Pupils working to aid mental health
Students develop system offering support
Young people in Stirling and Dunblane are taking the lead in developing new digital solutions for mental health issues facing their generation.
Mental health champions in secondary schools in the area and members of the Stirling Youth Forum spent three months researching and developing a challenge on how technology can help young people start conversations about mental health.
They had identified it as an important issue for them at last year’s inaugural Youth Gathering - part of Stirling’s ‘Our Place, Our Space’ initiative, which gives young people a voice in influencing services.
Their idea was published in July as part of CivTech® 3.0 - the third round of the Scottish Government’s programme, which invites technology innovators to submit solutions to public sector challenges. Stirling Council is supporting the initiative as co-sponsors, along with NHS National Services Scotland and Health Care Improvement Scotland.
After assessing proposals, the young people selected Voxsio, an Edinburgh-based technology company, to provide a solution to their challenge in the ‘accelerator phase’. This part of the challenge was officially launched recently by Scottish Government Finance and Econmy Secretary Derek Mackay.
Mental health champions from Dunblane High School Evie Gulland, Ruby Ginoris and Harriet Duffus represented the young people from across Stirling at the launch.
They said: “The idea behind our choice was to help remove the stigma surrounding mental health.
“We wanted technology that could offer personalised help and we felt Voxsio engaged with the issue and listened to what we were saying.”
Stirling Council’s children and young people convener Councillor Susan McGill said: “Our young people identified mental health as one of our four important issues to them last year at the inaugural Youth Gathering in the city.”
Tory group leader Councillor Neil Benny said: “Technology can be a great help but it needs to be used alongside charities and professionals that should be working in all our schools providing comprehensive mental health support and counselling.”