Kerry Gibson: researching youth suicide & social technology in NZ; technology, stigma and empowerment

Kerry Gibson is a clinical psychologist and her research interests are in the areas of child and family psychology, trauma and psychotherapy. She is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand where she is the Director of the Clinical Psychology Programme. She is also the former President of the New Zealand Psychological Society. Her research interests have recently taken her down an intersecting path with technology especially in the space of technology assisted methods (such as text) of youth (16-21) counselling, social media and youth (16-21) suicide and/or grieving on the Internet.

In today’s episode we talk to Kerry about the many ways in which technology assists youth (16-21) counselling and about the good and not so good bits of engaging with social technology. We talk about how - through the lens of her research in New Zealand - youth use social media to engage with the topic of suicide; about grief and loss expressed on social media and about the role elders and/or family members play in this space. We also talk about ethics and responsibility of technology companies building products in this space.

Mentioned in Podcast:

Working with Dr Susanna Trnka on The Mirror Project. Susanna is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland. Her research has focused on understanding young people’s well-being and digital technology.

She speaks of her work on episode 8 of The Human Show Podcast: https://worldpodcasts.com/susanna-helen-trnka-the-many-ways-in-which-people-make-medical-technologies-work-for-them-how-to-approach-building-multifaceted-medical-apps-whats-next-for-a-student-of-anthropology-the/

Grieving in the Internet Age:
http://www.psychology.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Falconer1.pdf

Kerry’s (current) research work:

The Mirror Project: https://www.themirrorproject.co.nz/

The aim of The Mirror Project is to find out more the psychological challenges young people face in New Zealand today, the impact these have on their wellbeing, how they use their own strengths and resources to deal with these and how support services can be designed to better to meet their needs.

• Consumer’s views of antidepressants
Together with John Read and Claire Cartwright, Kerry is working on research aimed at understanding the rapid increase in antidepressant use in New Zealand, from the perspective of those who have been prescribed the medication. The survey can be found at www.viewsonantidepressants.co.nz

Social media or other links:

https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/people/kl-gibson