Mental health especially in youth is gradually beginning to gain attention in rural communities, especially locally after the formation of the Cootamundra Youth Council in July 2020.
According to Beyond Blue, nationally, young people are less likely than any other age group to seek professional help and in figures this is only 31 per cent of young women and 13 per cent of the young men population putting their hand up for help.
Young people living outside large cities are also significantly more at risk of death by suicide, as in 2010 10.3 per 100,000 lives were lost in rural Australia compared to 5.9 per 100,000 within the 15-19 year-olds category, partly due to the reduced amount of resources available in remote areas.
Last week the Cootamundra Youth Council accommodated a presentation at the Cootamundra High School and handed over a number of “Big Life Journals”, a project in collaboration with CGRC aimed at improving youth’s reflection of their minds.
Cootamundra Youth Council Youth Mayor Logan Collins said the journal is a platform for young people to write down their thoughts and engage in various chapters to help them better get through each day.
“It’s a gateway into getting help, assisting yourself, or being equipped to help others,” Youth Council Elected Leader Logan explained.
“Mental health is not something you can just slap a band-aid on and this journal is a step forward for many, looking at the different ways they can boost their wellbeing.
“You don’t have to be depressed to suffer from mental health. I think there’s currently a major stigma on mental health and as we advance in generations, we start to realise that everyone suffers in some form and that we all ought to be supportive of one another.”
This month marks the one year anniversary since the inauguration of the Cootamundra Youth Council, after a unanimous agreement in the area that mental health is imperative to the survival of rural towns, and that everyone should be equipped with resources needed to tackle these struggles.
CGRC Youth and Inclusion Officer Cheney Dewar joined and has encouraged the youth councillors to brainstorm ideas on what they want included in the life journal, and this process began in September last year.
Youth Councillors with the aid of CGRC then secured funding at the end of 2020 from the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network Bushfire Recovery Grant, and donated around 90 “Big Life Journals” to the Cootamundra High School.
Cootamundra Youth Council today consists of nine youth councillors with four in the executive position and many of these are pooled from the local high school as well as a couple from Sacred Heart Central School.
Youth Mayor Logan Collins completed his time at the Cootamundra High School two years ago and said during his final years he struggled majorly with his mental health.
Although being able to hide it, his teachers would notice that he was not okay.
Today with the school finally able to secure both a counsellor and a psychologist, this was not always the case when Logan was around at the school as he often sought his friends for support.
With the existence of a Cootamundra Youth Council today, Logan said CGRC are keen to hear about what youth in the area have to say.
“We are the next generation and when we move into the role as adults, there will be a new Youth Council and they will guide us,” Logan noted.
“It’s great to see that students are involved. They have the opportunity to see how the town can be developed.
“Our current youth councillors can bring an entire year’s worth of their grade.
This means that someone from Year 8 can say what all Year 8 thinks, on a town level.”
Youth Councillors are currently already planning for next year’s Youth Week following the successful first official Cootamundra Youth Council’s Youth Week held in Cootamundra this year.
Christopher Tan