An online platform that helps schools tackle students' mental health and well-being is going global.
Komodo Wellbeing was developed in Christchurch by Jack Wood and Chris Bacon in 2018. It’s now available in more than 100 schools in 16 countries, including Singapore, Kuwait, Dubi, Australia, South Korea and Japan.
The platform gives students are given a series of questions to answer, including how happy they are, if they’ve been bullied, feel safe at school, and whether life at home is enjoyable.
The information is then sent through to the teacher, who can see a breakdown of how well individuals are doing as well as the class overall.
“If 50% of the student body is experiencing problems to do with sleep, you can be really focused on that. And we've seen schools put in really clear and really cool interventions actually where they might dedicate a week to that particular topic,” said Bacon.
Psychologists design the surveys which can be tailored to the school and changing circumstances.
“So if there is a natural disaster or there is a lockdown, say we try to get questions into our question library quickly so schools can use them.
“If we can empower our young people by giving them information, that is half the battle won,” said lead psychologist Ilia Lindsay.
Some classes at Saint Andrew’s College in Christchurch use Komodo Wellbeing weekly for just “a few minutes”.
Teacher Bid Constanti said it allows her to see trends over time and identify when students are going through a tough time.
“It's more just a gentle check-in as opposed to a direct question of ‘how are you today’ or ‘how are you feeling’ cause that's actually quite an intimidating question to answer.
“Beforehand, they would’ve come to me but only once it reached breaking point, whereas now we have an opportunity to step in earlier,” said Constanti.
One student had a grandparent die and told no one until they logged on, and they said they were feeling sad.
“I just pulled them aside when I had a chance and went ‘hey what’s going on', and they let me know that someone had passed away,
"And it was a really non-invasive easy way it facilitated a conversation,” Constanti said.
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