Collie cares: PCYC launches program to support young people’s mental health

Young people at Collie PCYC have been learning positive mental health strategies and having meaningful conversations about their mental well-being as part of a 6-week mental health program, Discovering Emotions and Confidence.

Josh Langley, an award-winning children’s book author and mental health advocate, facilitates the course. Josh runs educational programs and presents at schools across Western Australia, teaching children and young people about self-acceptance, resilience, understanding emotions, and kindness.

The Discovering Emotions and Confidence program aims to support young people’s mental and emotional well-being by building teenage participants’ confidence in themselves and equipping them with important life skills. Each week the program covers a different topic on mental health, such as:

• Everyone has feelings: Let’s talk about sad feelings,
• How to avoid overthinking: Being you is enough, and
• Let’s talk about feeling grateful: What to do when you feel all alone.

In these workshops, young people learn how to identify and change negative thoughts, avoid overthinking, and practice gratitude.

A key focus of the workshop revolves around young people’s ‘BIG’ emotions. Many teens grapple with overwhelming feelings, which sometimes lead to unconstructive and anti-social behaviours.

By learning strategies to address these emotions early on, young people will be equipped to deal with their feelings without resorting to reactive outbursts. The goal is to enable them to respond to challenging situations in a calmer manner.

One participant's mother commented on how much her daughter is getting out of the program and looks forward to attending every week.

Collie Centre Manager Linda Gallagher said, “Our young people love attending the program. We have received great feedback from parents and guardians who have already noticed a positive difference in their children and how they are responding to their BIG emotions.”