THE MISSION:
The mission of Let’s Talk Teens is to provide students, parents and educators with tools to stay or become mentally and emotionally healthy in the social media and gaming world kids live in.
THE PROBLEM:
Research shows that since the beginning of smartphones there has been a massive increase in teen depression, anxiety, and youth depression. This is a problem! Pediatrician, Dr. Chrestokes (Seattle Children’s Hospital) says that
“We are in the midst of an uncontrolled experiment on the next generation of children.”
Yikes, that’s a scary thought. Social media and online gaming are so new that we don’t know what the outcome will be.
Even SOME OF THE EARLY CREATORS OF THE favorite APPS are saying “WAIT A MINUTE, THE WAY KIDS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT HEALTHY!”
Large social media companies business plan: “Scheme of rewards and punishment stealthy manipulation of the population”
-Jaron Lanier
THE SOLUTION:
Education is key!
Most students (as young as 3rd grade!) have been given devices full of apps without any understanding of how to use it in a healthy way. That’s where Let’s Talk Teens comes in. Let’s face it, we parents are learning too. We didn’t grow up with social media and interactive gaming, so we are learning too and often our kids are one step ahead of us. We have a, “we’re in this together,” perspective.
Our heart is to reach more kids and parents with the tools needed to guard their mental and emotional health. We know that tech isn’t going anywhere, nor do we want it to, but teaching our kids how to use it to positively impact themselves and others around them is the mission and purpose of Let’s Talk Teens.
DIRECT TO STUDENTS WITH LIVE WORKSHOPS:
Over the last year Let’s Talk Teens has been operating as an LLC, but we quickly learned that we belong in the nonprofit space so we can provide more resources at no-cost or reduced cost. In the last 6 months, we have reached over a thousand students in live workshops both at schools and at community events.
Our unique workshops focus on social and emotional learning and character education, which is now required by most school districts. We talk with tweens and teens about how to recognize digital triggers that cause them emotional pain, and how to establish healthy digital boundaries to prevent emotional pain. We go to the core of why students are experiencing more depression and anxiety and how they can practice using digital self-care. We hope that in the next 5 years we will see students return to a balanced life of using their tech to enhance their lives instead of it taking away from them.
TOOLS FOR EDUCATORS, YOUTH WORKERS, AND PARENTS
We have created easy tools for parents, for example: a list of discussion questions to start the tech talks, a self-checkup evaluation for students and parents to do together, and more. We have done webinars, coaching and parent workshops, all for the purpose of facilitating conversations in homes to create healthy digital habits leading to positive mental and emotional health for the iGeneration and households as a whole.
We are a user-friendly version of tech talks with a focus on mental and emotional health. Parents leave with simple action items rather than overwhelming fear.
It turns out all this takes money. We want to create a booklet this summer to bridge the gap between parents and teens to begin their healthy conversations in the home. We have found that helping parents and teens talk about this stuff has been the most impactful and much needed.
Frankly, we have seen so much traction with fulfilling the needs of this growing problem. We are at a place where the need is great, the demand and interest are enormous, educators especially are extremely grateful to have us do workshops, but the budget is not there. Most schools do not have a budget to do workshops and receive printed tools and if they do, it can take up a year to go through the funding processes. School counselors are spending more than 70% of their time on social media-related issues like cyberbullying.
THE ASK:
We believe Let’s Talk Teens can provide the awareness, education and practical tools to help students change the research to reflect that they can use the powerful tech tools to their lives rather than steal their happiness.
My team and I have a deep conviction to mentor and advocate for the next generation. We feel compelled to change the direction of the mental health of our kids. We know that not only are each of their lives valuable but how we all as parents and children navigate the uncharted territory of the digital world we live in, will impact generations to come. I believe that with the right understanding and tools we can change the statistics and enhance our kid's digital wellbeing. We are in this together.
We cannot continue our mission to get on campuses across this county without you! We need your help in this gigantic mission to see real impact and change. We are getting requests to do workshops all across the US and in Canada, and we would like to provide the resources at no cost. I can’t thank you enough for helping us with this endeavor! From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to look over our campaign!.
We would love your support.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND GENEROSITY.
-BREE JENSEN :)
