Mental Health Is One Of The Three Biggest Issues For Young People In The Past Year
The popular youth information website spunout.ie is relaunching with a whole new look, building on their positive reputation as the trusted source for information for young people, by young people in Ireland.
The most widely-read factsheets on spunout included:
“How to care for self harm wounds”, and “What to do if your partner doesn’t want to have sex”.
With over 2.3 million site visits in 2020 alone, this data gives a unique and rare insight into what Ireland’s young people are actually concerned about, what they seek information on, and who they trust to provide that information.
Reliable information on what is engaging young people is often extremely hard to get, due to the sensitive nature of some search topics, and the new smart site will aggregate articles, factsheets and advice in an innovative way, providing more comprehensive information.
The online launch, at 2pm on 6 July 2021, will be hosted by RTE 2FM DJ Tara Stewart and will also hear from Minister Roderic O’Gorman, The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth Affairs.
After 16 years of providing information to more than 170,000 young people in Ireland each month, the platform is taking the next step to meet the growing needs of young people in Ireland today.
Kiki Martire, Director of spunout.ie said:
“Last year we had over 2.3 million site visits by young people aged 16 to 25.
They come to spunout.ie to get information they can’t get at school or at home or from their friend group.
We’re a trusted, non-judgemental resource and we need to keep evolving in pace with how this age group is evolving.
As with everything at spunout, this new rebrand and website has been led by young people, for young people.
Our site activity provides us with valuable and reliable data, of the observed behaviour of young people in Ireland, and should really be used to inform policy for the future.
It’s a testament to the passion and skills of young people in Ireland today that they led the creation of this fresh new look for the spunout brand and improved our platform user experience, which places accessibility at the core.”
RTE 2FM DJ, Tara Stewart said:
“It's great to be part of this relaunch of spunout.ie and see the organisation flourish and grow.
The challenges young people face today are quite different to what they faced 16 years ago when spunout.ie was first launched, so it's great to see the organisation evolve.
Roderic O’Gorman TD., Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said:
“Young people are among the most heavily affected by COVID-19 in Ireland. They have had their education, social lives, and employment seriously disrupted.
And for the most part we’ve seen them make enormous sacrifices for others more vulnerable to the virus than they are.
This sacrifice is not always portrayed in the media and it is organisations like spunout.ie that provide vital support and a voice to young people in these challenging times.”
John Meehan, Assistant National Director, HSE Mental Health Services said:
“The HSE is incredibly proud of our partnership with spunout and to support their work and extensive programme of innovative health, wellbeing and social initiatives and campaigns.
The last 18 months has reminded us of the paramount importance of proactive, accessible, trusted information for, and from, young people in Ireland - especially online.
This partnership is incredibly important in our collective efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of Ireland's young people, and to create more positive change, impact, and health outcomes for them.
We look forward to the improvements being launched by spunout today, having an even more positive impact into the future.”
The new-look platform has drawn on the experiences and feedback of young people to improve its interface and online offering.
Thousands of young people across Ireland access spunout.ie every day to find accessible, relevant and reliable information and support services to navigate the challenges we face in our lives.
