University of Glasgow launches free course to help young people with impact of Covid-19

A new university course aimed at helping young people cope with the impact of Covid has been launched in Glasgow.

The free two-week course from the University of Glasgow, called ‘supporting young people’s mental wellbeing post-Covid’, is online from Monday.

It looks to examine the “collective trauma” of the virus on the younger generations and how their emotional wellbeing has been impacted.

One of the experts involved has warned that the full impact on the pandemic, that started in March 2020, has not yet been seen.

Available on the university’s FutureLearn platform, the course hopes to explore ways to support children and young people post pandemic.

It aims to help address some of the most common issues around young people’s emotional wellbeing in this post-pandemic era.

The course consists of short videos, readings, discussion tasks and opportunities to reflect. It will also provide theoretical background as well as some specific strategies and tools which may be used by teachers, social workers, parents and others to encourage children and young people to both recognise and discuss their emotions post pandemic.

Christine Hadfield has led on the course development along with colleagues Mark Breslin, a lecturer of Health and Well-Being and Initial Teacher Education, and Dr Yvonne Skipper, a Senior Lecturer in Psychology.

Ms Hadfield, a lecturer in Initial Teaching Education at the University of Glasgow, said: “This course is aimed at anyone who deals with children on a daily basis whether it is parents, guardians or professionals in a variety of contexts.

“We have all been through what I would consider to be a collective trauma during Covid. Over that last two and a half years, we have become increasingly aware of the importance of our emotional and mental wellbeing as well as the importance of our connection with others.

“Through this course we will explore this issue in a bit more depth to see how we can support each other and our young people in the post Covid-19 era.

“We don’t know the long-term effects of this pandemic for any of us, but we hope that our two-week course will help to start that conversation and also look at how we might support young people to move forward post pandemic.

She added: “Compassion, connection and community are the principles behind this free online course. We have yet to witness the full impact of the Covid pandemic on our children and young people.

“This course seeks to highlight some key concepts and illustrate how compassion for ourselves and others is paramount. As we reconnect and rebuild our sense of community following the pandemic, the mental wellbeing of our young people must take centre stage.”