Northern Rivers survey sets baseline for young people’s mental health

A comprehensive survey of Northern Rivers school children, completed in late 2022 and coordinated by Healthy North Coast, has set a baseline to measure our young people’s mental health and wellbeing, following the 2022 floods.

6,611 children and young people from 75 Northern Rivers schools completed the Resilience Survey, Australia’s most widely used mental health and wellbeing survey for schools, in October and November last year.

Healthy North Coast Chief Executive, Monika Wheeler, said this was the largest group ever to complete the survey following a natural disaster and represents just over 12 per cent of all school- aged young people in the Northern Rivers region.

‘This is a ground-breaking result and I am very grateful to all the students, parents and school staff for their participation in the survey,’ said Ms Wheeler.

‘We now have a clear indication of how our young people are faring in terms of resilience and wellbeing, which means we can design local mental health supports, tailored specifically to their needs,’ Ms Wheeler said.

Healthy North Coast commissioned the survey as the first step in Healthy North Coast’s Resilient Kids Program, a $10 million initiative funded by the National Emergency Management Agency to support community recovery from the 2022 flood events.

The Resilience Survey was designed and administered by Resilient Youth Australia and the University of Adelaide and has been completed by more than 500,000 students in over 1,500 schools since 2013.

Ms Wheeler said Healthy North Coast is currently reviewing the survey report prepared by the University of Adelaide and will release an in-depth analysis in April, along with insights gathered from student workshops held from December 2022 to February 2023.

‘In terms of preliminary results, though, we can already see that 2022 wellbeing and life satisfaction levels in our young people are generally similar to the national averages for the 2021 Resilience Survey cohort, a group of nearly 64,000 young Australians aged 7 to 18.

‘Despite everything that has come at them in the past 12 months and even before that, our young people reported generally feeling supported and connected within their schools, families and communities.

‘However, the survey also highlights areas in need of future focus. Reports of depressive and anxiety symptoms were slightly higher than the 2021 Resilience Survey national averages for primary students, though similar to the 2021 national average for secondary students.

‘Almost one in three Northern Rivers primary students and more than one in three secondary students were at risk for depression and anxiety, which is of concern,’ said Ms Wheeler.

Using data from the Resilience Survey, research evidence and the information gathered from co- design workshops in March 2023, Healthy North Coast will commission a suite of mental health and wellbeing initiatives for children and young people to be delivered from July 2023.

‘We know that recovery is not a one-off event. It’s multi-year and multi-layered and our approach to supporting our young people might change over time as we see how they respond,’ said Ms Wheeler.

‘Right now, though, I would encourage everyone to prioritise their mental health over the coming months. If you are feeling overwhelmed or just want to have a chat, please reach out to one of the free or low-cost mental health support services funded by Healthy North Coast,’ Ms Wheeler said.

For more information about the Resilient Kids program and the preliminary survey results, visit https://hnc.org.au/resilient-kids/