Instagram’s ‘Positivity Pages’ promote good mental health

Time and time again, people attending my training sessions raise concerns about young people, their mental health and the amount of time they spend online (particularly on social media), which are reasonable concerns. My usual response is that, with anything else the internet has to offer, social media is just a tool.
I think sometimes we forget that you should treat social media like a magazine you’d buy in a shop, the only difference is that you are in control of what you are looking at. I make sure I follow pages that promote positivity and openness for example @i_weigh @wickedwomensinstitute and @headsabovethewaves

I think that we need to have discussions, especially with young people, about the impact digital technology can have. This is not only for their day-to-day mental health, but for being able to manage and seek support for mental health conditions. Communication is really important, and there is a great website – thepositivepage.org – run by an amazing young person called Lauren.

In a nutshell, The Positive Page is a website created to support those suffering with mental illness and low self-worth, through positivity and various things to get people involved in. You can take part in their weekly activities online such as Self Care Sessions (and Journal Sessions), Tuesday Talks and Battling Thoughts. On The Positive Page you can also make an account in The Community, an online forum which allows you to comment and make discussions based around mental health and self-love.

One of my favourite elements of its online presence, particularly through @thepositivitypages is the worrybox – one example looks at someone’s concern about an eating disorder.

According to the Positive Pages website:

“The worry box is an ANONYMOUS place where you can share something that you need advice for. Every week we will pick one of the submissions and share it on a post on our instagram. In the caption we will offer any advice we have and leave the comments open for those following us to leave their own advice too. We feel that by opening the conversation up to our followers too, there might be someone there who has been in a similar situation and may be able to make you feel better about it than we could!”

On their website they list helplines that someone can call for information, when they’re experiencing mental health problems or in a crisis. Give them a follow on social media and brighten up your feed with messages of positivity and self-worth!