Social media as a tool for youth engagement

Thanks for posting, this Melissa - you beat me to it!

It would be great to hear from some of our Systems Improvement through Service Collaboratives (SISC) stakeholders on how the SISC initiative has worked to engage youth. I'm sure they have some great insights....

I'm just having too much fun chatting on this network, that's the 'problem'.

I'm very interested to see what other people are doing in this area and pick up some new ideas.

Melissa,

I am having some trouble with your attachment. Is there any way that you could send it to me via email? or some other way?

Deirdra

Of course, not a problem!

Email me at melissa@mindyourmind.ca and I'll send it to you.

Same goes for anyone else who's having trouble opening the file here.

If you're having trouble opening pdfs, it may be that your browser is a touch out of date. Try downloading Google Chrome or Firefox or Internet Explorer 8!

I have IE 8 but who knows with computers. Melissa I will email you.

Thanks

Hi Melissa, thanks for sharing that policy! We're still working out our social media policies for staff (clinical staff, administrative staff, management and community managers alike!) and having examples like mindyourmind's to reference is very helpful. (I will let you know if we adapt or modify any part of it for our own agencies.) 

Nexus recently launched its social media strategy with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages, along with a brand new website. As part of the process, we worked with youth to develop Community Guidelines, which are posted across all our social media channels and our website. Ultimately, we want youth to be fully engaged in managing our social media strategy, but until that point we're making a concerted effort to include them in every decision making process possible. Part of that means sitting down with them at various points (usually once every other month or so) to discuss their expectations for our social media strategy, as well as guidelines for maintaining a safe online space (just like our offline counselling and drop-in spaces). It's educational for us because it means we learn what they want and what they don't want to see from us online, how they want to interact with us online, and what's important to them outside the parameters of mental health alone and how we can meet their needs in those areas as well. It's also an opportunity to talk about topics ranging from privacy and online safety, to using the Internet to find a job or get into college. So far it's been a rewarding experience for both parties. 

While we know we're reaching fellow community health organizations, mental health organizations, elected officials and the general public, what we're not sure about is our actual impact on the youth we serve because we made a commitment NOT to seek out youth to follow and NOT to follow them back if they follow us. This was a decision we came to because we want to respect youths' privacy and not blur the lines between counselling and life outside of counselling for both our clients and our staff. (In our initial meetings about social media, this was something the youth strongly supported.) It would be really helpful to hear how some other organizations are managing this dilemma and if you think this decision warrants rethinking. 

Thanks in advance! 

Great to hear you're including youth as much as possible in the decision-making process; that will make all the difference.

And the logic behind following no one is sound. We've had our own discussions here about the level of personal connection we have through our channels. Drawing a line between the individual posting and the organization is very difficult. Our policy encourages youth to restrict our access when we friend then but they rarely do so. It's a matter of responsibility for our staff to ensure they maintain proper boundaries.

Since we don't do counselling, it's not an much of an issue in our office. 

Here's some new info folks might find interesting:

http://www.mentalhealthresearc...ge%20Translation.pdf

Love this summary! Wow. There are definately some negatives to social media for engagement and this states many of them outright. 

Here's a long list of various government and private sector social media policies in the US. Many of the links are broken, but with a little Google sleuthing, I'm sure they can be found if there's a particularly interesting policy (huh - I never expected to use "interesting" and "policy" side-by-side...).

http://govsocmed.pbworks.com/w...d%20Best%20Practices

Are you allowing all (or many) staff to engage under the official banner of MYM or TVFS? Or are they using their personal accounts to engage? Or is all messaging going out through the communication department? We've talked about all of there scenarios at the Mental Health Commission, and there are (obviously) pros and cons of all three approaches.

Also, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a really good social media section: Gateway to Health Communication & Social Marketing Practice

Check out their Revised Social Media Toolkit - it's excellent.

(the problem with the attachment is that it's a PDF document, but with a .doc (Word) extension. Download it, and then change .doc to .pdf and it will open properly - you'll get a warning message, but it's OK)

I think a lot of engagement has to do with clever branding and marketing.  websites are great because they help you brand your message and target your audience.

For example, http://www.elevatedgrounds.com/  is a great website that actively can draw youth attention to the arts.  They can audition if they have an art interest but it is also targeted to employment and health education.

