HeadStrong Project
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Youth Mental Health Promotion Project
For the most recent update, click HeadStrong Report or read the project background & activities below. Please feel free to contact the project coordinator by emailing our enquiries address
with HeadStrong in the subject line.
Health Action started the health promotion project HeadStrong in 2000. The focus is on young people's mental health.
"Mental health promotion is the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals to take control over their lives and improve their mental health. Mental health promotion uses strategies that foster supportive environments and individual resilience, while showing respect for culture, equity, social justice and personal dignity." (The New Zealand Mental Health Foundation)
HeadStrong's plan is to work with groups in our community to develop responsive community action strategies to enhance the wellness of young people. Community action strategies tend to focus on long term sustainable change in attitudes and behaviour. Strategies are used that promote community ownership of problems and solutions.
If you want to get involved
in improving youth mental health
with HeadStrong
and you live in or near Nelson please contact us.
Project Aims & Objectives.
Aims :
1. To identify key youth mental health issues and the implications of these for young people, their carers, youth mental health service providers, the local communities and New Zealand society at large. November 2001 Audit
2. To develop key strategies to address some of these issues alongside young people, their carers, youth mental health service providers and the wider community.
3. To encourage primary health care services to improve the quality of services for young people.
4. To promote the public health perspective in youth mental health.
So what does HeadStrong do? - here's some examples...
1. Increase adoption of policies and environments that promote youth mental health
- Make submissions to local and national policies like community planning, housing, alcohol, mental health service plans, primary health care
- Work with other community groups in the Life Matters suicide-prevention group which takes steps to try and stop cluster suicides occurring
- We provide staff support for the Advocacy sub-committee of the Nelson Youth Council. The advocacy group and the whole youth council try to improve relationships with systems and conditions for young people
2. Increase community awareness and knowledge of mental health issues
· Operate resource distribution centres in local high schools where students can access information resources and stickers from latest sources
· Work with the media by doing features or responding to current issues
· sUSstained - the art of youth well-being is our annual youth art exhibition which promotes creativity as an essential element to improved mental health
· the Check Yourself Don't Wreck Yourself campaign which aims to encourage young people to understand their mental health better and seek help earlier rather than later
3. Strengthen Community Action to promote mental health and support people with mental illness
- Support the Kia Piki Te Ora O Te Tai Tamariki Maori youth suicide prevention project which has a range of strategies including positive whanau, hapu and Iwi development.
- Work on The Hub support services development. This aims to provide a one-stop-shop of youth-friendly services amidst a youth and arts centre
- Respond to the HeadStrong youth advisory group. The group set priorities each year and they developed sUSstained and Check Yourself Don't Wreck Yourself from concepts they were concerned about - cool eh?
4. Strengthen strategic alliances and interagency networks to promote youth mental health
- Encourage work across Te Tau Ihu - top of the south island between mental health promotion groups
- Have an advisory group with representation from family and community
- Work amongst youth and mental health groups to encourage information sharing
5. Strengthen skills and knowledge of the health and youth sectors and other change agencies to promote mental health
- Provide trainings to youth leaders, peer support workers and community and youth workers
- Offer support and advice when asked
- Bring in outside trainings on youth development, mental health promotion and more when possible
6. Monitor and assess the quality, effectiveness and sustainability of Health Action's youth mental health promotion programmes
- We carry out evaluations and reviews of our work and feed this information back into community and country where we think it would benefit
- We encourage evaluation in our community and suggest models for carrying this out
- We try to begin what we believe is sustainable.
Easter School Holidays:
Check out "sUSstained - the art of youth well being"
Outside Farmers on Trafalgar Street, Nelson