ACLF 2021 - Renewing hope for our ‘pandemials’

good afternoon thanks for joining us for the panel on renewing hope for our pandemials my name is shalila madura i'm the political reporter for triple j's hack program and i'll be chairing this afternoon session before we begin i'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land that i'm coming to you from which is nanawal country and pay my respects to elders past present and emerging and i extend that respect to all aboriginal and torres strait islander people who are joining us here today just a few housekeeping matters before we kick off this is an interactive session so we'd love to get your questions and we'll try and get through as many of them as we can please ask a question in the q a box and also make sure to raise your hand icon if your question is selected i'll call on you by name please ensure your camera and microphone are on and i will be able to and then you'll be able to be visible on the screen so you can ask your question live to the audience if you have any issues with your camera or your microphone please type not live in front of your question and i'll read the question out for you um i would also like to wel welcome any fellow journalists who are in the crowd today and remind you that if you'd like to join the discussion on twitter you can do using the hashtag acl forum so without further ado i'll ask my panel to introduce themselves jason let's start with you hi charlotte my name's uh jason trethan i'm ceo for headspace the national youth mental health foundation thank you luke let's go to you hi everyone my name is luke reichen i'm the executive officer of the australian affairs coalition where the national voice and peak body for more than 4.5 million young people right across australia thanks luke let's go to you my name is madame i'm the president of the amy students association which is of course a peak representative body for over 17 000 students at the amu here thank you and finally fenu hi everyone my name is fenu and i'm the ceo of oaktree we're australia's largest youth-run international development agency and we work with young people to develop their leadership skills across the asia pacific thanks panel looking forward to this so let's get cracking with the questions the title of this session is renewing hope for pandemics but before we get to the solution i'm hoping the panel can please give us a bit of a sitting the scene for us by describing what they see are some of the key issues that young people have faced during the pandemic and how they'll impact young people in the long term maru i'm hoping you can talk us through how education has been disrupted over the last 18 months of course i think it goes without saying that the in-person experience is quite fundamental to the learning experience um university is not just about learning but it's also learning the context of interaction with your peers with your tutors um and with your colleagues and i think for a lot of students particularly the younger ones there's a lot of formative life experiences that they feel like they've been missing out on um the first time you you know make a friend in a tutorial or the first time you solve something that you didn't think that you could in a group environment there's also that sort of absence in in what we are calling rural learning or remote learning um which i think is an important distinction from online learning because we haven't really been set up for online learning we don't have the infrastructure to do that but we're having to make those changes really really quickly um and have a complete departure from what you know most people imagine a university experience to be like absolutely and i guess that kind of feeds into my next question which is about the mental health impacts of the pandemic jason could you talk us through that please yeah look sure i think it's fair to say these words resonate a lot with many people irrespective of the age but for the young certainly isolation leading to those feelings of loneliness um the uncertainty that experience that's being experienced the lack of predictability we've seen a rise in psychological distress in fact one in three young people between 12 to 25 of course the most frequent reasons for young people coming to head space will be related to anxiety depression they have been disproportionately impacted through work and study and i guess the the pandemic is just the latest challenge that young people are facing um so what we also see though is that when young people are reaching out for support and for help that the actual service system itself is complex um prior to covert and has been added there's been added complexities so we're really conscious about not having the complexities of the system impacting on the complex needs that young people are presenting for but certainly increases in reporting of suicide ideation self-harm eating disorders to emergency departments there's a whole range of mental illness and mental ill health impacts that we're seeing through cohort now and as you said not just young people there but that's right across across the demographics thank you for that jason um luke one of we know one of the factors in involved in mental health is economic instability could you talk us through what you think some of the economic impacts have been for young people yeah thanks laila i think it's important to acknowledge right off the bat that young people are generally left with higher unemployment than older people both across the world but specifically here in australia they're really two categories through which we're looking at the economic impacts for young people the first is that immediate impact of lockdowns and closure for central services which predominantly employed young people which meant that they really felt the impact of those lockdowns that reduction in work and it's really important that policymakers keep that in mind when designing policies especially at the moment the second impact is the long-term impact which is sometimes referred to as that economic scarring and there's the range of evidence from previous recessions that young people generally experience a lifetime impact from graduating a recession or starting their workplace in a recession young people generally will experience worse employment prospects for the rest of their lives and those who do find work will generally experience less job security fewer hours and generally lower wages sometimes right into retirement so