The SMART project

The aim of the Abingdon Bridge SMART (Social Media Anxiety Resilience Team) Project is to enable young people to become more digitally resilient so that they are able to both recognise and resist the pressures from social media.

Over the summer The Abingdon Bridge consulted various groups of young people aged 13-25 and we found that:

70% felt that the internet and social media has a negative impact on their mental health.
1 in 3 had been targeted, threatened or humiliated online.

The biggest issue is that young people live in an online world that encourages them to compare themselves with others. They lose touch with who they really are and create a false online identity. This has a huge impact on young people’s self-esteem and resilience. Many young people have reported that social media has made them “less social”.

Our SMART programme consists of:

Promoting the campaign both online and through our various partnerships across the town, including, Schools, Housing associations, police, community and other youth groups.
Interactive workshops to our partners, including the secondary schools in Abingdon and other community organisations.
1:1 support through our healthy lifestyles and counselling programmes.
Training and support for other local youth and community organisation

Oxfordshire County Council’s Communities Fund have part funded the launch of this initiative.