THE HERVEY Bay Neighbourhood Centre (HBNC) provides help, friendship, and support to the most disenfranchised people in the community. Their mission statement declares “to provide and deliver programs and services in response to community needs”. Youth is a primary group for the centre and mental health issues is at the top of the list of challenges facing our future generation for the region.
A recent study undertaken for HBNC, ‘State of the Youth Report 2023’, was developed to “present the voice of our local youth” and the support the community can provide. The study had 872 young people surveyed, representing about 7% of the Fraser Coast’s total youth population (based on ABS data of 12,448 people aged 10-19 in 2020).
One of the key findings from the report was that our youth are worried about their mental health with 34% of youth reporting that they have access mental health services in 2022. The main reasons for accessing services were anxiety, depression and stress.
The report also refers to a recent survey, 2022 Mission Australia Youth Survey, that our Youth identifies Mental Health in the top 3 most important issues in Australia for young people along with The Environment and Equity & Discrimination. This survey also declares young people listed mental health as their second most personal challenge (22.7% surveyed), behind School Challenges (41.5%) as the highest personal challenge faced by our youth.
The State Of The Youth report also refers to the 2021 Census that shows 12.8% of the Fraser Coast population have some kind of reported mental health condition. This is much higher than the overall Queensland rate of 9.6% and the nationwide figure of 8.8%.
HBNC CEO, Tanya Stevenson says our youth are struggling with mental health challenges more than ever before.
Mrs Stevenson, said while some of the data could be confronting, the survey helped provide a clearer picture of what young people in our community are facing.
“It’s important to remember that without data, it is harder to provide appropriate solutions and support networks,” Tanya said.
“Previous Fraser Coast Youth Surveys have helped shaped our approach to youth support services and we now have a number of programs in place that directly respond to the issues raised by the data we have gathered.”
