Latest Youth Report on the Fraser Coast

THE HERVEY Bay Neighbourhood Centre has just released the Fraser Coast State of the Youth Report 2023.

One of the key findings from the report was that our youth are worried about their mental health with 34% of youth reporting that they have accessed mental health services in 2022.

The main reasons for accessing services were anxiety, depression and stress.

CEO of HBNC, Tanya Stevenson, said the report gave an overview of the challenges young people in our community face.

“In this spirit, the State of the Youth Report has been developed to present the voice of our local youth as well as relevant data to create a complete snapshot of Fraser Coast young people.

“This initial report highlights improvements in supporting youth, ongoing and new challenges, gaps in service delivery, as well as what young people believe are solutions and initiatives that HBNC is already delivering or working on.”

The report also refers to a recent survey, 2022 Mission Australia Youth Survey, that our Youth identifies Mental Health in the top three most important issues in Australia for young people along with the environment, and equity & discrimination.

This survey also declares young people listed mental health as their second most personal challenge (22.7% surveyed), behind School Challenges (41.5%) as the highest personal challenge faced by our youth.

Tanya said while some of the data could be confronting, the survey helped provide a clearer picture of what young people in our community are facing.

“It’s important to remember that without data, it is harder to provide appropriate solutions and support networks and previous Fraser Coast Youth Surveys have helped shaped HBNCs approach to youth support services and we now have a number of programs in place that directly respond to the issues raised by the data we have gathered,” Tanya said.

For a copy of the full report, go to https://www.hbnc.com.au/news/new-report-reveals-the-challenges-facing-fraser-coast-youth