Teenagers found themselves in a difficult situation during the coronavirus pandemic. Because they are not allowed to socialize with peers to the same extent as before, they have fewer opportunities to confide their mental distress or even suicidal thoughts to anyone. There is a “Svetovalnica” (peer counseling forum) on the website www.pil.si, where teenagers share their problems and their peers help them. During the pandemic, we noticed an increase in mental health problems. We read some messages about teens being depressed and contemplating suicide. In a period when socializing is limited, it is important to empower young people to be able to identify a peer in need, identify warning signs that an individual is in mental distress and that he is thinking about suicide, and to know how to respond accordingly. It is important to encourage young people in need to confide their problems to others, as well as to empower others to recognize mental distress and learn to respond to it.
Our project will raise awareness of the importance of mental health through the website of the magazine Pil, an article in the magazine Pil and social networks of the magazine Pil, and empower teenagers with the knowledge of how to recognize a peer in need and how to help him. We will prepare an article for the magazine and its web page, an animated video for the website and social networks, materials for social networks and an interactive online test to help teenagers recognize the warning signs that a person is mentally distressed and contemplating suicide.
Our target group is teenagers, primary school students from 11 to 15 years.
The project is implemented by Fixmedia, creative agency with extensive experience in working with and for young people, in collaboration with Pil magazine, which will offer its media space to reach the target group.