We are proud to announce that we will be hosting the 5th International School Mental Health Symposium in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, Fogarty International Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Research Program and Bahcesehir University, Health Sciences Faculty, Child Development Department on the 25th-26th of March, 2016 at Bahcesehir University, Besiktas, Istanbul, Turkey.
This year’s topic will be The Ethical Applications of Social Media, Internet and the New Technologies in the School Setting.
Our meetings in general aim to empower the school setting as a whole to accommodate the developmental and mental health needs of children and adolescents; to promote the professional development of school teachers and educators in “preventive mental health” and “school mental health” perspectives; and to provide scientific discussion platforms that help to target the specific problems and conditions affecting student mental health.
Choosing this year’s topic rose from practical questions.
As we all know, the digital world of communication we are living in, is a rising concern and the discussions are widespread regarding its effects on the school system. Doubtless to say that this new and ever evolving system of digital media is an unequivocal determinant of child and adolescent communication and socialization patterns and is sure to affect the future generations. Before convicting the whole digital media guilty and advising total abstinence as it is generally the case in many education circles, there seems to be an urgent need for further research to pinpoint the advantage and disadvantages of these new technologies and to promote their responsible and ethical usage as a start-up measure.
As the technological advancements are far ahead of the current research agenda, and parental as well as educational concerns are on the rise, this emphasis of ethics is an indispensible priority.
We all carry the responsibility of the changing modes of communcation and its positive and negative consequences on the wellbeing of children of the world.
The 5th International School Mental Health Symposium will be an opportunity to share our knowledge, expertise, research, and concerns as educators, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, administrators, and parents.
The different modalities of this knowledge dissemination in the meeting will be through conferences, panel discussions, workshop, and poster presentations. We welcome your research on the topic “The Ethical Applications of Social Media, Internet and the New Technologies in the School Setting”.
Hoping to see you in our meeting,
Meltem Kora, M.D.
Child and adolescent psychiatrist
Psychological Rehabilitation and Education Programs Association
President
TR
