New mental health resource for parents goes online

25 Sep 2014

Brian O'Neill, head of the School of Media at Dublin Institute of Technology, speaks at Technology for Well-Being Conference in Croke Park, Dublin

ReachOutParents.com, a new website to provide parents with information regarding their children’s mental health, has been launched at today’s Technology for Well-Being Conference in Dublin.

The online resource has been developed based on the results of a three-year research project that gathered information from parents across Ireland. The project found 70pc of parents seek help online when concerned about youth mental health issues.

The organisation that runs the website and organised today’s conference, ReachOut.com, collaborated with NUI Galway’s Health Promotion Research Centre to survey parents of young people from randomly selected secondary schools and to host a series of focus groups with parents and young people.

Along with basic information for helping parents understand their child’s mental health issues, ReachOutParents.com will also explain certain aspects of technology, including current online trends and where they can seek help regarding mental health support for youths.

Speaking at the conference, which looks at the relationship between technology and peoples’ mental health, ReachOut.com CEO Elaine Geraghty said, “ReachOutParents is an example of research translated into practice.

“We have listened to parents and young people and their insights have informed the resource we are launching today. ReachOutParents aims to ‘bridge the digital disconnect’ by demystifying both mental health and technology for parents.”

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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