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SIGN UP FOR THE GHENT SYMPOSIUM

The CHAT-YOUTH consortium is organizing a Symposum in Ghent, Belgium on Thursday the 22^nd of May 2025. This symposium will bring together experts and thought leaders in online mental health to discuss key issues, share innovative ideas, and explore the latest developments in the field.

Sign up to join us via this LINK (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.).

Event details:

Title: Shaping the Future of Digital Wellbeing and Online Support

Date: Thursday the 22^nd of May 2025, 10:00 – 16:45 CET

Location:

Morning sessions: De Krook (Miriam Makebaplein 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium) OR online via MS Teams
Afternoon sessions: Room 3.1, T1, Campus UFO (Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000 Ghent Belgium)

We would be thrilled to have you join us for this event, and we look forward to the opportunity to connect with you. Please confirm your attendance by Thursday, May 15^th, if you plan to attend in person, or by Monday, May 19^th, if you will be joining online.

We have an exciting agenda lined up, featuring interesting presentations, group discussions, and networking opportunities:

UPCOMING NETWORKING AND COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE MEETINGS

We focus on building a network of chat-related stakeholders, be it counselors, youth themselves, researchers or board members of chat-organizations. With this growing network we plan to organize six Community of Practice meetings, in which we want to enable European exchange of information about best practices and shortcomings in online chat counseling services for youth. The first Community of Practice meetings have been succesful and left us with much more to talk about.

The future CoP meetings are planned on:

Tuesday June 17th, 2025 (11-12u30 CET)
Tuesday September 16th, 2025 (11-12u30 CET).

Next to these CoP meetings we will also organize webinars on f.e. training of counselors. Specific dates are not picked yet, but the timeframes in which they will happen are listed below. Finally, we will also organize a Stakeholder symposium in Ghent (Belgium) on the 22^nd and 23th of May in 2025. More information on Ghent meeting can be found above.

Webinar 2: May 2025 (parallel with symposium in Ghent, Belgium)
Stakeholder symposium: 22-23 May 2025
Webinar 3: November/December 2025

If you wish to learn more about the CoPs or the webinars, feel free to contact Elke Denayer (elke.denayer@ugent.be) with any questions or suggestions.

Dissemination aims to contribute to improving OCCS, and eventually support youth in need as well as youth work, research and policy making.

PAST EVENTS

Past Community of Practice meetings:

The first Community of Practice meeting on the 14th of March 2024 was about exchanging information and expertise. We gave a short update about the CHAT-YOUTH project and heard a presentation about a Finnish chat service.

The second Community of Practice meeting on the 18th of June 2024 was about artificial intelligence and how artificial intelligence can be used in chat services. Before we heard a presentation about AI, we gave a short update about the project. During the discussions participant shared their ideas and thoughts about using AI in the chat services.

The third Community of Practice meeting on the 1st of October 2024 was about suicidality as a phenomenon in the OCCS’s and how counselors should approach the topic.

The fourth Community of Practice meeting on the 11th of February 2025 focused around the training of the counsellors and volunteers. The meeting contained presentations from organizations with OCCS’s around Europe that exhibited their approaches towards the topic.

Past webinar:

Webinar 1: 14th of January 2025: Artificial Intelligence

The sessions addressed ethical challenges, such as transparency, fairness, and the balance between technology and human connection, as we consider the implications of integrating AI into sensitive areas like mental health.

Watch the recordings of the webinar here (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.).

Symposiums:

Kick-off meeting for CHAT-YOUTH partners and experts in Madrid
The hybrid kick-off meeting was arranged on Thursday the 25th of January 2024 in Madrid, Spain.

Helsinki symposium around the theme of Research and Practice

Helsinki CHAT-YOUTH meeting took place on Thursday 22nd of August 2024 at Tieteiden Talo in Helsinki, Finland.

Other events:

CHAT-YOUTH arranged a thematic working group called Do chat services for youth build hope? at the XXII Annual Conference of Youth Studies on 8–9th November 2023 in Helsinki, Finland.

NYRIS 16th Nordic Youth Research Symposium (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.) June 12-14th, 2024, Tampere, Finland. CHAT-YOUT arranged the thematic working group number 11. CHAT-services as Crisis help and Assistance for youth during challenging Times.

Project team

Alexis Dewaele, Lien Goossens and Elke Denayer, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
Maria Cabello Salmerón and Irati Higuera Lozano, La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Katalin Felvinczi, Zsuza Kaló and Mónika Rényi, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Tuuli Pitkänen, Siiri Soininvaara, Finnish Youth Research Society, Finland