Consultation with young people is a priority for Glen Eira City Council and we were pleased to establish our landmark Youth Consultation Strategy in early 2017.

The Strategy includes three major activities, which will combine to form one of the largest youth consultation projects conducted by Council and provide us with comprehensive qualitative and quantitative data on youth issues and wellbeing.

The Strategy includes a face-to-face Youth iPad Survey, the establishment of a #YouthVoice Committee via social media and a Youth Resilience Survey, aimed at providing large scale health and wellbeing data.

Our Youth iPad Survey was carried out between February and March 2017 and we received feedback from 304 young people aged between 10 and 25. The survey was made available on iPads, youth worker mobile phones and as a link on the Glen Eira Youth Services Instagram page.

Survey participants shared opinions on youth issues, support, social connection and aspirations. They also provided feedback on key focus areas including school stress, pressure from parents, body image, anxiety and bullying.

These results will make up part of the larger 2017 Youth Consultation Strategy and have given us an important insight into how we can better focus our support services and engage with young people.

The #YouthVoice Committee involves 15 young people from across Glen Eira who use social media to communicate important youth issues, opinions and achievements to the Glen Eira community.

The committee, formed in February 2017, meets weekly to film, edit and interview community members on issues concerning young people, as gathered via our Youth iPad Survey.

The active group provides a youth voice to the Glen Eira community through posting videos, images and stories on social media and plans to develop new initiatives to raise awareness and create conversations about important youth issues.

Our Youth Resilience Survey was distributed to more than 6,000 primary and secondary school students from across Glen Eira during term two of 2017.

The Survey assessed 40 key predictors of wellbeing and resilience and will provide local schools and Council with unique data around young people’s mental health, sense of hope, feelings of safety and attitudes towards violence.

More than 4,000 surveys were completed and are currently being collated. Results of the Survey will be known in September 2017.