Take our National Youth Survey!
Instances of depression and anxiety among Australian youth today are growing at an alarming rate, fuelled by the usual everyday challenges at school and navigating personal identities and sense of belonging, to more far-reaching issues such as climate change and the housing crisis. We can see that these pressures are taking a toll on many people’s mental health.
At Prevention United, we’re interested in tackling the issues that are impacting youth mental health. However, we’re not just looking at the treatment of mental health conditions. As our name suggests, we work towards prevention, addressing the everyday stresses that young people face before they escalate into a mental health condition. We believe that the Australian government needs to do more to support the prevention of mental health conditions since it’s so incredibly underfunded, with roughly 1 – 2% of the mental health budget dedicated to prevention rather than treatment (I know right? Absolutely outrageous!). We aim to highlight solutions that can help young people long before their wellbeing takes a turn for the worse. But to do that, we need to start with the question of what stresses do young people face? This is where you come in.
This survey is our way of figuring out what you feel are the biggest issues facing you and your mental health, and understanding what you think will help solve the problem. This data will help us focus our efforts on preventing the worsening mental health among Australian youth.
Frequently Asked Questions
This survey is intended for youth living in Australia. Only young people aged 16 – 25 years old and living in Australia are eligible. You will be asked for your age and the country you’re living in as part of a screening check at the start of the survey.
This survey will be open from 21 May to 16 July.
As a thank you for your time and your thoughts, we are offering participants the chance to win one of five $50 Prezzee vouchers. These vouchers can be used across a range of brands, including at supermarkets, major retailers, tech etc. To enter the draw to win, you will be directed to enter your email address on a separate page at the end of this survey. Your contact information will be stored separately from your survey responses, so we won’t be able to link any of your contact information to your thoughts around the prevention of mental health conditions. Winners of the vouchers will be contacted no more than 2 weeks after the survey closes.
In total the survey should take around 10 – 15 minutes. This survey is broken up into the following 4 main sections:
- Demographics: including basic personal info eg. age, education level, state/territory you live in etc.
- Negative impacts: what factors you think worsen your mental health
- Positive impacts: what factors you think improve your mental health
- Solutions: what kind of programs and policies you think could promote your mental wellbeing
Responses to this survey will remain anonymous. However, please avoid including any identifying information such as school names, workplaces, person names etc. that may identify you. Some responses may be quoted in our reports, but any information we use will not identify who you are. More details about how your responses will be used can be found in the Participant Information Sheet. This survey is entirely voluntary. You can stop the survey at any time by closing out of the survey before submitting your answers, or you may skip any questions that you prefer not to answer.
We have been careful to design the survey questions to make sure that they are not likely to cause any distress. However, if you need any mental health support after completing the survey, you can seek support from these mental health hotlines. They also provide textlines through their websites:
Lifeline: 13 11 14 – available 24/7.
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 – available 24/7.
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 – available 24/7.
Headspace: 1800 650 890 – available 9am – 1am every day.
If you have any more questions, you can email us at youth@preventionunited.org.au and we will respond within 2 business days. Download the Participation Information Sheet for further information about this survey.