August 29, 2018
Mental health services priority for rangatahi
LAURA O'CONNELL RAPIRA INTERVIEW
A survey of young people by Action Station for youth wellness organisation Ara Taiohi has found rangatahi want better access to mental health services.
Action Station's Laura O'Connell Rapira says more than 1000 people took part online, in workshops and in interviews with youth workers and researchers.
Some 15 percent of respondents were Māori, and three quarters were female.
She says a dominant theme was the need for youth mental health services, better health education in schools, and also community spaces where they can connect to people of their own age and across generations.
"Time and time again a lot of the young people spoke about the enormous pressure they feel under. They fell like they've inherited a lot of problems from generations that came before them: climate change, the housing crisis, economic insecurity. They have these two messages shot at them; a, you have the power to change the world; but b, here are all these awful problems in the world, and that can feel really heavy I think," Ms O'Connell- Rapira says.
The majority of young people talked about feeling some form of oppression including racism, sexism, ableism and transphobia.
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