outs

b. Difficult in learning

c. Behaviour difficulties

d. Difficulties in performance

e. School failure

f. Self-harm/suicide

5. Statistic on depression in school:

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIHM), adolescent depression in schools is on the rise. Here are some 2016 statistics from NIMH.

a. An estimated 3.1 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the United States had at least one major depressive episode in 2016. This number represents 12.8 percent of the US population in that age group.

b. More females than males experienced a major depressive episode in 2016 (19.4 percent of females vs. 6.4 percent of males).

c. That year, an estimated 2.2 million American adolescents aged 12 to 17 had at least one major depressive episode with severe impairment.

d. Only 19 percent of these teens received care from a health professional.

(Newportacademy, 2018)

6. Signs your child might need help with mental health

a. For children younger than 12 years,

- sadness a lot of the time

- a drop in school performance

- ongoing worries or fears

- problems fitting in at school or getting along with other children

- aggressive or consistently disobedient behaviour, or repeated temper tantrums

- sleep problems, including nightmares.

b. For children 12 years and older,

- seeming down, feeling things are hopeless, being tearful or lacking motivation

- having trouble coping with everyday activities

- showing sudden changes in behaviour, often for no obvious reason

- having trouble eating or sleeping

- dropping in school performance, or suddenly refusing to go to school, TAFE or work

- avoiding friends or social contact

- saying she has physical pain – for example, headache, stomach ache or backache

- being aggressive or antisocial – for example, missing school, getting into trouble with the police, fighting or stealing

- being very anxious about weight or physical appearance, losing weight or failing to gain weight as she grows.

(Raisingchildren, 2019)

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Reference list

Independent School Parent. (n.d). How are School Tackling the Teenage Mental Health in Schools. Independent School Parents. Retrieved from https://www.independentschoolparent.com/lifestyle/health/teenage-mental-health/

Newportacademy. (2018, February 14). Adolescent Depression in Schools. Newport Academy. Retrieved from https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/adolescent-depression-in-schools/

Raisingchildren. (2019, March 2). Pre-teen and teenage mental health. raisingchildren.net.au. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/mental-health-physical-health/about-mental-health/teen-mental-health

Schulte-Körne, G. (2016, March 18). Mental Health Problems in a School Setting in Children and Adolescents. NCBI. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850518/

Weusteam. (n.d). The important of School Mental Health. Teenmentalhealth. Retrieved from http://teenmentalhealth.org/care/educators/school-mental-health/

WHO. (2019, October 23). Adolescent mental health. World Health Organisation. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health