Taking Controlz

Project Description Narrative:

Adolescence is an important time for identity formation, where peer acceptance can feel important. Following the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, in which many adolescents were deprived of social interactions, suicide attempts have been on the rise, indicative of declining youth mental health. Due to limited professional assistance, youth turn to one another for mental health support, often through the social media platform, TikTok. However, medical health professionals have found that the mental health advice disseminated on the platform is often inaccurate, or misinformation, which can be harmful for various reasons.

This project aims to provide free, quality, evidence-based mental health content on TikTok that will promote health literacy and health equity to vulnerable urban and rural youth populations. Taking Controlz will use current TikTok content strategies to drive traffic toward evidence-based mental health groups and promote safe social media habits, while also creating content that aligns with current trending topics on TikTok. The Taking Controlz channel will be free and hosted by board-certified child psychiatrists promoting safe social and digital media use, as well as thinking critically about content consumption.