What’s been happening

19 Nov

By : Peter Past Events

3 days organized by AAAH (Australian Association of Adolescent Health)

Some of our SYHPANZ members who self-funded or were fortunate to gain funding support have shared their highlights.

Day 1

fantastic opening address by a charismatic young Australian man Kareem El-Ansary, Youth Representative to the United Nations. Kareem presented his learnings from talking to over 10, 000 young Australians throughout the country. He asked them what they care about and how they see their future. And Kareem shared to the conference a picture of hope, resiliency, and a desire to be included from the youth voice. Nothing new to those who work with youth but just a fantastic positive affirmation of the value and contribution from the population group called ‘young people’.
- https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/articulation/editions/2019/march-2019/from-bachelor-of-arts-to-united-nations
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9NyiFQnXyw
another highlight was Clinical Psychologist Andrew Fuller. Down to earth character talking about tricky teens. Andrew is a prolific author with lots of titles like Unlock Your Child’s Genius and Tricky People. Andrew sees the current education model a system for examinations rather than a system for learning! Andrew has created an avenue to allow anyone to have feedback on their learning strengths – fill in a questionnaire on-line and get back an email that outlines your strengths and areas that you could grow/ improve. I gave it a go and got back an email that acknowledged my skills and gave me ideas for things I could do to help strengthen other areas. Cool concept.
- www.mylearningstrengths.com

And throughout the 3 days the concurrent session had lots to offer:

Ngaga-Dji (Hear Me) – young voices creating change for justice https://www.ngaga-djiproject.org.au/ stunning report with beautiful artwork that provides a vision for the state of Victoria. Important information for those of us working in Youth Justice.
Strong and Deadly Futures- positive youth development and AOD education in schools . Great resources and strength-based approach. https://strongdeadly.org.au/
Lena Sanci’s work in school-based health services, particularly the planned and coordinated way services were developed in Victoria. And I did wonder if the success to date was also built on the solid foundation of the Gatehouse Project more than a decade ago

It was awesome to attend the 2019 AAAH Conference.

The highlights were many and for me including:

hearing the Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, Kareem El-Ansary, speak about the Australian National Youth Survey methodology,
hearing about the Doctors in Schools initiative in the state of Victoria,
A presentation on intimate partner violence experienced by youth,
another about an immunisation outreach program for at-risk youth in Melbourne,
one led by two 17year old kiwis on using the Whare Tapu Wha model to build resilience in youth (so cool!)
and so many more.
It was awesome to also have the opportunity to present our NZSN research and initial findings of the workforce and employment survey of School Nurses in New Zealand. There was a strong focus and delivery of evidence-based, research led projects unpinning new developments in youth health at the conference, and that alongside the networking opportunities was inspirational.

I would encourage anyone who is able to attend the next conference in November 2020, which is being held in Brisbane.

Big shout out to Lee-anne O’Brien (previous Chair)

SYHPANZ given the floor to promote INVOLVE 2020 to our Australasian colleagues