New campaign encourages young adults to find their way to okay

A new Think Mental Health campaign will kick off this weekend, promoting mental wellbeing among young adults aged 18 to 24 years.

The digital-led campaign, which launches on Sunday 3 September, is aimed at encouraging young adults to discover new ways to increase and maintain their mental wellbeing, with the tagline ‘find your way to okay’.

A series of short videos will run across social media channels, featuring young adults engaging in a range of activities that help to improve their wellbeing, such as volunteering, spending time with friends, practicing mindfulness and connecting with nature.

Developed by the Mental Health Commission, in partnership with Cancer Council WA, the campaign was created following extensive consultation with local young adults and guided by an expert reference group, which included academics and clinicians from Beyondblue and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.

Recent data revealed young adults in Western Australia aged 18 to 24 years were significantly worse-off among a range of mental health and wellbeing indicators compared with other age groups, with 74 per cent in this age group experiencing low to moderate levels of wellbeing.

The Think Mental Health program was established in 2017 as part of the Suicide Prevention 2020: Together We Can Save Lives strategy and continues to be funded as part of the prevention and early intervention stream of the Suicide Prevention Framework 2020-2025.

Mental Health Commissioner Maureen Lewis said the campaign was an important reminder to young adults to look after their mental wellbeing.

“Evidence shows that while most young adults consider maintaining their wellbeing and mental health as being important, only 27 per cent are doing something about it on a regular basis,” Ms Lewis said.

“Through this important public health campaign, which was developed through consultation with young adults, we can help increase the mental wellbeing among this age group, by encouraging them to take action and try new activities known to promote positive health outcomes.

“The campaign’s message to young adults is to take time, explore and work out what it is that helps them increase and maintain that emotional strength – to find their own way to feeling okay.”

For more information on the campaign, visit the Think Mental Health campaign website.

For mental health, alcohol and other drug support and information call Here For You on 1800here4u (1800 437 348) from 7am to 10pm any day of the week.

For other helplines, visit: www.mhc.wa.gov.au/helplines 

In an emergency, call 000.