Are young people acting as mini-therapists online?

Today I'm joined by Aylssa Cowell who is working in Brunei in an International school and works with young people as a school counsellor. Aylssa was also previously a Youth worker here in the U.K and we met through the topic of teaching Sex -education for young people. We talk Young people and sexuality, young people and peer pressure and Instagram stories, identity and how young people are seemingly staying on their devices to 'be there' for each other and how this can mimic the job that Aylssa and I do, ie are young people 'Counsel' for their peers? We contemplate that in our roles we are expected to have supervision as vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burn out are a real threat to our profession, yet young people are managing the Mental Health of their peers, who can be almost anywhere in the world at any time. Young people really are doing their best for each other, however this is not a role they can be expected to keep fulfilling at this volume if they are to thrive in their own rights? More adults needed to help them manage this please, adolescents need to concentrate on being adolescents, so get talking to them and see how many peers they feel they need to look out for and you might just be amazed. They are tenacious, caring and supportive and perhaps thats why they are on their smartphones as much as they are? Head over to Patreon.com/cybersynapse to learn more about topics like this. Parenting tips and how to speak with your child/young person about issues such as this and more will be added over the coming months. Sign up for as little as a £1 per month.