Cumberland Council is taking action on youth mental health by working to establish a Youth Mental Health Working Group.
Council is seeking Expressions of Interest from local community members and young people to join the working group which will help develop a Youth Mental Health Action Plan.
Mayor Lisa Lake said the group is being formed to help address the youth mental health crisis.
“The purpose of this group is to develop a Youth Mental Health Action Plan based on the findings from the Youth Mental Health Summit that Council hosted earlier this year,” said Mayor Lake.
“The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that three quarters of Australians with mental health issues are under the age of 25, so it’s really important that Council prioritises access to youth mental health support services and programs. These statistics are alarming and this number may in fact be a lot higher, as so many situations go unreported due to various reasons.”
There were four key themes that were identified as areas of concern from young people who attended the Youth Mental Health Summit, held on 28 February at the Holroyd Centre. These key themes included stigma, social media, substance misuse and advocacy.
A group of students from Greystanes High School attended the summit and helped identify gaps in services and outlined key programs which included a Youth Mental Health First Aid Program. The students also provided real life examples of social pressures affecting their mental health and participated in workshops designed to inform the work of the sector.
Greystanes High School student Piper Cole said the summit provided a better understanding of the resources available to young people and outlined ways to access them.
“It is incredibly important to talk about youth mental health, because talk leads to awareness and awareness leads to action and that's what we need,” she said.
The summit also discussed ways to develop actions to help reduce the stigma surrounding youth mental health, measures to tackle cyberbullying, substance misuse, peer pressure and body shaming.
There were also calls for more education around substance misuse and more resources to be available for young people under the age of 12 years.
It was the first time the Youth Mental Health Summit was held following a notice of Notice of Motion – ‘Coordinated Action to Address the Youth Mental Health Crisis’ which was endorsed at the Council meeting held on 3 August 2022.
Submissions for Expressions of Interest close 22 May 2023. For more information or to express interest in becoming a member of the Youth Mental Health Working Group visit: https://www.cumberland.nsw.gov.au/mental-health
