Involve '04 Conference evaluation by sponsored Youth Delegates
Print friendly version
We got $$$ from DIA Youth Worker Training Scheme, and Save the Children NZ to take 4 young people
aged 18 - 25 yrs to the NZAAHD (NZ Association of Adolescent Health & Development!) conference: Involve '04 .
Three of them agreed to share their thoughts about it...
1. What was it like attending the conference... Was it what you thought it was going to be like? Better/ worse ? Why? Please comment:
· Attending the conference was good because I got a chance to spend time with other Nelson health promoters and youth workers. It was also really good to able to share the youth board idea with other people. The conference provided a lot of information which was really good but did not often suggest ways of putting this information to good use within our communities. The conference was not as formal and as rigidly structured as I thought it would be.
· Better. Why because it was a barrel of fun.
· I didn't expect the conference to be as well organised, as entertaining as it was, at the same time so useful with as much information available as there was.
2. How useful was attending Involve '04 for you? Not very, Quite, or Very.
· Quite useful.
· Very useful.
· Quite useful.
3. Do you feel like you learnt much new stuff? Not much, Quite a bit, Lots.
· Quite a bit. Looking back at the conference not I can see that although some of the information was not new it was presented in a different way and new perspectives were put across.
· Quite a bit.
· Lots
4. What content/topics at the conference were interesting to you?
· I was very interested in looking at the problems that young people today face when struggling with the issue of their sexuality. It was good also to be told about some of the support organisations that had been put in place for gay young people.
· Adolescent Depression
· Youth involvement with local community and local government, although I had an idea, given the energy that could be put into and voices that were available for youth within local council.
I have had the opportunity in past involvement with our local youth council to attend local community board meetings, the extent to what youth in other communities, even larger cities had made themselves heard and the energy that they had put into it making themselves heard and what they had achieved impressed me the most. Especially the organisations and projects that their local youth had developed to help and involve other youth within their community.
I knew of some of the key issues for youth within our community and nationally, but wasn≠t as aware of some of the more less - talked about issues that there really are. Mental health and youth depression has never before struck me as being one of those key issues, but there are so many organisations out there and help available, and the conference really showed how extensive some of those issues really are.
5. How do you plan to use the information or learning that you got from the conference in your work with other young people?
· At this stage I don't really know how I will use the information other than just keeping it in mind when dealing with young people in those situations.
· To promote that physical health [is related to] mental health.
· My participation with Involve'04 was as a youth radio broadcaster, I intend to make it known to the youth throughout the Nelson and Tasman region, the things that appealed to me most from the conference, reinforcing the resources available to youth, and some common issues for youth locally. Also the involvement and impact that youth can have on a community such as ours, mostly that for youth, what can be achieved is almost anything!
6. What did you think about "youth participation" in the conference?
(eg the amount of opportunities for young people to be involved, youth presenters, style of activities, etc) Please comment:
· I thought it was great that they were running youth events alongside the conference however I did feel disappointed that there were not many young people presenting at the conference or there as conference delegates.
· Looking at what I saw they had fun involving themselves in activities.
· I was honestly quite surprised with the involvement by youth within the presentations, mainly through entertainment, by way of putting their ideas and youth issues into entertaining, yet particularly informative performances.
7. What was the best thing about going?
· Doing my presentation and finding that it went really well despite my reservations.
· To see others with the same passion as me, and improving on my knowledge.
· Meeting and spending most of the time there with so many interesting people, youth from other communities from all over the country.
8. What was the worst thing?
· PASS
· That each sitting was for two and a half hours to long.
· ??? I guess just that now I know that I don't like Auckland - (1st time there) it's far too big and bloated for me.
9. Any other comments about other parts of the experience, eg flying, travelling in a group, the hotel, food, people, any funny stories to tell? etc, etc
· It was really great going up with a large group of people from Nelson from a wide range of areas working with young people.
· All of the above was excellent.
· The food was excellent, the people were great. When talking to a couple of guys staying at the motel that we were at, they asked where I was from, when I said Golden Bay, they said they knew of the place cos that is where Cement is made! I had to let them know that our cement works closed down in 1987, and Golden Bay Cement is now made in Westport.
10. Would you want to attend another conference? Yes / No. Why or why not?
· Yes I would definitely like to attend another conference because it is really beneficial to hear what others are doing with young people in their work and to able to discuss what is working well and what is not working so well.
· Yes because it was useful for me and my Job.
· Yes Definitely. Not only was the conference based on an interest, but also gave me an inspiration to use the knowledge that I have gained from the conference beyond being a radio broadcaster and intend to further my involvement with local youth, possibly through more involvement with the current local youth council.