Helping Alberta’s Young People Have #MoreGoodDays
Kian, Kickstand Youth Action Member from Edmonton
Author: Alex San Diego
Young people aged 12 to 25 are among the most underserved populations for mental health and substance use support in Alberta – and the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exasperated this issue.
There have been increasing calls to make health and wellness services more effective by directly engaging young people in service design, delivery and evaluation. That’s where Kickstand comes in!
Kickstand is excited to share MoreGoodDays - a supportive text message program for young people in Alberta. After working alongside 40 young people from across the province, Kickstand created 365 daily messages written 100% by Alberta youth, for Alberta youth.
“I think something you should know is that you are green with great, pink with perfect, aqua with awesome, blue with brave. You are a rainbow of qualities. Remember that! 🌈”
- MoreGoodDays Message from an Albertan young person
Once someone signs up, they'll receive a daily dose of inspiration and advice straight to their phone via text message. Young people of any age with a cell phone can subscribe –just text MoreGoodDays (one word) to 393939 to try it out.
MoreGoodDays is an adaptation of the Text4Hope program launched last year to help users shift their perspective. Research on Text4Hope saw users reporting an overall reduction of stress, anxiety and depression and the team is hoping for similar results for young Albertans. A special bonus is that youth engagement promotes resiliency and connectedness and reduces risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in youth. Special shout out to all the young people who helped create MoreGoodDays!
“I think, we underestimate the impact of services specifically curated for what we need. When certain demographics aren’t represented accurately, it is difficult for the service to actually connect with the people it is meant for. Initiatives like this help establish and validate our presence.”
To learn more about Kickstand and MoreGoodDays, check out https://mykickstand.ca/.