The Emerge Project: https://www.facebook.com/TheEmergeProject

is also another initiative that I was a part of that has youth engage youth to start the conversation and participate in mental health education.

I also find a catchy way is to understand what youth are attracted to and offer those services while offering mental health education.

Often youth tend to constructively do things that benefit mental health yet that connection is never cognitively made.

The ability is for youth to recognize mental health issues and no how to address that and accept that that is a constructive way of healing and expressing themselves.

Sometimes it is youth who understand adaptation the best so it is good to offer the services but it is great to also see how they access information and integrate health into their individuation process.

I am a firm believer that any social media strategy should separate a therapists personal "persona" and their professional. I don't think its fair to the clients (whether youth or adults) to blur that line in social media but then when they show up in your personal life somewhere to speak to them about professional boundaries. In my opinion, what is healthy for all parties is to have separate accounts.

As well, I understand that youth or even adult clients may want to interact with their therapist in a particular way, but it is up to an agency to set a particular standard that respects privacy while balancing working with clients where they are at.

I feel we need to be mindful of best practice while we get creative in this digital age.

Sorry Dave, missed your question to MYM there: all staff are welcome to create their own social media policy for work purposes-- they are our first names and mym as our last name. There are rules around this profile, but generally, it's used for connecting with our youth. Twitter is allowed too, but now one has opted for one yet. People do retweet us, etc from their home accounts, but generally regardless of occupation, if you use your name, you can be held accountable for things stated in off hours. Anything tweeted from our main mym accounts is routed through me, however.

It's easier for us to know because we don't offer counselling. Deirdra, I agree that boundaries for clinicians are more difficult to maintain (are arguably, much more important). It all comes down to what you as the clinician are comfortable with, I think.  If you're going to go out into the social media sphere, you need to be very upfront with your clients and on your sites with what the purpose is and what is acceptable. 

Also, the links here to policies are awesome. Thanks for sharing, everyone!

It's me...(again)

I have not commented on this stream because other than this community I do not engage in social media, so I thought I had nothing of value to add.

I may not use social media because I am 'older' and technology it has been a huge learning curve for me. Having said that, I realized in my advocacy work that there are many values to social media engagement and have taken the time to learn all the tools for creativity and expression that can augment a written or verbal messaging.I also love blogging.

My indecision (or maybe decision) about stepping out into creating a facebook site, or tweeting, using linked in or even creating a website comes down to how much control I can have over both sending out and receiving.

I agree with Georgina that a website is great because you can cleverly brand and target. You have some level of 'controlling' the message and limiting the responses coming back.

My concern with other types of social modalities is being inundated with 'crap' that isn't applicable, is not helpful, can be potentially dangerous, can be a form of bullying, can be misinterpreted or manipulated. So in essence it is hard to ensure what goes out is being received as it is meant to be and trying to negotiate the risk of what disaster can potentially happen if it is not.To me, it is a 'safe space' issue for both sender and receiver.

I also hold back any engagement because I wonder if it is worth being inundated with 'stuff' that I have to sift through to find the 'gems' that would actually be effective and helpful to me.

Maybe it is because I am a full time advocate so I am always 'living in triggers' so I need to limit any potential 'unhealthy stimuli' and being over-stimulated. I don't mind being over-stimulated if it is for a positive but a constant barrage of negative stimuli is just not healthy for anyone.

So to date, I recognize the potential benefits of social media but the negatives and risks regarding lack of control in both sending and receiving has resulted in my decision to not engage through facebook, twitter and even creating a website.

As mentioned...this EENet community is the only place I invest my time and effort because they have created a safe space and rules for engagement that work for me.

Betty-Lou Kristy

I think you've hit on a lot of good points, here Betty-Lou.

My indecision (or maybe decision) about stepping out into creating a facebook site, or tweeting, using linked in or even creating a website comes down to how much control I can have over both sending out and receiving.

I think It's completely valid decision to stay of out of social media if it doesn't fit your needs/ is potential harmful to those who might read it out of context. We're of several platforms here, but there are lots we stay away from for those reasons, or because of the time management takes, etc. And since social media is always changing, there's a very real possibility that if the platform fails, all the work done there is lost. It's difficult to commit to something like that. 

