APRIL 8 | Social Media and Youth Suicide Prevention
APRIL 8 | Social Media and Youth Suicide Prevention
Tuesday, April 8, 202512:40 PM - 2:00 PM (Pacific)
Stanford Law School Building, Manning Faculty Lounge (Room 270)
559 Nathan Abbott Way Stanford, CA 94305
Join the Cyber Policy Center on April 8th from 1PM–2PM Pacific for Social Media and Youth Suicide Prevention, a seminar with Jo Robinson. It will be moderated by Jeff Hancock.
Stanford affiliates are invited to join us at 12:40 PM for lunch, prior to the seminar. The Spring Seminar Series continues through the end of May; see our Spring Seminar Series page for speakers and topics.
About the Seminar
Concerns exist regarding the relationship between social media, self-harm and suicide. However, social media is commonly used, in particular by young people, and research has identified several potential benefits, such as the potential for connection, seeking help and support and helping others. Therefore, we need to identify ways to minimize the risks without diminishing the benefits. Potential levers for maintaining safe online environments include equipping users to keep themselves and others safe; policy approaches, whereby governments develop and implement legislation to support online safety; and industry approaches whereby the social media industry takes responsibility for maximizing safety on its platforms.
In this presentation Prof Robinson will present a body of work that has examined the role of social media in suicide prevention. It will include three brand new studies that together have led to a suite of recommendations for both industry professionals and policymakers regarding approaches to online safety. She will also present a case study of one evidence-based educational approach to supporting young people to engage with self-harm and suicide-related content safely on social media. This approach has been tested widely and is now supported by governments across Australia and New Zealand as well as overseas.
About the Speaker:
Professor Jo Robinson leads Orygen’s suite of research programs around suicide prevention. She currently coordinates several research projects in collaboration with Australian and overseas universities. Some of the projects underway include a randomised controlled trial of an internet-based program for at-risk secondary school students, a study examining the role of social media in suicide prevention, and the evaluation of a gatekeeper-training program designed to assist school staff to identify and support students at risk. Robinson's work focuses on improving our knowledge about the best approaches to reduce suicide risk among young people. This includes developing programs, testing novel approaches that specifically target at-risk youth, and translating the research evidence into practice and policy.