Generation Next ‘s first Student and Youth Wellbeing Program of 2019 was a huge success. The beautiful creative confines of the Casula Powerhouse Performing Arts Centre provided a backdrop for a day of wellbeing education. It wasn’t just the excellent students from local schools that got to participate, but also more than ten thousand teens [...]
"When you find other people going through it, it's like realising you belong on Earth once more." That's how Graham Panther, a mental health advocate and consultant, describes finding people who, like him, live with "big feelings". "It's feeling like you belong on Earth, even when you feel awful," Mr Panther said. In his early [...]
The conviction of Cardinal George Pell on childhood sexual abuse charges has dominated the media this week, rocked the Catholic Church and led to much public anger and confusion. But the most important consideration at this time must be with the survivors of clerical abuse and their families. While this conviction will provide a sense [...]
Imagine you’re lying in bed when a sack of cocaine falls from a plane, crashes through your roof and lands next to you. You call the police who come round and arrest you for possession. This would be ridiculous. You are not responsible for things that fall into your house. Now imagine you’re lying in [...]
“Participating in this event helped me see where my fellow peers sit in terms of different things that impact us in our teenage lives. Seeing the amount of people across the country who are thinking about the same things I am is encouraging and empowering” said a year 12 student from last year’s Generation Next [...]
Every week in Australia, a woman is murdered by someone she knows. And it’s usually an intimate male partner or ex-partner. One in three women has suffered physical violence since the age of 15. In most cases (92% of the time) it’s by a man she knows. Added to this, one-quarter of Australian women have suffered emotional abuse from a current or [...]
Do you have anxiety? Have you tried just about everything to get over it, but it just keeps coming back? Perhaps you thought you had got over it, only for the symptoms to return with a vengeance? Whatever your circumstances, science can help you to beat anxiety for good. Anxiety can present as fear, restlessness, [...]
How can we best help Australians who are at risk of developing a mental health disorder? A new recommendation to expand the Better Access initiative would open up government-subsidised psychological care to this effect. The recommendation is one of 14 put forward by the Mental Health Reference Group, part of the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review [...]
Almost half of the poorer mental health we see in teenagers with a disability is due to bullying, our new research shows. If we could stop the high levels of bullying that adolescents with a disability experience, we could make a big difference to their health, learning and wellbeing. So school anti-bullying programs need to [...]
Most young people in the youth justice system have been found to come from “troubled” backgrounds. However, many people with similar backgrounds don’t ever end up in youth justice services. Knowing why people with troubled childhoods may be more likely to engage in criminal activity is necessary to inform the development of effective prevention and [...]
