Hey guys. What's up?
It's Elijah Sandiford
for CBC Kids News.
What's the matter,
I look a little different?
Well that's because
I'm in my new VR avatar
and we're filming in our
kids new virtual studio.
I'm actually at home
right now in my VR headset.
Hi.
The first interview in our new
studio is on COVID-19.
It's been a rough few months
during this pandemic.
So we've asked kids
all across Canada to submit
their questions based on
if they're feeling sad,
stressed, or scared.
♪ [light]
Today I'm taking these questions
to psychologist Dr. Duff.
He has his VR headset on right
now in British Columbia.
He will try and answer
questions and provide tips
and tricks to help
with your mental health
during this stressful time.
So let's head over to the
studio set and talk to Dr. Duff.
♪ ♪
Hi Dr. Duff.
Thanks for joining us today.
How do I look Elijah?
It's classy. I like your avatar,
especially the tie.
[laughs]
I chose it myself.
What do you think
of our virtual studio?
Dr. Duff: It's beautiful.
Such a nice space.
So, Dr. Duff,
the pandemic has been around
for a while now and life as we
know it has changed a lot,
Has the pandemic
been hard on kids?
For a lot of kids
this has been really stressful
and really tough,
especially kids who already
have mental health challenges.
What kind of things
can kids do to help
with their mental health?
Probably, the biggest thing that
kids can do is to make sure
to talk to people
that they like talking to
and like being around.
The second biggest thing
is to make sure that they're
always staying active
and doing stuff.
Speaking of kids,
we have our first question
on the screen here,
so let's take a look.
Mental health is something that
is being talked about
more and more openly
with the younger generation,
but with older people
it's still a topic that
they may not be very
comfortable sharing about.
So I was wondering how,
as a child, we can help out
or talk to an older family
member that we see is struggling
with their mental health?
For example, we see signs of
depression or signs of anxiety.
So just wondering how we can
reach out and help them.
Yeah, you know Elijah,
that's a really good question,
especially when it seems like
people don't really understand
what they're going through.
It's true. A lot of us
are actually a lot more open
nowadays, and talking about it,
and accepting mental health
is something that's important,
something that's real.
The biggest thing that we can do
to talk to other people,
and especially people
in our life is to try our best
to empathize with
how they're feeling.
Empathy is when we show someone
that we're actually
feeling the same
kinds of things that they feel.
And so we just try our best
to be curious and understand
exactly what
they're going through.
Let's take a look at this
screen at our next question
submitted by a Canadian kid.
My name is Salina Guo
and my question is how can I
explain the concept
of depression and mental health
to disbelieving
family members or friends?
Thank you.
You know what, Elijah? That's
a good question from Salina.
Let's sort of head over
to the new visualization room,
so I can tell you what I think.
♪ ♪
Elijah: Whoa this looks
like a doctor's office
or a hospital setting
where you can get a test done
to see what type of sickness
or are illnesses you have.
Can you do the same
for mental illnesses?
Well, sort of,
but not in the same way
that we check out
other illnesses.
In mental illness,
there's no real blood test
or brain scan that we can do
that will reliably,
that will always
tell us that we have
a mental health problem.
That's something that
can make it kind of hard
for some people to understand,
about why it actually
is an illness.
The thing about mental illness,
what makes it so tricky
and so yucky is that you can't
actually see the things that
are happening and it kind of
hijacks the way that we think.
Sometimes we can explain that
to other people
who don't really understand
mental illness
is a way to show that even
though we can't see it
on the outside, it's something
going on inside our bodies.
Right. I can see what you mean.
Well, thanks a lot Dr. Duff,
for taking the time out
of your day to come
and answer some kids questions.
No problem, Elijah, anytime.
[swoosh]
That was some interesting
advice on Dr. Duff,
and it was kind of cool
to be in this virtual space
where he can show us and tell us
what he's talking about.
[sniffs]
What's that smell?
Oh, I left my food
in the oven and it's burning!
Hold on guys I'll be right back.
Sorry about that guys.
Oh, right, there you are.
It's, it's easy to get lost
in this virtual space
when we have our headset on.
Anyways, shout outs
to Ruthabella and Salina
for submitting their questions.
Check out our next video for
more question and answers
with Dr. Duff. I'm Elijah
Sandiford for CBC Kids News .
Peace!
Wait a minute. How do I, how
do I move my fingers in this?
How am I supposed
to do my peace sign?
♪ ♪
Peace! Peace!
[grunts]
You know what?
Hi-five!
