A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
The results of the largest annual survey of young people in Australia were released yesterday by Mission Australia. The National Survey of Young Australians 2009 obtained the views of almost 48,000 young people across Australia and found that the young people rank drugs, suicide and body image as the most concerning issues they face. The [...]
Two images depicting women digitally edited to look unrealistically skinny have been making waves in the media recently. In the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney an advertisement for Ralph Lauren with an unrealistically skinny model is displayed. The model in the picture has had her waist significantly reduced to make her appear much smaller, as [...]
A report detailing a survey of 1,200 people aged 18-44 has found that almost seventy percent of the people surveyed still suffer from negative effects of bullying years down the track, including low self-esteem and a lack of assertiveness. The report Give Kids a Chance: No One Deserves to Be Left Out by Wesley Mission [...]
We are currently in the process of planning the 2010 Generation Next series. Thanks to your feedback we have learned a lot of lessons about how best to run the events and use the limited financial and other resources available to us. Importantly, in 2010 we would like to explore the possibility of running the [...]
Issues like the sexualisation and abuse of children aren't humorous. They are serious. The Cotton On store declared in August that it would remove inappropriate slogan t-shirts after public pressure from around Australia and New Zealand - including comments from child development professionals, calling for the removal of the slogan t-shirts. Today in The Herald [...]
Calls for tighter underage drinking laws have been made by drug body The Australian Drug Foundation, who believe the current laws allowing underage drinking on private property without parental consent are too lax. The foundation proposed that adults should only be allowed to provide alcohol to minors with their parent’s consent, the adults should only [...]
This Thursday you have the opportunity to be part of the web-cast audience for the youTHINK: Live and Online forum. Part of the National Conversation organised by the Australian Government, the forum will run from 1pm-3pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time and encourages the audience to provide live feedback to the conversation. The forum will focus [...]
An American study has linked television use to aggression in three-year-olds, even if the child wasn't watching the TV. The study which collected survey data from over 3,000 mothers found that indirect exposure, such as the TV use by other members of the household, increased aggression in the children and could have a detrimental impact [...]
This month's death of 2 experienced sailors highlights the dangers inherent in yachting and the sheer insanity and utter inadvisability of Jessica Watson's bid to sail solo around the world. Many experienced yachties have added their voice to a growing chorus of experts, which includes Queensland's Maritime Safety Bureau, saying that 16 years old is too [...]
I often get asked questions like ‘what can I do?’ about the sexualisation of children. I think the key to change is collective grass-roots action so here are just a few ideas that may help you start your own local campaign: Ask your local video store manager to move the ‘adult only' section away from [...]