we need to consider not just the immediate economic impacts now but begin thinking about those long-term impacts and how we mitigate those and support young people we've seen that young people have been increasingly getting blamed for aspects of this pandemic whether it's going out too much not being vaccinated at rates you know high enough whether they're still in work that means that they can't work from home and therefore getting a bit of blame for spreading covert through different states and territories why do you think young people are copying so much of the blame here yeah that's the million dollar question shalilah and i think as far as i can see that blame actually comes from a fundamental disconnect between what young people are actually experiencing and what decision makers and the government actually believe that young people are experiencing so throughout the last 18 months as we have already heard from jason luke and madhu like it is has been a really tricky time for young people with their mental health economic disempowerment and a lack of educational opportunities and just general future hope you know but i think isolated instances of illegal gatherings are used to really label an entire generation generation quite um against what the actual reality of the situation is and we've seen young people turn up to vaccinations at an extraordinary rate for example in victoria once um once we were eligible for the vaccine the government website actually crashed from demand so young people are showing up and these are the stories that i think need to be highlighted absolutely and we're seeing them get astrazeneca even you know when when other types of vaccines weren't available um luke i want to go to you the question of hope is a really big one can why is the concept of hope so important when dealing with mental health concerns in young people yeah thanks lala i think it makes sense in terms of generally young people with deformative period in their life and the pandemic as then it was mentioned has really impacted those formative years and so young people need something to look forward to particularly during a lockdown particularly during a time when employment has just been so difficult and as matter mentioned when study has just been so difficult so i think people need to be able to see a way out of this pandemic and they need to see an option to get their lives back on track and i know that personally for me and for those that i know and the young people that we work with that's the thing they're telling us will really make a difference and make sure they can have better mental health going forward and for us that looks like better access to vaccines it looks like real employment prospects and it looks like access to services like headspace so young people can actually get the help they need when they need it jason that's a great segue to you as someone who deals in mental health you know exclusively here why is hope such an important concept for young people yeah look there's very very good evidence around that you know hope is widely thought to be effective in positive psychological change so what that means is that if you have hope and that you do have a good connection and a good experience in seeking help so there's been no shortage of promotion about the topic of mental health there's many support services out there for young people but we know that having hope is such an important motivating factor so when they have that belief that they can step forward to seek some supports whether that be through family friends or indeed through other services like headspace or beyondblue that when they do that they have that have a positive experience it's not just always about seeking supports and getting them it's actually about having a positive experience and it can actually reduce their levels of psychological distress we've had numerous studies which actually have shown that um so i'm also conscious too about the way in which we portray uh the word hope in the context that the reality for many is that it's not good at the moment but by offering that i guess that engagement in conversation that productive conversation about the future that we can get through this that with the right supports in place that young people in this country can move forward um that gives us hope but that hope has to translate into meaningful backup supports for them in order to do so there's no better no better thing now for young people to feel like they're connected that they're socially engaged as a result their mental health and wellbeing can only lift as a matter of that but we also have to recognize at the same time that the reality is that it's really tough right now to the rest of the panel then why do you think hope is so hard to grasp right now you know across the board and the demographics um that we're seeing but particularly for young people i think that futures are built together and with community and with other people um and when the pandemic obviously enforces disconnection um and disengagement that's really hard to find especially in isolation um but you know in the same breath i think we've seen some really fantastic understandings of mutual aid and what community support looks like um even in a canberra context we've seen people deliver food to others we've seen people you know offer to personally engage in services for those that are vulnerable and where we see gaps in community service provision where we see gaps in government service provision we see individuals of the community um really taking up those responsibilities and i think that's been really encouraging and that does give a little bit of hope yeah i might jump in there and also say that there's only so much that young people can be expected to blindly hope for so i think for the people that i at least have surrounded in my life and i live onsite at a university campus so i'm very much surrounded by young people quite often and there is an astounding amount of hope for the future hope that you know their careers will get back on track after this pandemic is under control and hope that they'll be able to see their family and friends again that are interstate and overseas but ultimately if decision makers and systems aren't meeting us halfway it is really tricky to keep up that hope when we hear politicians saying that we need to keep a positive attitude about climate change instead of actually doing the policy changes that will actually give us hope for our future and when we hear