Our Mission
At The Yellow Wood Project, we believe that early intervention is essential to stopping harmful behaviors before they begin. In today’s digital world, the internet can be a pathway to both perpetration and victimization, and our work is dedicated to guiding those engaging - or at risk of engaging - with harmful content toward safer, healthier choices.
Collaboration is central to our mission. We seek to partner with researchers, practitioners, online platforms, organizations, and communities to conduct primary research, enhance collective understanding, and deliver interventions that can truly make a difference.
Childhood and adolescence are complex enough to navigate as it is, but contemporary internet has thrown young people's development in to unchartered territory. Our mission is to map it and find ways through towards happy and healthy futures.
Our Approach
Behaviour does not happen in a vacuum, it is influenced by other factors as part of a system, and may be dependent on these in order to occur. Fundamentally, actions are not solely the outcome of whether or not an individual wants to do something. It is also a product of one's environment and capability.
Changing behaviour requires developing an enhanced understanding of who, what, when, where, and why it occurs. We believe in taking a structured approach to understanding the factors that influence behaviour in order to come up with appropriate strategies to promote positive change. This includes conducting primary and secondary research, mapping the system of influences, using thematic analysis to identify underlying reasons and mechanisms for behaviour, and developing interventions which address these.
We view online harms as a public health concern; impacting children’s and adolescents’ mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. This perspective is reflected in our methodology; the core of which is most tried and tested in public health. Our systems-thinking approach recognises the bigger picture that this urgent issue cannot be solved with policy alone.
Our Core Values
As an organisation, we are committed to...
Safety
Protecting people is our number one priority.
Empathy
We believe understanding others' perspectives is crucial to solving problems.
Collaboration
Cooperation between organisations and individuals will help us reach our collective goal.
Innovation
Complex problems often need creative solutions.
Integrity
We behave honestly and ethically in our work, guided by strong moral principles.