Did you know headspace Hurstville has a very active and passionate group of young people that work closely with us to raise awareness about mental health and act as the voice for young people and their concerns?

We are very proud of our Youth Reference Group and, over the next little while, will be sharing some of their journeys since starting with headspace.

Over to you Stella!

"Since joining the Youth Reference Group in January 2015, my passion for mental health has grown. Being part of headspace throughout the HSC was a major break from all the studying and monotonous work; being part of the YRG and attending/organising events was a major influence on my happiness throughout the HSC and provided me with an avenue to do what I loved and what I was passionate about. Now, a year later the YRG is as strong as ever and we are working productively towards our next project.

The transition from highschool to Uni has been huge. Absolutely huge! It’s funny, you always hear people telling you about it, but until you actually experience it, you don’t know what has hit you! Currently, I am studying Commerce/Media (PR & Advertising) at UNSW and I am absolutely loving my degree so far! It’s definitely more challenging than highschool, but the opportunities and experiences offered at university are unbelievable... you can literally do anything that suits your passions!

As soon as I settled into Uni, I knew I wanted to become involved with mental health in some way. Surprisingly, at my uni there are not many mental health initiatives... it’s not something that is openly discussed. After long and thorough research, I discovered the Counselling and Psychological Service (CAPS) on campus where I applied and was lucky enough to get a casual job working as a receptionist. This is great as it’s on campus and fits into my uni timetable and breaks.

As well as this, I recently started a Certificate in Mental Health online. This is a short, online course that I registered for in February. So alongside work, study and volunteering, I complete the modules for this course wherever I can spare some time. The reason that I undertook this course is not so much so that I can be a counsellor, it is more so that mental health is something that I am passionate about and something that I wanted to learn more about. With mental health, I believe education is KEY so my reason for undertaking this course is so that I have a more in-depth knowledge of various mental health disorders which can assist me in my role with headspace or any future roles.

In the future, I dream of pursuing a career in Public Relations, although I am not sure exactly what field of PR. I would like to think that my involvement with headspace and mental health will continue in the future. I just feel as though understanding mental health and being educated and aware about it is so important. The social perception of mental health needs to change, and it is through what I do and what the YRG does and the headspace centres and other such organisations that we are able to create that social change.

So, I can definitely say that since joining YRG last year, my passion and my enthusiasm and my involvement with mental health has grown and will CONTINUE to grow. It is so rewarding working with a group of people who are equally as passionate and who are creative and intelligent and kind and accepting. I am extremely excited for our Humans of headspace Hurstville project which will be launching in the upcoming months, so stay tuned and everyone is more than welcome to participate and contribute!"