Prevention United’s Youth Ambassadors Group
Prevention United’s Youth Ambassadors Group (YAG) is a passionate team of young people aged 16-21 who bring their lived experience and insights to the forefront of advocacy for youth mental health.
Our YAG play a key role in shaping how we speak to government and decision-makers about the causes of mental health challenges in young people and what we can do to promote their mental health and wellbeing. They co-develop policy briefs and contribute their unique perspectives to ensure that young people’s voices are at the centre of everything we do.
Beyond policy, the group leads their own advocacy projects and creative initiatives – like the National Youth Survey and Positive Potato Podcast – using their voices to drive change and spark meaningful conversations.
Together, we’re working towards a future where young people are involved in the decisions that affect them to protect and promote their mental health and wellbeing.
Quick links (more details below)
Systemic policy responses to ‘whole-of-school’ wellbeing approaches Download
Be part of the ripple: Listening to the voices that matter! Download
The significance of gender-based violence as a key driver in young women’s disproportioned experiences of mental ill health Download
The impact of screen time and social media on the mental health of young Australians Download
Reimagining Youth Mental Health: Building Australia’s youth mental health system (Solutions Paper) Download
Reimagining Youth Mental Health (Discussion Paper) Download
2025
Systemic policy responses to ‘whole-of-school’ wellbeing approaches
As awareness of youth mental health continues to grow, there’s never been a better time to champion student wellbeing in schools. More than just places of academic learning, schools have the potential to be thriving communities that actively nurture mental health and wellbeing. Something that we need to intentionally foster if we are to reverse the worrying decline in the mental health and wellbeing in young people in Australia.
2024
Be part of the ripple: Listening to the voices that matter!
This report summarises the results of the Prevention United Youth Survey which was conducted online in mid-2024. The survey was designed by the Prevention United Youth Advisory Group (YAG) who wanted to ask young people what factors they thought are having the most negative and positive impacts on their mental health, what activities they were most likely engage in to improve their mental health and what they thought could be done by Government to improve the mental health of young Australians. We received responses from 589 young Australians aged 16–25 years old.
The significance of gender-based violence as a key driver in young women’s disproportioned experiences of mental ill health
The youth mental health crisis and gender-based violence (GBV) are both topics of current media attention. However, even though experiencing violence is a known risk factor for poor mental health, these issues are rarely spoken about together.
In discussion with our Youth Advisory Group (YAG), we believe that it is time to have an urgent conversation to highlight the effect(s) of GBV on the mental health of young Australians and to take steps to decrease the incidence of this salient risk factor. This policy brief explores the impact of GBV on the mental health and wellbeing of girls and young women and the ways that we can decrease and prevent the incidence of both.
The impact of screen time and social media on the mental health of young Australians
Recent media headlines have attributed the rise in youth mental ill-health to the parallel increase in young people’s access to smartphones and social media. However, correlation does not prove causation and the research literature paints a far more nuanced picture of the benefits and risks of screen time and social media. While there are clear risks associated with the online world, the alarmist headlines do not consider the positive experiences young people report, or acknowledge the other complex societal factors that are also contributing to the rise in youth mental ill-health.
The brief explores both the benefits and risks to young people’s mental health and discusses how we can harness the positive aspects of the digital environment while averting or minimising potential mental health harms among young Australians.
2023
Reimagining Youth Mental Health: Building Australia’s youth mental health system (Solutions Paper)
The latest ABS national mental health survey data paints a deeply concerning picture of young people’s mental health. If the rates seen in the survey periods (2020 and 2021) continue, it means EVERY YEAR well over 600,000 young women will experience a serious mood, anxiety or substance use condition, and over 470,000 young men will also experience these conditions.
While it’s important that we keep strengthening Australia’s youth mental healthcare system to support young men and women experiencing these difficulties, there’s much more we can do! There are now proven effective ways that we can use to promote young people’s mental wellbeing and prevent these conditions from occurring in the first place and so we need to expand our youth mental health policy response to include a bigger focus on mental health promotion and preventive mental health.
Reimagining Youth Mental Health (Discussion Paper)
Young people are increasingly struggling with their mental health. Data collected over the past two decades reveal a steady increase in the prevalence of anxiety and affective disorders among young Australians aged 16-24, with alarming increases between 2007 and 2021.
The Discussion Paper explores the possible factors contributing to the increased prevalence of mental health conditions among young people and outlines the new, more proactive approach that’s urgently needed to stem the rising tide of mental ill-health among young Australians.
