Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Local Govt | National News Video | Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Search

 

Peace Organisations Hold Webinar Addressing Impact Of Pandemic On Mental Health Of New Zealand Youth

On October 10th, commemorating the UN’s World Mental Health Day, the New Zealand branches of Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) and International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) held a combined webinar titled ‘Building Resilience in Aotearoa’. Through the seminar, they aimed to tackle and raise awareness of issues in mental health that youth are experiencing in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current global pandemic has brought a new dimension to New Zealand’s Mental health issues. For youth particularly, added stress has come from disruptions to education at the crucial secondary and tertiary levels, and disorientation leading into exam season. Those in low income families, as well have had to make painful decisions, as a result of COVID’s economic fallout.

One of the panellists from the education sector, who wished to remain nameless said, “While there is currently no statistics to show this, teachers who work with students day by day are noticing this to be a real issue, as the students are having to choose between staying in school or leaving and supporting their families.”

The webinar event consisted of two sessions. The first was a panel discussion where representatives and leaders from different sectors of society presented on the current state of mental health in our youth today. In the second session, attendees split into virtual breakout rooms. In these, youth collaborated with each representative to suggest practical solutions for supporting the mental wellbeing of themselves and their peers.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

One of the phrases that stood out in the panel discussion was "Our young people have to deal with an ever-changing environment. Resilience is built into our young people.” This was one of the key takeaways from the first part of the event, recognising the growing challenges that youth today are adapting to.

Murry Stentiford, former president of the Auckland Theosophical society, another of the panellists, offered that young people of today are beginning to be aware of it [bigger world view] and ask the serious questions: what about a world view that’s much bigger than the one we observe in the newspapers and the Facebook groups? This idea of a bigger world view he suggested was from a holistic viewpoint to cover the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual.

HWPL is an international peace organisation founded for global peace and cessation of war. “Heavenly culture” signifies a culture of realising the common values across humanity – peace, reconciliation, coexistence, and prosperity – by transcending national borders, race, religion, and gender. HWPL, along with their affiliate organisation, IPYG, are carrying out their peace movement around the globe in over 170 countries, including Aotearoa.

IPYG New Zealand is holding youth empowerment workshops, cultural events, campaigns in local communities and organising peace walks to spread positive change in these areas.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.