leaders not have a straight plan of getting out of this pandemic and restoring our jobs and careers it's really hard to keep that that blind fate so there's only so much that young people can be expected to hope for without those in power and those in decision making spaces meeting us halfway jason look did you have anything to add in terms of why you think hope is hard to cling to at the moment i think that it was honestly nailed it it is a really difficult time and as martin said young people generally are hopeful and they're doing their absolute best but that is right we need some solid outcomes to actually have that hope we need a foundation all right well i guess that takes us to a big question um which i'm gonna throw open to all of you on the panel so feel free to jump in it is a conversation really as well as um as well as a panel but what do you think governments should be doing government state and federal should be doing to help young people who are really struggling at the moment i think first of all if i could speak to the issue of mental health um i think putting the systems and structures in place to really support young people through this really difficult fight time for them is the number one concern um i know again from living on a university campus that a lot of the peers that i'm surrounded with are finding it really difficult even when they do get the courage to reach out for help to to find that help it's months and months of waiting if not um you know giving up after after that and so those systems first of all need to be put in place but in a in a broader context i think having young people in decision making spaces is no longer a nice tokenistic thing to have but really necessary we're the ones who have the biggest stake in what the future holds and i think what we're seeing is a real lack of urgency from governments on the state and federal level to account for what we need going into the future and i can jump in there and follow that i think for most young people now at that point is completely right though young people want to be included in decision making and particularly the time as we've all mentioned that young people are predominantly affected or disproportionately affected it's more important than ever that young people are actually included in those decisions really practically what that looks like is designing policies with young people and you can do that by employing young people in policy development positions you can do that through processes of co-design you can do that through having young people leading policy and actually writing the policy that affects them we would do that in any other area or for any other community and young people just by virtue of their age are not in leadership positions in our federal parliament they're not in leadership positions in the public service and so those people have to make the effort and do the work to include young people in their work so they can be included in decision making it's a really important step as lincoln then he said informed policy making is good policy making and if you're sitting a group of people and making positions or representations about any demographic that's not at that table that i feel like you should you know rethink um the validity of the conclusions that you're reaching um and i there's a lot of conversation i think about essential services um and you know as we were talking about earlier about the issue of hope um i see for a lot of young people right now the issue is one of survival and the issue is one of sort of a buy-in into the processes that are in place um and reframing you know what sort of services do young people rely on and you know is that a handout or is that something that's essential for progressing um societies get back what they invest into their communities and what they invest into their people um if you invest in making sure that young people and youth are supported they will be able to give back to society and you know really flourish in that space i think it's really important for government to talk with young people not to talk at them um that it's it's not not okay to say oh well there's plenty plenty others worse off than you you're so lucky what a great country we live in and we do um but they need to be listened to to be understood uh not to be judged not to be told i'm sure we need direction um absolutely we need the pathway out of the pandemic and and clearly there's there's movement there but like other panelists have said um it is about inclusivity we are such a diverse um country and and young people themselves are not a homogenous group so we do need to have um voices of young people but not just a meeting or a workshop it needs to be an ongoing engagement process i know myself um just leading the organisation of headspace if but if every decision was up to me to think of what was the best idea i know i'd get it dramatically wrong but what keeps us in leadership roles honest and what keeps us i guess contemporary in what in what we do it's because we're heavily informed by an ongoing process of engagement and listening to young people because things can move really quickly and i have no doubt that our thoughts of 2019 are very different to how we're looking forward to 2022 so that ongoing engagement whether that be for policy or whether that be for more of an immediate response it's so important and and you know that's not a lot of money you know often you we might say we need x dollars for this or that but actually uh engagement um uh to understand what's going on in the mindsets of young people school-aged young people young people coming into university to tafe to other vocational settings and of course um what's it like now in in in in the work environment for young people and that word hope before and that optimistic future that everyone yearns for that's what we we've obviously got to try and set the tone for coming coming out of this pandemic bit of a curly one here what do you think society could be doing differently to help young people put you all on the spot now i i can probably jump in with one of the things that then has already spoken to but the frustration of young people that i've spoken to lately has been that that sort of blame um particularly with the high transmission among young people in australia but the reality is as young people have been in those front line jobs and essential services they've been manning the supermarkets the cafes they've been ensuring that our supply lines are