Patterns of Safe and Creative Media Ecology Healing and Promoting Good Mental Health to Children and Youth in Educational Institutions in order to diminish the Effect of Situational Violence in the Southernmost Provinces of Thailand

Abstract

This study entitled “Patterns of Safe and Creative Media Ecology Promoting Good Mental Health to Children and Youth in Educational Institutions in order to Diminish the Effect of Situational Violence in the Southernmost Provinces of Thailand” aims i) to investigate patterns of safe and creative media promoting good mental health to children and youth in the educational institutions in order to diminish the effect of situational violence in the southernmost provinces of Thailand, ii) to investigate the safe and creative media ecology in those institutions being affected by the unrest situations in terms of cooperative working among educational institutions, guardians and the involved third parties in the study, and iii) to propose the policy in producing safe and creative media healing the children’s mental health in the context.

The findings are as follows:  

Patterns of safe and creative media promoting good mental health to the children and youth in the southernmost provinces of Thailand to reduce the bad effects from the situational violence are suggested below.

They are 1) building children and youth’s safe spaces of the surrounding in schools 2) vaccination of their media consumption 3) media presentation of bias and hatred reduction 4) maintaining environmental fact happening in school surroundings 5) strengthening management of their mental health and 6) teachers’ excellence in communication with children and youth. Furthermore, the creativity and safety of the media ecosystem are needed in the educational institutions as well as cooperative solving among schools, parents and involved organizations: 1) Parents’ media middle people in the community movement 2) Media management 3) Teachers’ professional media skills 4) Middle space of media building 5) Healing in the aspects of new targets and more challenges and 6) The implementation of policy makers in children right protection.  

The recommendations of this study are as follows:

1. All educational institutions in the southernmost provinces should cooperatively design the safe space in the school areas as well as the vaccination of facing the situational violence. Teachers who are key people in the education system have to skillfully apply media more particularly communicative methods in conveying message with both affected students and outsiders.
2. Media organizations such as Media Webpages in the areas should provide factual and actual media of the beauty of the environment in the southernmost provinces of Thailand such as marvelous tourist attractions, interesting cultural sites, locals’ life styles that can live their lives happily in the unrest situation. Besides, the media should be presented without bias and hidden hatred, and the community should communicate more with outsiders in order to open more platforms that the children and youth can pass down the true message regarding their villages to people in other communities. Importantly, all involved media organizations should provide fundamental elements of media knowledge skillfully in the areas.
3. All parties relating to the educational organizations should train teachers how to heal the affected children and youth in the area and creatively communicate with them since they are the people who surround them during the incidents. Moreover, the teachers should be able to deliver news or message to outsiders skillfully and creatively. Teachers’ mental health literacy is required in order to heal the children and youth as well as communicate with them wisely. Moreover, the security organizations such as military base should be removed to be far away from the schools due to the risky incidents happening situational violence which affects them both directly and indirectly in the areas. Apart from that, the public health organizations solving and healing the locals’ mental health in the areas should play a key and continuous role in the process. They should be middle people in increasing the skills of people involved especially children and youth in all educational institutions.