New course to support young people post-COVID
Published: 16 June 2022
A free online course that looks at how young people’s emotional wellbeing has been impacted by the pandemic
The Univesrity has launched a new free two-week online course, 'Supporting young people’s mental wellbeing post-COVID', on the FutureLearn platform, which hopes to explore ways to support children and young people post pandemic.
The course brings together expertise and experience from across the University’s School of Education to help address some of the most common issues around young people’s emotional wellbeing in this post-COVID era.
The course will look at the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of collective trauma and will consider what trauma may do to the developing brain as well as how isolation and loss may have impacted our young people.
Dr Christine Hadfield, Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education at the University, has led on the course development along with colleagues Mark Breslin, Lecturer of Health and Wellbeing and Initial Teacher Education, and Dr Yvonne Skipper, Senior Lecturer in Psychology.
Dr Hadfield said: “This course is aimed at anyone who deals with children on a daily basis whether it is parents, guardians or professionals in a variety of contexts. We have all been through what can be considered to be a collective trauma during Covid. Through this course we will explore this issue in a bit more depth to see how we can support each other and our young people in the post-Covid era. This course seeks to highlight some key concepts and illustrate how compassion for ourselves and others is paramount. As we reconnect and rebuild our sense of community following the pandemic, the mental wellbeing of our young people must take centre stage.”
Mary Lappin, Lecturer, Grief and Loss Education and deputy head of the School of Education, said: "For many an experience of loss and bereavement will have had a considerable impact. Significant loss can be a painful and lonely experience and the accompaniment of adults, the modelling of healthy grief and a growing understanding of the potential impact of loss can be a most helpful way to support the wellbeing and flourishing of our young people”.
Learn more about the course syllabus here and sign up to take part:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/supporting-young-people-s-mental-wellbeing-post-covid
First published: 16 June 2022
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