Joanna Conrad

Teaching youth how to navigate the digital world is just as important as protecting them from it.

Today, Youth Diversion was featured on the front page of the Windsor Star as part of an important conversation about youth online safety and proposed social media restrictions for young people.

Every day, we work with youth and families navigating the challenges of social media, online relationships, artificial intelligence, cyberbullying, sextortion, misinformation, and digital peer pressure.

While protecting children online is essential, we believe the solution goes beyond restrictions alone.

Young people need the skills to think critically, recognize risks, set healthy boundaries, and make informed decisions in the digital world. Parents, educators, and communities all play a role in helping them develop those skills.

At Youth Diversion, we remain committed to empowering youth and supporting families through education, prevention, and meaningful conversations about the realities of growing up online.

Thank you to the Windsor Star for highlighting this important issue and giving voice to the work happening in our community.

Does your child struggle with friendships, emotional regulation, or social skills?

School may be ending for the summer, but social, emotional, and behavioural challenges don’t take a break.

The RESET Program provides Social Skills & Emotional Regulation Coaching for neurodivergent youth ages 8–21 who may be struggling with:

✔ Making and keeping friends
✔ Managing big emotions
✔ Impulsive behaviour or decision-making
✔ Social isolation
✔ Self-confidence and resilience
✔ Conflict resolution and coping skills

Through individualized one-on-one support and small group opportunities, youth learn practical skills that help them thrive at home, at school, and in the community.

RESET is designed for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Learning Disabilities (LD), Mild Intellectual Disabilities (MID), and other neurodivergent needs.

📅 Summer spaces available now
📍 Windsor-Essex County

⭐ Parent referrals welcome. School referral not required. ⭐

If you’re wondering whether RESET might be a good fit for your child, we’d be happy to connect and answer your questions.

📧 [email protected]
🌐 ecyouthdiversion.ca

We’re honoured to be featured in today’s paper as we launch an exciting new chapter for Youth Diversion. 📰✨

Thanks to the support of our community and partners, we’re expanding our work to better support children, youth, and families across Windsor-Essex through prevention, intervention, and meaningful family engagement.

This is more than a program expansion—it’s an investment in stronger families, healthier communities, and brighter futures for young people.

Thank you to everyone who continues to believe in this work. The best is yet to come. 💛

Sometimes the impact of this work is best told by the people who’ve lived it.

This comment stopped us in our tracks.

Every young person deserves the chance to learn from mistakes, change their path, and move forward without being defined by one moment.

This is why Youth Diversion exists.
To hold youth accountable. To support families. To create second chances before a criminal record becomes a life sentence.

Thank you to our community for sharing stories like this and for believing in early intervention. 💙

I had the opportunity this morning to speak on a radio segment about youth social media bans and online safety.

It’s a complex issue—and one that deserves more than a simple solution.

While the idea of banning social media for youth may sound effective in theory, early results from places like Australia suggest otherwise. Many young people are still accessing these platforms, just in different ways—often with less supervision.

That raises an important question:
Are we solving the problem… or simply shifting it?

In my work with youth and families, I see firsthand that the issue isn’t just access—it’s how young people are navigating these spaces.

There is no switch that flips at 16 that suddenly makes a young person “ready” for the online world.

If we want to meaningfully reduce harm, the focus should be on:

-Supporting parents with tools and guidance
-Building digital literacy and resilience in youth
-Holding platforms accountable for how they engage young users

Technology isn’t going anywhere. Our approach needs to reflect that.

Sharing the interview clip below—curious to hear others’ thoughts on this.

Canadian government plans to ban social media for all kids under 16 - The Kyle Horner Show 10am-12pm | iHeart Kyle Horner is joined by Joanna Conrad from Youth Diversion to talk about what this could mean for families.