Youth Counselling Services
Hobsons Bay 360 #24: Hobsons Bay Youth Services providing support to young people
Adolescence and early adulthood are times of great change and growth, physically, psychologically, emotionally and socially. It is also the time when people are most likely to experience a first episode of mental ill health. Providing education, information, support, and counselling at an early stage of difficulty can reduce the likelihood and severity of future episodes of mental ill health.
Hobsons Bay Youth Services aims to support teenagers and young adults, and their families, as they navigate the ups and downs of life.
These essential services are detailed in our Council Plan which commits to improving the health and wellbeing of our young, vulnerable, and older community members.
There is a significant need for these services in Hobsons Bay and in the 22/23 financial year our Youth Counsellors engaged in:
- 534 counselling sessions
- 103 clients whose average age was 16.8
Council recognises youth mental wellbeing as a priority and are currently actively advocating to help increase youth mental health services in Hobsons Bay. This advocacy is to increase the number of local, timely and affordable mental health services for young people.
“We’ve made incredible progress talking about mental health. Council plays an important role supporting the mental health of our community. We offer generalist youth counselling services that can refer residents to relevant specialist services as needed.” – Mayor Cr Matt Tyler (Wetlands Ward).
To read more about the counselling services that are supporting the wellbeing of young people, click here.
To read about our advocacy work around increasing youth mental health services, click here.
To read more from Mayor Cr Matt Tyler on the topic of youth mental health click here.
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