Share the Feeling: As State Examinations Get Underway HeadsUp Announces New Online Mates' Mood Application
– Latest Statistics Reveal Over 11,200 People Have Contacted HeadsUp Text since its Launch in 2007
Tuesday, 8 June 2010: HeadsUp, Rehab’s mental health promotion project, has today unveiled a new online application – Mates’ Mood – that enables people to get a sense of their friends’ moods. The initiative was announced as the State’s examinations get underway and latest statistics indicate that almost 11,300 people have texted the HeadsUp Text service since its launch in August 2007. The online application is funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention’s “Let Someone Know” campaign.
The Mates’ Mood application is available at www.headsup.ie/matesmood.php or on HeadsUp’s Facebook page. Friends are presented as little figures with a scale of eight moods, from ‘Miserable’ to ‘Awesome’. The application also provides a history of friends’ moods over a period of time and comments can be added explaining a particular mood. It can be published to a person’s Facebook wall and friends invited to use the application.
Collette Ryan is the Project Manager for HeadsUp: “We are now entering what can be a very stressful, lonely and individually-challenging time for many young people across the country as they embark on their Leaving and Junior Certificate examinations. By developing Mates’ Mood, we believe we have a communication tool which we feel is creative and supportive and which capitalises on the popularity of social networking sites.
“We know that friends are a huge source of support to each other. With Mates’ Mood, people can illustrate in a visual way how they are feeling without having to say anything, prompting friends to check in with them, particularly if they are feeling down.
“Mates’ Mood offers an easy, non-intrusive way of checking in on those whom we care about and a possible starting point for conversation on how we feel – a definite benefit for early help-seeking behaviour and stigma reduction.”
HeadsUp is also reminding young people about its HeadsUp Text service if they need information and support. This is a free, automated and confidential service, supported by Meteor, offering details of support services nationwide around a range of issues, including sexual health, sexuality, mental health, suicide, drugs, abuse and crisis. The most common topics accessed are teen issues, suicide and sexual health. To contact the service, simply text “Headsup” to 50424. HeadsUp Text provides details for a host of organisations, including the Samaritans, AL Anon, Aware, Women’s Aid, Childline, MABS and Bodywhys, along with student services at third level colleges nationwide.
ENDS
Issued by: Dara Duffy, Rehab, 01 205 7268/087 799 5194
About HeadsUp
The HeadsUp project delivers a range of programmes, including: “ASIST” (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training), which equips people with the knowledge and the ability to recognise the warning signs of suicidal behaviour; HeadsUp “Lifeskills”, a course aimed at enhancing young people’s skills and abilities in dealing with life’s ups and downs; and “Raising Boys for Fathers”, a parenting programme which helps fathers to improve their communication skills with their sons in dealing with life’s problems.
An interactive website – www.headsup.ie – has also been developed with the direction of a panel of youth advisors to enable young people to find out about mental health issues, to promote positive mental health and to provide information and support to those in need.