The first lesson we parents learn is that children do not come with a manual. The second is that the feeling of inadequacy will continue to sting the heart forever. Because whether we have an anxious nine-year-old, a high-achieving tweenie or a teenager who takes constant anxiety showers, we parents have one thing in common: We want to understand our children and the world in which they move.
The quote above is from a nine-year-old boy. His story reflects only a small fraction of the reality that children and young people live in and share through the Ommej app.
"I want help because my little brother is sick," says a twelve-year-old girl in Ommej. A boy of the same age indicates that no one sees when he is sad. A teenage boy says that he has difficulty breathing, several times a day, while a nine-year-old girl often feels a fear that she will "lose control".
Bris reports that calls to their helpline continue to increase and that the calls are often about children struggling with mental illness. Often linked to anxiety, self-harming behavior and eating disorders. "It is very common for us to talk to children who have suicidal thoughts", says Malin Berggren Griffiths, curator at Bris.
Suicide is now the most common cause of death among Sweden's young people. Every week, three young people take their own lives, while around 1,200 young people are treated in inpatient care every year after suicide attempts or self-harm, according to statistics from Karolinska Institutet. It's numbers that are higher than in other comparable countries in Western Europe.
In Save the Children latest report "Young voice" 33% of the children say that in the past year they have been sad or depressed for two weeks or longer, while 34% of the boys have been hit, kicked, pushed or locked up at school, 27% of the girls have been subjected to sexual harassment during school hours and 11% have been stating that an adult contacted them on social media and wanted to talk about sex.
Ommej is a free app that helps children and young people express their feelings and thoughts more easily. The child can share his story with a safe adult and where you as a parent, guardian, relative, acquaintance, can get a small window into the child's reality. The app also shortens the path for the child to be able to seek the right help and support from established actors. A child's everyday life eventually becomes their entire childhood. Support Ommej's vision to empower all children and democratize their right to a healthy and safe existence.
“Imagine mom, if this had been around when I was in school!”
- Young adult with npf diagnosis