still open and so i think there needs to be some acknowledgement of that work that young people have done and the risk that they've experienced over the last two years now i also think it's really important that in doing so we we sort of acknowledge the input they've had and maybe back off a bit and recognize that young people have had a really rough go and start thinking about how we can actually support them yeah off the back of that if i could also just add i think um i think there has been this idea that young people are not actually grateful for all the public health measures and the protections that we've been afforded and that is just not the case like we are so grateful for living in australia and the protection of our health we just think that there are ways in which we can make this experience better going forward so just an understanding of it you know not us being spoiled brats who are who are like not understanding the reality of the situation we understand the reality of the situation very well and just believe there are better ways that we can do this i always like to try and end um the panel part of the discussion with a bit of a positive note so i want to go through some of the panel members and ask you what gives you hope luke let's start with you are you seeing more innovation in terms of how young people are getting and keeping jobs yeah i think so schleider and i think young people have generally stepped up right across the board during the pandemic again in those front line jobs but we've also seen increased entrepreneurship which has been a necessity during a time when casual jobs and in-person jobs haven't always been possible my favorite example is a startup called alex makes meals which is a young man who has been essentially providing meals i know some of the panels are smiling because they would have seen this but essentially 20 years old started an organization which is now making 3 000 meals a week which is absolutely incredible but across the board during the pandemic we work with young people who have increasingly started organizations starting helping their peers but also started helping in their community and that's been incredible and in doing so they've created employment opportunities that weren't there before the pandemic so i've been really really heartened to see that absolutely um fenu while young people have been blamed a lot in the pandemic which we spoke about earlier we're also seeing them step up in a way with that we haven't before how are young people advocating on their own behalf and for their own interests yeah great question shalilan this is definitely what gives me hope to see young people building movements to support each other but also support their broader communities i interviewed someone the other day who um had parents who were from a different cultural background and were hesitant to take the vaccine but they took it on themselves to educate them through cultural appropriate culturally appropriate methods young people are stepping up in ways to not only support themselves but their older loved ones as well um and luke and i with that with a by ac and oak tree recently held a discussion with former prime minister kevin rudd which brought together you know hundreds of young people that really spoke about what gives them hope for the future and it is really including us in those decision-making spaces and us playing a really active role in this recovery absolutely um madame what are we seeing what are we seeing now more let me stop that again what we're seeing now more and more is that young people are choosing to re-skill whether it's through government programs in tafes or technical colleges or by enrolling in university surely a more skilled workforce is a good thing i think a more educated workforce is always an excellent thing um i think you know on the same flip side of saying remote learning has been difficult for a lot of students um it has also been quite more accessible i'm quite passionate about the average working student and the average you know student with disabilities um there are a lot of students who are like that um and they have to juggle work with university anyway um and what online learning has done is given them much more opportunities and much more flexibility and the opportunity to demonstrate the same aptitude as all other students but something that just really supports the average student in achieving their goals and i really hope that something that we will retain going to the future that flexibility in what an effective curriculum can look like and what you know a universal design for learning can look like um in terms of allowing everybody to access education thank you um and jason finally does the increased conversation around mental health mean we're seeing less stigmatization and more focus on achieving the right kinds of support yeah it's a good question i mean look firstly stigma often comes from a lack of understanding or perhaps fear so inaccurate or misleading representations of mental illness do contribute to both of those factors so importantly for this discussion though that stigma reduces hope so when what we i guess we're definitely seeing more conversations around mental health across across the country there's no doubt um but actually particularly among young people and we know that from several large studies that stigma is producing and particularly that for young people who are more open to talk about their issues with with friends what that leads to of course is to increase help seeking and as i said earlier that increased help seeking needs to be matched by a positive experience so that they can navigate their way through those difficult times and and get through them with some really great evidence-based interventions that can support them thanks so much panel um this does bring us up to time so thank you very much for your thoughts thank you everyone for your questions as well and i hope you can join me in thanking our panel fenu haraf jason strathowen uh madhu janna garaga and luke ryken thanks so much everyone really really great discussion today and lots to think about going forward thank you you

Channel: ANU TV

Views: 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: ANU, The ANU, Education, Australia, Research, Policy, Academic, University, The Australian National University, Higher education, degree, study, university student

Id: KlpZSvlxCTs

Length: 26min 23sec (1583 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021