Meaningful Participation for Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians

Youth participation is a central tenet of the Inspire Foundation. Since 1999, over 600 young people from around Australia have been directly involved in the development and delivery of Inspire services. Young people have been interns, advisory board members, peer facilitators and youth ambassadors creating content, engaging in marketing, fundraising, research and project work. They participate online and by attending workshops and events. Youth participation is based on the belief that young people have a right to participate and that their contributions ensure services are as relevant and engaging as possible. Inspire’s youth involvement program incorporates a range of formal and informal activities to facilitate youth participation in decision-making processes across the organisation. Diverse and flexible modes of participation aim to maximise the number of young people who can be involved and to appeal to young people from a wide range of backgrounds and interests. Traditionally Inspire has recruited young people via its websites and community partners, including universities, community-based youth-serving organisations and online youth networks. But the role of participation for promoting mental health and wellbeing is not yet w ell understood. There is evidence of a direct link between valued participation, connectedness and wellbeing - young people who feel valued, connected, develop skills and are provided with the opportunities to use these skills have better mental health outcomes. Yet, while there has been an increase in uptake of youth participation strategies across public and community sectors, there is less evidence of the effects of youth participation on individual mental health or on the organisations and communities in which they are involved. Do these organisations and communities become more effective in promoting mental health and wellbeing in young people when young people are involved? In 2009 the Inspire Foundation began a research project that attempted to address these questions by evaluating youth participation at the Foundation. This report presents the background, methodology, results, discussion and findings of this project as w ell as insights into how the research has informed improvements in the ways in which Inspire approaches youth participation.