NSW Youth Week (April 11 – 21) celebrates Australian youth through a range of community events and activities.
The 2024 theme is ‘Express. Empower. Get loud!’ and highlights the importance of providing young people with spaces to have their voices heard on issues that matter to them.
Mental health remains a struggle for many young Australians. The National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing recently revealed nearly two in five Australians aged between 16 and 24 have experienced a mental disorder within the last 12 months.
With anxiety being common amongst this demographic, it’s clear young Australians are needing more mental health support. These issues can be even harder to navigate and manage for young Australians in rural communities, due to workforce shortages and limited availability of support services.
In rural areas of Western NSW, The Benevolent Society’s Rural Youth Mental Health (RYMH) mobile community-outreach program has been delivering crucial support to address this.
Meeting Young People’s Needs
RYMH was established in October 2018. It’s run in partnership with the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation, funded by the Western New South Wales (NSW) Primary Health Network and delivered by The Benevolent Society.
The program supports young people (aged 12–25 years) in Western NSW rural areas (Cobar, Condobolin, Coonabarabran, Coonamble, Cowra, Forbes, Gilgandra, Mudgee, Nyngan, Narromine, Parkes and Walgett) and helps them overcome mental health challenges and isolation.
Kylie Manners, RYMH Team Leader, said: “The RYMH team is dedicated to helping young people in rural areas overcome barriers, learn new skills, connect with services and build positive coping strategies.
“With many rural areas seeing limited availability of easily accessible and free community-based support, a key part of this work for the RYMH team involves helping younger Australians better understand their own mental health and supporting young people to learn and develop strategies to independently manage their mental health.”
Kylie encourages young people (12-25 years) living in communities where RYMH provides support and who are experiencing mental health challenges that don’t require immediate support or are curious about learning skills to help with managing their mental health, to reach out to the RYMH team.
“Often, taking that first step to recognise and speak up when you know something doesn’t feel right can be hard. But this step is also the first to start addressing mental health concerns,” she added.
“RYMH delivers individualised, evidence-informed practices that support improved mental health, provides information about wellbeing and health, and helps connect young Aussies to social and community networks, referrals and case management.”
Youth Mental Health Trends
To date, RYMH has received referrals for 1268 young people. The program has provided 12705 incidents of support, of which 9693 were delivered in person and 2255 by phone.
Those who reached out to RYMH most commonly received support for four to six months, and some of the most sought-after help centred on managing anxiety and depression, coping with stress and feeling overwhelmed, developing problem solving skills, navigating instances of bullying, and support with building friendships and managing relationships. The experience of the RYMH team indicates that the average age of rural Australians seeking mental health support is getting younger.
To best support the mental health of young people in rural Australia, a co-ordinated and ongoing collaborative approach between both government and non-government mental health services and state and federal governments is key. The RYMH team supports the mental health of young people by being a crucial member of various stepped care and wellbeing meetings with Department of Health, Department of Education, and Headspace.
RYMH co-locates with high schools across Western NSW to remove the barriers of travel and cost for young people to access mental health support. RYMH has seen a decrease in the stigma around seeking support, with more young people open to discussing concerns around their mental health.
The feedback that the RYMH team has received from their work in the community to date has been overwhelmingly positive. The young people supported say RYMH has helped them gain confidence and make better choices through the implementation of tailored support plans that factored in all their needs.
Those who have taken part in the program also noted that RYMH helped them overcome issues preventing them from studying, reduced their anxiety by giving them coping strategies, and left them better equipped to manage their mental health.
Young people who have received support from RYMH also often encourage their friends to do so, further breaking down stigma and barriers. Starting these conversations early as young Aussies are growing and getting comfortable with themselves and their emotions is essential.
For more information on The Benevolent Society, please visit the website or call 1800 236 762. You can find additional information on Rural Youth Mental Health through the website.