IBWSC 2017

GAT Project Summary

Project name: / Addressing the Angst of Anxiety
GAT Name/Leader: / Dr. Saf Chowdhury
Background: highlight the needs identified and being addressed by the project (link to themes and content of conference. / Mission & Objectives: what you want to achieve (aims) ?
Many teenagers suffer from one form of depression, anxiety or mental illness.
Stats:
  1. Less than 33% of teens with depression get help, yet 80% of teens with depression can be successfully treated
  2. 2.8 million youth 12-17 had at least one major depressive episodes in 2014
Depression and anxiety among teenagers and is classed as a disorder. The rising trend among teenagers in many countries is alarming.
The theme of mental health and well-being was a major cue for this project – especially the first lecture on mental health and educational contexts.
The third lecture on social entrepreneurship was a cue for defining our project and its form and nature. The project must be led by active engagement. / The mission and objective of our project is to:
  1. Raise awareness of adolescent mental health issues like depression and anxiety, i.e. their causes and effects.
  1. To offer guidance on tackling adolescent anxiety and depression and the stigma and negativity associated with it.
  1. Ensure that teens have an appropriate avenue to voice their concerns and fears.

Activities (objectives):
how the project will achieve your goals / Collaborators: What groups are important in the development and implementation of the project? (within the organization)
Our project aims to achieve its goals by:
  1. Ensure workshops.
  2. Assembles for the students.
  3. Campaigns.
/ Collaborators will include:
-Physical Education (PE) department.
-Nurse/Health Officer.
-Safe-guarding officer (SO).
-Student leadership council (SLC)/prefects.
-Student counsellor.
Partners: groups or organizations are crucial to the development of the project? What are their roles? (outside the organization) / Timeline: What sort of timeline have you developed?
For the project, we will need to ensure there is contact with and a link with youth advocacy groups to put the agenda of youth mental health on school, community, national and international agendas.
We will need to ensure that adequate guidance is delivered on youth/adolescent mental health in school for all students and parents. / The initial phase of the project will start in the first semester of the school academic year. This will involve putting things in its place.
The project will then be ongoing and something for the successive classes to take up and continue if necessary and after evaluating its utility and viability. The aim will be to take it upwards towards senior and influential
Budget/Resources: funds and materials needed / Communication: how would you use social media or other approaches to communicate your project.
Funds for our project will be raised from charity and awareness campaigns.
We will also seek to apply for a budget from the school finances to help with costs for resources. / -Use the school newsletter to publicise the project.
-use parent-teacher associations (PTA) or conferences to highlight the issue.
-Involve key stakeholders such as School governors, parents, students, teachers and local community to create awareness and help support the project.
Evaluation: how you will measure success?
What challenges would you have to overcome as a result of implementing this in the real world?
We want to be able to measure the project by some indicators of progress if not success such as:
  1. Doing surveys to gather data to see if students/parents have increased knowledge on adolescent teenage mental health disorders.
  1. If teachers have put this issue of teenage anxiety and depression in their lesson planning or in the overall curriculum of the school.
  1. Parents are deeply involved and offer support for the teen at home.
  1. xxxx
One of the challenges we may face is lack of funds to acquire the necessary resources we need to deliver the project and to sustain it. Hence, meeting the cost of the project is a major factor.
Another possible challenge we face is the reaction and response to such a project. Many teenagers may not want to be involved for fear of stigma or negative labelling from among their peers. Teenagers who suffer from sleep deprivation may not want to come forward or be involved for the same reasons – stigma and labelling.
Another challenge may be is the structure and man-power needed to maintain the project over a long period of time. A lot of commitment, dedication, time and energy as well as resources will be required to enable the project to endure.