CBC News - Calgary - Website to help depressed teens
CBC News
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A new website is aimed at helping teenagers recover from depression.
The Leap Project
A new online tool developed by medical researchers in Calgary is aimed at using a website including personal stories and spiritual concepts to help teenagers recover from depression.
The researchers are looking for 50 depressed adolescents between 13 and 18 years old to take part in a clinical trial of the Leap Project, an intervention that includes a series of eight online modules. Every week for two months, the teenagers will spend two to three hours watching videos of personal stories of other young people who have recovered from depression, doing meditation exercises, listening to music and hearing tips from mental health experts. The online modules also include relaxation techniques, ideas of books to read and user feedback forms.
"Basically it's a new treatment for teen depression," said Patti Paccagnan, a registered nurse on the Leap Project. "Right now the most common available treatments are medications which tend to have side effects, and there is some literature on that. And then as well [there is] psychotherapy or counselling and that's not always accessible for kids. So we identified that there was a need for another alternative treatment for kids with depression," she said.
Only one in four teenagers who is depressed receives help, Paccagnan said. While not faith based, the Leap Project explores spiritual concepts such as forgiveness, compassion and acceptance, she said. "We didn't want it to be something that didn't support what the teenager is learning at home from his parents and what they believe common," she said. "So we wanted it to be something that was common to all religions."
Watching other teens who have recovered from depression in the online modules is reassuring, said Nayely Trujillo, 18, who became depressed when she was 14. "Everyone, every story, every song in it, it just gives them reassurance that someone understands that people do go through it and it's not just them," she said.
The program's modules were designed with the help of 20 teenagers in Calgary who offered ideas for books and music, as well as other suggestions.
A panel of psychiatrists will monitor each of the 50 teenagers enrolled in the two-month trial program and for four months afterward.
Depression in teenagers is increasing in Canada, with 6.5 per cent of adolescent boys and nearly 10 per cent of adolescent girls suffering from depression.
CBC News
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A new website is aimed at helping teenagers recover from depression.
The Leap Project
A new online tool developed by medical researchers in Calgary is aimed at using a website including personal stories and spiritual concepts to help teenagers recover from depression.
The researchers are looking for 50 depressed adolescents between 13 and 18 years old to take part in a clinical trial of the Leap Project, an intervention that includes a series of eight online modules. Every week for two months, the teenagers will spend two to three hours watching videos of personal stories of other young people who have recovered from depression, doing meditation exercises, listening to music and hearing tips from mental health experts. The online modules also include relaxation techniques, ideas of books to read and user feedback forms.
"Basically it's a new treatment for teen depression," said Patti Paccagnan, a registered nurse on the Leap Project. "Right now the most common available treatments are medications which tend to have side effects, and there is some literature on that. And then as well [there is] psychotherapy or counselling and that's not always accessible for kids. So we identified that there was a need for another alternative treatment for kids with depression," she said.
Only one in four teenagers who is depressed receives help, Paccagnan said. While not faith based, the Leap Project explores spiritual concepts such as forgiveness, compassion and acceptance, she said. "We didn't want it to be something that didn't support what the teenager is learning at home from his parents and what they believe common," she said. "So we wanted it to be something that was common to all religions."
Watching other teens who have recovered from depression in the online modules is reassuring, said Nayely Trujillo, 18, who became depressed when she was 14. "Everyone, every story, every song in it, it just gives them reassurance that someone understands that people do go through it and it's not just them," she said.
The program's modules were designed with the help of 20 teenagers in Calgary who offered ideas for books and music, as well as other suggestions.
A panel of psychiatrists will monitor each of the 50 teenagers enrolled in the two-month trial program and for four months afterward.
Depression in teenagers is increasing in Canada, with 6.5 per cent of adolescent boys and nearly 10 per cent of adolescent girls suffering from depression.
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