The beauty of technology is that it can connect various people all around the world and cause strangers to feel like best friends, however that same connection can make those feel lonely once they are no longer online. This week we'll go over some websites the help bridge the gap to where the internet meets the real world.
As I'm sure you are aware of there are various blogs sites and chat rooms nowadays that allow for the people to make genuine connections and interact with likeminded individuals. (And in case you didn't realize it -you're on a blog site now!) Back to the sites and chat rooms, what happens when your computer shuts downs and you lose your internet buddy? Do you not speak to anyone else in your non-internet life? Are the only ones you can relate to only found on the internet and not within your home town/city? Well of course not silly! You find the help you need when until you can get the help you want. The question now lies in where will you find this help?
Here - Find Youth Info!! This is a great site for a plethora of reasons, one being that there is an option to find local resources that can connect you to real people in your city/town that can be of services or support. This site provides information not only for mental health illnesses, but also other issues that youth face. There is information about teen dating violence, gang prevention programs, substance abuse, LGBT youth, teen pregnancy, and those are just a few of the topics. This site also gives research information, which are empirically based - meaning that these are research papers where there have been experiments conducted and the results were reviewed by other professionals. The Map my Community link will allow for youth to connect to local resources. So lets put things into perspective. Suppose you're doing distant counseling with a youth living in an area within another state that you're unfamiliar with. Every time you speak with your client you feel as though you're making progress, but the next week you find out he was not as proactive as you would like him to be. You know your client is in always online and loves the friends he has online but doesn't think he can find "cool" people in his city. You can direct your client to the community site where he can pick from various options that he's seeking help for, including mental health, and then find the local resources. Although this sounds simple as pie, the difficulty lies in actually having your client go to meet others in person and separating themselves from the online connections and branching out.
There are many other websites that offer similar services, not only in person options but online options also. if you would like a list of blogs, websites, and other things online connection options - you can visit my information page and see the list of about 30 sites. Hope they help!
Until next time readers!!
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