Youth and Teens Workshop: Presenter Guide

Materials

• Sticky notes in 4 colors: orange, green, yellow, and pink
• Pencils or pens
• Jumbo Post-it chart paper
• Markers
• Index cards

Preparation

Place sticky notes of all four colors and pencils or pens on each table.

Welcome participants and introduce the session.

Prompt participants to find the sticky notes and writing utensils on their table. Explain that they will work with their table group to write short answers to two questions. Display the questions and ask participants to turn and talk with their table group, then write agreed-upon answers on orange sticky notes:

• What is mental health?
• How would you define social media?

Ask participants to set these sticky notes aside in a safe place on the table. You will come back to them at the end of the session.

Show the Be Smart video, then ask the whole group:

• What are your general observations? What did you notice?
• What are the advantages of social media?

Have table groups discuss and write agreed-upon advantages on green sticky notes. Collect the green notes, post them on chart paper titled “Advantages,” and read them aloud to the whole group.

Digital Safety: Real Life video

Ask the whole group: What would you consider unsafe on social media? Participants write their thoughts on yellow sticky notes.

Social Media Is Addictive video

• In what ways is social media addictive to you?
• In what ways do you feel social media is addictive to your peers and family members?

After brainstorming, participants stand up, find someone at a different table, and share their thinking. They then return to their seats and keep adding to their yellow sticky notes.

Digital Safety: Online Friendship video

Although a sense of community is critical, a facade or fake friendships can be harmful. What are the potential consequences of sharing private information with “friends”? Participants add to their list of disadvantages on yellow sticky notes.

Digital Safety: Protect Your Privacy Online video

• What do you allow people to see online?
• What negative impacts follow these choices?

If groups don't bring up the potential harms covered in the “What's the big deal?” section of the guides, probe their thinking with open-ended questions such as:

• What content have you encountered on social media platforms that may be harmful to your mental health?
• Have you ever felt heightened emotional sensitivity, or a decrease in life satisfaction, when viewing social media?
• Do you feel the same could be true for your peers or family?
• Have you ever seen inappropriate content on social media?
• How have you responded to that kind of content before?

Collect the yellow notes, post them on chart paper titled “Disadvantages,” and read them aloud to the whole group.

Digital Safety: You Are In Control video

• What does it mean to trust yourself?
• How do we demonstrate this value?

Why Sexting Is a Bad Idea video

Do you have a proactive plan for discussing the impacts of sexting, or of sharing or consuming explicit content, with your family and close friends? Groups develop a plan together and write it on a pink sticky note.

Cyberbullying video

There are lasting effects to being a victim of bullying, including cyberbullying. Do you know when and how to report and deal with this kind of behavior? Participants write strategies on a pink sticky note.

Online Grooming video

Ask participants to list “red flags” as a proactive way to prevent online grooming, along with discussion points, on pink sticky notes. Collect the notes, share examples aloud, reconcile them, and send the combined list to all participants by email or another digital platform.

Ask participants to reflect on the workshop. How would they now describe “mental health”? How would they now define “social media”? Have them find their original orange sticky notes and spend three minutes with their table discussing how their answers changed. Then invite anyone to share reflections, changes in thinking, original misunderstandings, and calls to action.

Give each participant the Tips and Local and National Resources sections of the Youth and Teens Guide, or the full guide, for future reference.

Before leaving, each participant completes a 3-2-1 exit ticket on an index card and hands it to a facilitator:

• 3 things they learned during the session
• 2 of the most impactful things they heard
• 1 question they still have