MuslimYouth.net is Britain’s first guidance and support channel for Muslim youth. The site is designed and managed entirely by young people who reflect the diversity of Muslim communities in the UK.
The project is supported by Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH), a confidential telephone and e-mail counselling service for young people. Many of the issues profiled on this site, reflect the concerns of young people who contact MYH.
MuslimYouth.net aims to raise awareness of the different social problems that affect young Muslims and provide culturally sensitive guidance to young people. The site encourages young Muslims to develop peer-support networks, access specialist services and care for their social and mental wellbeing.
By profiling the real experiences of Muslim youth in a public forum, MuslimYouth.net aims to confront the cultural stigma attached to common social issues such as mental health, drug abuse and sexuality. The forum and chat rooms will allow young Muslims to talk openly and anonymously about the issues that affect them without fear or community reprisal.
I think we need something like this, in Arabic, for us in the Gulf. Just browsing through the local papers in Bahrain and from around the Gulf shows the kind of problems our youth are facing, from drugs, to sexuality issues, to complete disregard by the community with the normal explanation to problems (if not swept under the carpet in the first place) as “this is foreign to our culture” and “haram” which alianates fruitful discussion which might save some from a dire path and even their lives.
