International Association for Youth Mental Health Second International Conference Brighton, UK November 2013

Youth Representative Reports Partnerships and Branding in Youth Engagement ................................................................................................................. 2 Bringing youth mental health awareness and education into schools .................................................................................. 3 Youth Participation: Following the example set by Ireland’s Headstrong ............................................................................. 4 Lessons from Headspace ....................................................................................................................................................... 5

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Partnerships and Branding in Youth Engagement Mona Balesh Abadi As a representative of an emerging youth engagement initiative, the IAYMH conference provided me with the fantastic opportunity to gain insight into the work of other youth engagement initiatives, their success and barriers they have had to overcome. Among the many lessons that could be learned from the success stories of initiatives such as Irish Headstrong and Australian Headspace, there were a few that struck me as especially important to the development of an effective youth initiative. Strong branding was pointed to as one of the main contributors to the success of programs such as Headspace and Headstrong. As was pointed out by several speakers, the mental health system can be hard to navigate, especially for youth who are seeking services for the first time. In creating a strong brand, Headspace and Headstrong have established themselves as the “go to” organization for youth in need of mental health services. Both organizations emphasized the use of youth-­‐friendly language in marketing such initiatives. To make their message resonate with youth, these organizations have used the language youth may use to describe their issues instead of “dry” and unfamiliar clinical terminology. A brilliant example could be seen in Headspace’s “We’ve Got Your Back” campaign. This campaign proved to be a huge success, leading to a 50% increase in Headspace’s brand recognition across Australia. In another effort, Headstrong has made available a series of information sheets with facts about different mental illnesses, written in youth-­‐friendly, nonclinical language that is easier to understand and more relatable. Aside from strong branding, strong partnerships were pointed to as another important aspect in the development of a successful youth program. Many speakers noted that there exists a lack of connectedness between mental health services which make it hard for youth to navigate the system while also creating a barrier to accessing holistic care