Good mental health isn't all about knowing how to get by - it's
also about having the skills, confidence and self-belief to be able
to take control of the issues and situations that affect you. When
working with young people, or in the field of mental health, this
should also include being proactive in making space for people to
take control of their help seeking journey, and to give them space
to directly advocate about the issues that affect them.
The core principle here is about empowerment and self-efficacy -
that is, for people to be able to personally take control and find
the resources they need, in a way that is helpful. This isn't a new
concept - Dave DeBronkart
recently gave an excellent TED talk about how ownership of the
health care process can be important and valuable for health
consumers.
ReachOut.com - Get
Involved
To further develop opportunities for young people to take part
in the health promotion and advocacy work of ReachOut.com, Inspire
have recently launched a new section of their site which is all
about how young people can take control of ReachOut.com and their
advocacy work on youth mental health in Australia.
Never met ReachOut.com? Check it out now - it's
Australia's leading youth mental health website, and it's all about
providing young people with the information and the tools to
understand and improve their mental health and wellbeing.
What's different about ReachOut.com - Get
Involved?
The new Get Involved
section on ReachOut.com takes an active step to allow young
people to directly participate on the site, and to get involved in
the mental health advocacy process.
Perhaps more importantly, they have included ways for young people
to access the resources and inspiration needed to advocate and
participate in a meaningful way, with two additional sections to
the microsite:
Feature Stories
A strong element of positive participation is not just having
hope, but also recognising the positive benefits of the journey a
young person is taking, and showing the impact of people's
participation. If we try to change the problems in our life, but
don't achieve the desired result, it is easy to become
disheartened, cynical and self critical - which is poor for our
mental health.
The feature
stories section of ReachOut.com - Get Involved
highlights positive stories from young people that show the
benefits of their participation experiences. It also highlights
stories from previous projects that show the positive impacts that
their participation achieved.
Resources for Getting
Involved
To effectively empower people to participate and take control, it
is also important to give them all the tools and information they
need to be proactive and self reliant safely.
ReachOut.com - Get Involved provides a resources
section with tipsheets and information that are accessible by
any young person on the web, including:
- Resources for participating in / contributing to
ReachOut.com
- Tips and information for speaking up about mental health
- Resources for effective communication
- Resources and information for developing your own project
The new ReachOut.com - Get Involved microsite is an
exciting step forward into providing meaningful space for young
people's participation, for encouraging self-efficacy and social
connectedness between young people involved in the ReachOut.com
community.
How is your organisation making space for young people to take
ownership of their help seeking journey?