We all have the power to effect change, but all those individual efforts combined can really make a difference.
Using this premise, Youth Solutions is launching Health Pro+ and supporting campaign, It Starts with Us.
The initiatives add to Youth Solutions’ award-winning programs in the youth drug and alcohol prevention and health promotion fields across Macarthur and Wingecarribee.
Health Pro+ project is a drug and alcohol education workshop series, aimed at providing education and support to the next generation of health and community service professionals, particularly those engaged in tertiary education in medical, health, youth and community services fields.
The project aims to utilise education, skill-building and support to help change the landscape for healthcare for future generations of young people to receive better care and support around drugs, alcohol and related issues.
Running alongside the project is It Starts with Us campaign, which aims to lay a framework for supporting others, especially emphasising the importance of youth peer-to-peer support around alcohol and other drug issues, mental health and wellbeing.
It Starts with Us kicks off this week, urging us all – and especially our young people – to challenge stigma and normalise asking for help from friends, family and in our workplaces and learning environments.
The campaign highlights the importance of self-care as being integral to being able to support others and encourages us to familiarise ourselves with practical ways to help those around us and connect them with support.
Youth Solutions chief executive officer Geraldine Dean thanked Campbelltown Catholic Club for supporting Youth Solutions to make a positive difference in the lives of young people by coming on board with these significant projects.
“Through Health Pro+, we are working with the next generation of youth workers, community workers, health and medical professionals,’’ Mrs Dean said.
“We are boosting their knowledge of drugs and alcohol and the complexities of issues around these. We’re connecting them to supports that can help them work through this.’’
Pictured above are Youth Solutions Youth Advisory Group members, who are backing the new campaigns.