Maybe it is because I am a full time advocate so I am always 'living in triggers' so I need to limit any potential 'unhealthy stimuli' and being over-stimulated. I don't mind being over-stimulated if it is for a positive but a constant barrage of negative stimuli is just not healthy for anyone.

This is definitely a possibility. Seeing the negatives each day can be difficult to deal with. Luckily our community is primarily positive, but even looking through the news for new reports/ interesting stories can be a real drain on your own mental health.

It's really important to have boundaries, and social media blurs the lines. It's a big commitment, especially if you're doing it alone.

Glad EEnet is so beneficial to you!

Hey Melisa:

You just hit on two big points of clarity back to me.

• You said..."And since social media is always changing, there's a very real possibility that if the platform fails, all the work done there is lost"

• You also said...."It's really important to have boundaries, and social media blurs the lines. It's a big commitment, especially if you're doing it alone."

That is a huge consideration and very valid point. That is why I feel safe with EENet community. I am not doing it alone. I have always said that 'our' power comes from empowering each other when we work in meaningful partnerships.

As a lived experience advocate I fully recognize that 'shared purpose/vision' and providing tools for self empowerment are essential to me. My authentic power and ability to effectively advocate shines when agencies and government etc., embrace what I have to offer and create opportunities, platforms, forums and venues for me that are a win-win for both of us.

In my EENet blog series-Bringing it Home THREE I will be discussing this. My Bringing it Home-TWO "Three Fights and One Epilogue" is now posted on  http://eenet.ca/

...but I will go post that on this site shortly. EENet and their team empower me all the time by co-creating with me.

Oh and Melisa, you did exactly what I was talking about when it comes to empowering me and not having to do it alone. You saw my post here on the newspaper coverage on 'memorializing by tattoos' and then you created an opportunity for me to blog about that on Mind Your Mind for the youth. That gave me an opportunity to share so much about a deeper level of recovery, healing, art expression and stigma.....all framed around the sub-culture of tattooing.

I think that blog has been done by 'your peoples' now and should be posted. I will go find that one too.

Betty-Lou Kristy

Betty-Lou,

So glad we could connect and get your story out on our website. It always feels great to know you've done something good and that you feel empowered by the experience really made my day. So thank you!

The blog, for anyone interested, can be found here: http://mindyourmind.ca/communi...orializing-by-tattoo. 

Back to the issue at hand...

We do definitely all work together to create a positive space online for people who need us. I know I can always forward a troubling tweet to the clinical staff here at mindyourmind and they'll know exactly how to deal with it. And I know that the crisis lines and KHP are always there too.

It's not so much that you are alone and more that you can feel alone when you're the one answering the comments and the one who's name is out there for the world to see. Hopefully platforms like EEnet will help contribute to a sense of shared purpose and responsibility, so we all have somewhere to go for advice and support when we, as providers, need it. 

Agreed on all points! Great summary, Alexandria!

Working though the fear of being publicly called out for your work is a huge stress, but there are many benefits to social media as well.

I figure, so long as you're informed about the pros and cons and consider both in a fair light without being too concerned about fear, your decision to use social media or not is valid. Re-framing that fear is a great idea, though I imagine difficult to implement.

• I agree with the additional thoughts of both Melisa and Alexandra. I think it is because I am a 'lone entity' being a lived experience advocate so I don't have the protective framework of being embedded into an agency. I work in partnership with so many agencies, programs and policy/planning. How I network is by asking organization and peoples I know to post on their websites, facebook and  tweet for me etc...

• For my free e-book lived experience journeys...an e-book site created a webpage for me so people could read about my advocacy, have fuller description of the e-journeys and the ability to download for free.(the only problem is that people have to sign up for this e-publisher site in order to download my e-books and that is less than ideal)

• Maybe eventually, I will work on seeing if someone would create a page for me off of their website.

• Ideally I would like my own website but because I am a full time volunteer advocate, I do not have the money to purchase a website designer and upkeep person.

Great discussion

Betty-Lou Kristy

Oh...and I posted Bringing it Home Blog (TWO)

This installment is sub-titled: Three Fights and One Epilogue

1) Fighting Stigma

2) Fighting Cyclical Shadows

3) Fighting Toxic Inaction

...and an Epilogue

www.eenetconnect.ca/topic/three-fights-and-one-epilogue-bringing-it-home-two-blog

I would love for you all to check it out...

Betty-Lou Kristy