Social Media CE Bundle (6 CE)

1. Social Media and Children's Mental Health:

The course provides mental health professionals with an examination between social media and children’s mental health. Specifically, the course highlights key findings within the digital lives of young people and compares the positive impact with online risks and harm.  It examines the responses from both parents and policy makers while discussing the scope for further research. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Cite key research findings on the digital lives of children and young adults, analyzing time spent online and time spent social networking, as well as emerging trends.

2. Discussion of positive impacts on social media and the online risks and potential harm to mental health and overall wellbeing.

3. Review responses to online risk by both policy makers and parents.

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2. Using Social Media for Support and Feedback: This course is intended to provide information on factors that impact the social acceptability of mental health services. The present study reviews a discussion conducted via Twitter on the topic of mental health services. Themes of the discussion include the impact of diagnosis, the power balance between the provider and consumer, the therapeutic relationship and how to effectively communicate within it, and how support is provided across various mediums of service delivery. In this course, we discuss positive and negative feedback provided across the previously mentioned themes, as well as considerations for improving the experience for individuals receiving mental health services.

Learning Objectives:

1. Summarize barriers and factors that contribute to how mental health services are experienced.

2. Identify ways to improve the experience of individuals who receive mental health services.

Content By: This course has been developed by Shepherd, A., Sanders, C., Doyle, M., and Shaw, J (2015). Using Social media for Support and Feedback by Mental Health Service Users: Thematic Analysis of a Twitter Conversation. BMC Psychiatry, 2015. 

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3. Soical Media and Mental Health: In recent years, the advancement of technology has led to a rather drastic shift in the way our society interacts and communicates with one another. The rise of the internet and increasing prevalence of smartphones means that people are increasingly “plugged in” to communication networks and social media. While this is a recent phenomenon, making it difficult to know the long-term effects of this paradigm shift, the increasingly universal aspect of smartphones and social media behooves that mental health professionals are prepared to deal with the potential impacts these technologies may have on a client’s day-to-day life. Smartphones, which effectively act as small portable computers, have created a new social climate where people have access to the internet at all times. The ability to stay constantly connected can impact a person’s mental health and wellbeing. While some may be familiar with concepts such as internet addiction, social media addiction, or similar issues stemming from the high rate of internet use, there are also numerous reports of this constant connection being able to benefit people’s lives.

Author: Nikolai Nygard, B.A., Gerry Grossman, LMFT, Kat Foley, M.A., MHP, Stacey Soto, B.A.

Target Audience: Introductory and Intermediate; LMFTs, Social Workers, LPCCs, Nurses, Substance Abuse Counselors, and other mental health clinicians.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Identify common applications and the positive and negative effects of using these applications.
2. Understand how to set apart regular internet, smartphone, and social media use from internet addiction and problematic internet use.
3. Help clients through trust and self-esteem issues which are affected by unhealthy comparisons, cyberbullying and harassment, privacy violations, and scammers and catfishers.
4. React to clients’ use of the internet to self-diagnose or cope with aspects of themselves not generally well-received in a public setting.
5. Understand relationship issues that have evolved from the increased use of technology to communicate.
6. Treat anxiety and addiction that clients experience due to problematic internet use.

Approvals: