EDITING a local newspaper, a lot of stories come across your desk. Some are frustrating: small-minded not-very-neighbourly spats, eshay gangs terrorising school kids at bus stops, lonely senior citizens, horrible domestic violence.
But there is more good than bad, and so much inspiration to be found if you look for it - such as in NAIDOC Week creativity to the tale of local Mario Vesely triumphing over fire and theft.
Youth mental health is something we have championed a lot in the last few years, because so many people we spoke to - experts, concerned parents, the kids themselves - told us that services in the northern beaches were woefully inadequate.
The just announced $11.4 million Beaches youth mental health package will go some way to plugging some holes. Who can forget our March story featuring the parents of Josh Gill, who died tragically in a stranger's burning car after they had spent many months being bounced around the health system trying to get him help? At the time, his dad Andrew said: "As a society and parent we want to try and keep those people alive, and it's on my watch, I'm his Dad and I didn't do that so I 've got to live with that."
Although help didn't come in time for Josh, we hope his family is feeling hopeful on behalf of other parents and their kids.
And we trust the government continues to see this as the considerable issue it is.
Kate Cox
Kate Cox is Head of Content and Head of Travel for ACM. She loves asking questions and telling stories and has been a journalist and editor for more than two decades.
Kate Cox is Head of Content and Head of Travel for ACM. She loves asking questions and telling stories and has been a journalist and editor for more than two decades.
