Straight from the front line with Steve McCracken and Rachael Wilson
This podcast is brought to you by the B416 team. Content Warning: This episode discusses topics including mental health, eating disorders, and self-harm. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for help — you are not alone. In this first episode of One Young Mind, we go straight to the frontline of youth wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. We hear from Steve McCracken, Principal of Whangaparāoa College, who has witnessed first-hand how social media is affecting young people’s learning, relationships, and mental health. From the classroom to the playground, he shares what’s really happening for students, and why he believes stronger protections are urgently needed. We’re also joined by Rachael Wilson, a UK-trained dietitian with more than 21 years’ experience in paediatrics, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia. Rachael brings a clinical lens to the discussion, describing how social media pressures are showing up earlier and more severely in children and teens, and what parents and caregivers can do about it. This is an important, eye-opening conversation about the very real risks of social media, and the changes we can all make to support one young mind at a time. New Zealand Helplines: Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7) Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7) Youth services: (06) 3555 906 What’s Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm) Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7) Aoake te Rā – Free, brief therapeutic support service for those bereaved by suicide. Call 0800 000 053. Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737 The Lowdown: Free text 5626 or visit thelowdown.co.nz EDANZ (Eating Disorders Association NZ): Visit ed.org.nz for resources and support If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111 Follow us @b416.nz or find out more at b416.co.nzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Our young people live in an increasingly digital world. While technology can improve our lives in many ways, we ask: do the benefits of social media for young people outweigh the harms? In this podcast, we explore why it is so hard for young people to put their phones down, and the mental health challenges rising alongside their online lives.
Through lived-experience, expert insights, and honest conversations, we aim to understand what is happening for our tamariki online and what we can do to protect their precious mind during those formative, developmental years.
This podcast is about listening, learning, and not shying away from the hard truths. Understanding what is really happening for young people online is the first step to keeping them safe.
Hosted by Matilda Green, content creator, presenter and mother of three, and Dr Maneesh Deva, paediatrician and health innovator working on the front lines of our hospitals and ICUs, One Young Mind brings together a compelling mix of voices and perspectives to explore the challenges, pressures and realities young people face on social media.
One Young Mind is brought to you by the team behind B416, with support from 2degrees and their Fairer Phones programme, and iHeartRadio.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for help - you are not alone.
New Zealand Helplines:
Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
Youth services: (06) 3555 906
What’s Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
Aoake te Rā – Free, brief therapeutic support service for those bereaved by suicide. Call 0800 000 053.
Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
The Lowdown: Free text 5626 or visit thelowdown.co.nz
EDANZ (Eating Disorders Association NZ): Visit ed.org.nz for resources and support
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111
Follow us @b416.nz or find out more at b416.co.nz
New Zealand