Projects

Working with young people to co-design and deliver supports is critical to ensure that mental health initiatives are accessible and engaging.

See more details on our current projects below, and sign up via our contact page to learn more about how you can take part!

Phase 1: Stakeholder and Youth Engagement

Over the course of May 2023-April 2024, the Strength After Disasters team conducted interviews with young people (aged 14-25) who had lived experience of a disaster.

We learnt more about the impact of disasters on youth mental health and wellbeing, the types of support available, and what young people would like to see changed.

During this process we also engaged stakeholders in the emergency management and disaster recovery space to understand how young people were currently supported in practice.

Findings from this stage helped to shape ideas around how we should engage and support young people within the disaster recovery space.

Phase 2: Co-Designing a Mental Health Initiative

Building on insights provided by young people in Phase 1, the Strength After Disasters team then began the process of co-designing a novel youth mental health initiative for young people living in disaster-risk areas.

We were joined by six youth co-researchers (aged 17-22) across Western Australia to co-develop the intervention and advocacy resources to support young people’s engagement in community disaster resilience.

Over the course of the next eight months, the team engaged in a series of workshops to develop the content and design of a mental health initiative. Thus, Crisis to Calm was born!

See Our Work in Action

Policy Guidance:

To celebrate young people’s leadership in disaster risk reduction, and support further engagement with government, organizational and policy agencies, we released policy guidance co-developed with the youth co-researchers on our team.

The guidance aligns with this year’s Disaster Risk Reduction Day’s focus of education in protecting and empowering youth for a disaster-free future. Read our policy brief HERE

Media:

WHO World Mental Health Day: World Mental Health Day 2022 - YouTube

Research Studies:

See some of our other studies here:

  1. Child disaster resilience in action: Post-bushfire qualitative perspectives on a school-based preparedness program.

  2. Long term mental health trajectories after disasters and pandemics: A multilingual systematic review of prevalence, risk and protective factors.

  3. Preparing mental health systems for climate crisis.