In particular,it was impossible not to recognise the impacts that uncertainty and isolation were having on young people. Many of us atThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald have children,adolescents or young adults in our lives,and we saw their struggle with the loss of normal rites of passage.
It’s why,in the depths of another lockdown in mid-2021,we began working onEnough,a new podcast series about youth mental health. We chose this title because the word “enough” will mean something different to anybody dealing with a mental illness. For some young people,it meant telling themselves:“I am enough”.
Theresults of an exclusive Resolve Poll survey reveal that four out of five respondents aged between 16 and 24 were experiencing mental health issues (82 per cent) compared to half of those aged 25 and older (49 per cent).
Our goal forEnough was clear from the beginning:to elevate the voices of young people. A podcast seemed the perfect vehicle for them to tell us,in their words,what they were going through and what helped them.