There’s no shortage of research indicating supportive connections with others are crucial for mental wellbeing, and that these can provide a measure of protection against anxiety and depression. A recent suite of workshop programs run in Kiama (15-24 yr olds) and an Australia-wide survey into loneliness (16-26 yr olds) have sought to delve further into understanding the mental wellbeing concerns of young people.

Dr Monty Badami is an anthropologist, speaker, facilitator and coach, as well as an officer in the Australian Army Reserves. He is also a parent and a Kiama local. In 2021, Dr Badami’s social enterprise Habitus, (which had worked previously with both Kiama High and Kiama Primary) was approached by a number of young people from Kiama who wanted support to make sense of the recent rise in youth suicides in the area. The last few years had been really hard, and one of their biggest concerns was the feeling they weren’t being listened to. 

The Lifehacks program was created and delivered by Habitus (in partnership with Sonder Youth and #Talk2MeBro) to uncover and clarify how the young people in Kiama were really thinking and feeling – by asking them.

It was an opportunity to share their stories and their voices, with the program reinforcing the benefit of asking people with a lived experience of a situation, before trying to create community interventions. The program was funded by the 2021 Youth Opportunities Grant from the Department of Communities and Justice, with additional support from The Kiama Lions Club, The Kiama Leagues Club, and Makuta Youth, To date 60 young local people have attended the two-day Lifehacks workshops (two in 2022 and one in early 2023), with six under 18s trained as mentors and assisting in the later workshops.

Dr Badami explains that thanks to the ‘very generous support of Makuta Youth, we can train local community members to continue to deliver the Lifehacks program in the area’. (Makuta Youth is a Kiama-based charity raising funds to support established suicide prevention and wellbeing initiatives in our community).

On 19 July, Kiama Council and SENTRAL Youth Services Kiama organised a presentation of the Lifehacks Whitepaper for the Kiama community at the Pavilion - with the Mayor, Councillors and other local bodies and community organisation representatives in attendance. Dr Badami said of the evening that he was ‘so proud of the young people, proud of the program and proud of our community’ and that it ‘genuinely felt like a watershed moment for our community’. 

Below is a broad summation of the Lifehacks participants’ survey responses and feedback:

• Young people know what support is available and how to maintain good mental health, but they crave more connection.
• Young people value their relationships with adults, but need us to trust them.
• Young people are struggling and want adults to try to see things from their perspective. 
• Young people know what they want for their immediate future, but feel that it isn’t enough to satisfy the desires or aspirations of their parents. 

To find out more about the Kiama Lifehacks program or to read or download the detailed Whitepaper, visit: Lifehacks Whitepaper which serves to encapsulate the mental health landscape of young people living in Kiama. 

The Lifehacks program fed directly into the 10-week Changemaker program run by Sonder Youth, which gave 12 young people the opportunity to employ the insights gained from the Lifehacks program to define and create their own change initiatives within the local community, and these change projects are currently in development.

Through the Changemaker program, young people receive training in Mental Health First Aid, have regular meetings to create a supportive community where they feel connection and belonging, develop accountability structures to work towards their goals, and develop project design and project management skills. 

Lucy Burton, who completed the Changemaker program and is now Community Outreach Officer at Sonder Youth, said the program gave her ‘the tools and support to build her project (now an operating business) which focuses on bringing happiness to people’s lives through the simple things in life, such as having a coffee and a conversation with a friend.’  

Those interested in upcoming and future Changemaker programs in either Kiama, Nowra or Ulladulla can apply via www.sonderyouth.com/changemakers or email [email protected]. There are still some places available for the next Kiama intake, commencing later in August.

Moving from the local area to the national youth mental wellbeing landscape, on Sunday 30 July, the annual International Day of Friendship, ReachOut (an online mental health service supporting young people during tough times) released a report on the impacts of loneliness on Australian young people. The report (based on a national survey of over 660 young people aged 16-26), identified that nearly 60 per cent of young people are concerned, stressed or worried about feeling lonely.

CEO of ReachOut, Ashley de Silva, explained that the ‘International Day of Friendship was an important opportunity to highlight young peoples’ experiences of loneliness and to encourage young people to seek support’. He said that not only did the report highlight loneliness as a major issue for young Australians, but that ‘loneliness can affect mood, mental health and wellbeing, and other areas of a young person’s life including sleep, appetite and relationships’. In fact, a whopping 82 per cent of those worried about loneliness believed this was having a moderate or major impact on their mental health and wellbeing. 

Many of those surveyed expressed a perceived lack of support from their friends and family, a need for closer relationships, a need for people to talk to and hopes to find new connections. The full report can be found at: Craving Connection: How Loneliness is Impacting Young People's Mental Health.

ReachOut Australia is anonymous, free and 100 percent online.

Support Resources:

• NSW Health Mental Health Support Services for Children and Young People
• SENTRAL Youth Services Kiama (website), Sentral Youth Services Kiama (facebook)
• Sonder Youth (website)
• Beyond Blue
• ReachOut Australia has support information on loneliness and friendship, an Online Community and one-to-one peer support via ReachOut PeerChat. ReachOut also has information for parents supporting young people on loneliness and friendships, a parents forum and a one-one-one parents coaching service. ReachOut encourages safe reporting about mental ill-health and suicide and encourages media to report according to the Mindframe guidelines.