Chancen niederschwelliger online Peer-to-Peer Begleitung für Jugendliche am Beispiel der Online-Plattform OPEN

During adolescence, young people face a number of developmental tasks and biographical challenges. They do not always feel able to cope with the problems of this stage of life, and as a result they sometimes experience considerable psychological stress as well as conflicts and crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the situation of young people, who are more affected by the effects of lockdown restrictions than other age groups. In particular, these include loneliness, social isolation, and fears about the future. For various reasons, young people often do not find access to psycho-social support, or only at a late stage. Low-threshold support services are rare and do not meet the existing needs. In this paper, we present the platform OPEN, which allows young people to get in touch with trained and supervised peer companions online, anonymously and free of charge, and to talk about their problems.