WITH the aim of promoting positive health and wellbeing, the Centre for Multicultural Youth have appointed its youth mental health ambassadors and team members.<\/p>\n
With teams from Ballarat, Horsham and Nhill, the project will be led by nine ambassadors and 18 members from each of the three towns.<\/p>\n
Team leader at the Centre for Multicultural Youth in Ballarat, Shiree Pilkinton, said the initiative is a great way for staff, young people and the wider community to consider how they can improve the lives of those around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very testing time and no matter of our ages, many of us are struggling at the moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wondered how we could improve the lives of young people from culturally diverse backgrounds who are experiencing mental health challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe underlying aim is to identify what the issues are in each community related to wellbeing and then working together to co-design responses to those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each of the town\u2019s teams will be split up into three distinct areas; creative, social and active, with each category being led by an appointed ambassador.<\/p>\n
With the aim of delivering genuine and long-term results, Ms Pilkinton said the projects have a clear focus on being led by the youth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re giving them structure, support and training to allow young people and their teams to identify the priority areas and what they think is most needed and valued,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project is delivered in a way that young people will receive it best, it\u2019s more meaningful when it comes from other young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we know from all the work that we do and what is best practice in youth work, is that if the projects are led by young people and the content has been designed by young people, they\u2019re more likely to have an effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Psychology student Myles Medwell stepped up into the role of an ambassador for mental health within Ballarat\u2019s active team.<\/p>\n
Mr Medwell said he was initially drawn to the project because of the mental health aspect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt presented an opportunity to help and specifically because it\u2019s a bottom up project and not run by a government organisation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was inviting because it was a project that used a strategy that would bring results, and I hope it does.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing with other young people and tackling something that we call share as an important value is really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having only just formed the regional mental health teams, Mr Medwell said his group have only just begun the early stages of planning their projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had an idea that we could get in contact with professional football teams and conduct an interview and discuss mental health issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re only at the ideas stage, which can actually be an invitation for other people to contribute that might not necessarily be a part of the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe officially start now but it will be going until the end of next year because CMY have received funding for the project to sustain for an amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In taking a holistic approach to tackling mental health related issues, Ms Pilkinton said the project seeks to resolve some of the roadblocks for culturally diverse communities in seeking help.<\/p>\n
\u201cMental health and wellbeing challenges exist in any community but unfortunately there\u2019s very low numbers from culturally diverse backgrounds who go to services to seek help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to look at what are these barriers, what is stopping young people from culturally diverse backgrounds from getting help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough this, we should be able to learn from young people\u2019s experiences to help and support the services.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WITH the aim of promoting positive health and wellbeing, the Centre for Multicultural Youth have appointed its youth mental health ambassadors and team members. With teams from Ballarat, Horsham and Nhill, the project will be led by nine ambassadors and 18 members from each of the three towns. Team leader at the Centre for Multicultural […]<\/p>\n