Youth workers and those they support turned green for a day to mark National headspace Day during Mental Health Month this month.
Headspace Miranda and Hurstville celebrated the importance of providing mental health services to young people in the community this week.
At Miranda, they created a mini-well-being festival with cupcakes, therapy dogs, a yoga class and other activities that put the focus on the significance of supportive organisations.
Sutherland Shire Mayor Carmelo Pesce was there to ring in the day, alongside mental health support advocate Krissi Grant, who lost her brother to suicide.
In the past 12 months headspace Miranda has had 749 young people access its services and has provided 2648 individual and group sessions of support.
This financial year so far, headspace Miranda has provided more than 650 individual and group sessions
It provides support to priority groups including LGBTQI+ community through groups, resources and a safe space, and for young men in sporting clubs,
At Hurstville, headspace hosted its well-being festival with free clay workshops, a lunch, boxing and bootcamp sessions, an art class, terrarium-making workshop and live music.
Those who attended the workshops or visited the stall at Hurstville Plaza also received a headspace self-care toolkit and cupcake, and a cuddle from Daisy the therapy dog.
The activities were centred around the seven tips to a healthy headspace - eat well, sleep well, get enough sleep, get in to life, stay active, connect, cut back on alcohol and other drugs and learn new ways to handle tough times.
New data released this week from headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation reveals that nearly two thirds of young Australians (62 per cent) say that the mental health of young people is getting worse , with 37 per cent of respondents saying that social media is one of the leading contributors.
Headspace chief executive, Jason Trethowan saysheadspace needs to ensure young people are armed with knowledge and resources to build resilience to support their own wellbeing.
"We know mental health is complex and there are many factors that contribute to a young person's wellbeing, but it's clear from the research that social media is something young people have strong opinions about and it's something that appears to be creating more pressure day to day," he said.
"We need to raise awareness about the impacts of social media overuse, and support young people to develop the skills they need to handle these new and evolving challenges.
"There are only so many hours in the day and if time spent online is taking away from things that offer balance and a healthy mind frame, that's where we run into problems."
