Digital Health & Wellness for Communities: Hunelhyad (What’s the matter?) – Part 1: Social Media, Youth and Health with Johanna Sam

Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Welcome to the first session of a two-part series on Digital Health & Wellness for Communities.

We have the pleasure of joining Johanna Sam of Tsilhqot’in Nation as she presents on her interests which involve new information and communication technology initiatives designed to enhance equity for socially marginalized populations, such as Indigenous people, youth, and women.

With today’s increasing access to Internet, social media sites are a big part of most young Aboriginal people’s lives for them to connect with friends, family, classmates, and community. Social networking sites provide Aboriginal youth with instant access to social contact and entertainment, for example Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, blogging, and virtual gaming sites. While there are many positive uses of social media, they have also raised issues about online privacy, over sharing, and cyberbullying. For this reason, it is important that Aboriginal youth, families, and communities gain tools and skills to stay safe online. This interactive Webinar will talk about cyberbullying, online privacy, and its link with health and wellness.

The main goal of this session is to develop information and resources for promoting digital citizenship that will empower Aboriginal youth and communities. The holistic goals of the session are to:

1. Know it (Mental): Promote an understanding of how online or digital communication differs from face-to-face conversations;
   
2. See it (Spiritual): Recognize and honour Aboriginal ways of knowing in a digital world;
   
3. Feel it (Emotional): Explore trends and attitudes of cyberbullying, online privacy and over sharing on wellness; and
   
4. Do it (Physical):  Engage in interactive activities and discussions to identify how Aboriginal youth, themselves, are influenced by social media and Internet.

Although this presentation is targeted towards youth, everyone welcome to participate.

 About the Presenter:

Johanna Sam

Johanna Sam is a proud member of Tsilhqot’in Nation located in North Central BC. Realizing the importance of accessible healthcare, Johanna has involved herself in creating innovative approaches for the delivery of mental health services. She completed a Bachelor of Science with a major in Psychology, minor First Nation Studies at the University of Northern BC. She has recently completed a Master of Science degree in Population & Public Health at UBC where she received CIHR’s Intersections of Mental Health Perspectives in Addictions Research Training Fellowship. She is currently a PhD student in Human Development, Learning, and Culture with UBC’s Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, Special Education. Her Doctoral research explores how virtual environments changes the nature of social interaction among adolescents, specifically the influence of cyberbullying on mental health concerns. She volunteers as a Graduate Student Representative for UBC’s Aboriginal Health Sciences Admission Committee. Johanna has a passion for making a difference in the lives of young people, especially in Aboriginal communities.

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