Stan Walker Fronts New Youthline Series To Help Rangatahi During Covid-19 Lockdown

Good2Great ambassador Stan Walker has teamed up with Youthline to create content for rangatahi (young people) during the COVID-19 lockdown. The new series has been designed to support rangatahi with tools and techniques to stay positive, safe and strong, while New Zealand is at Alert Level’s 3 and 4, through video interviews with friends and experts.

The first two interviews in the series sees Walker speaking with Youthline Counselling Services Manager Jo Madsen and radio personality Jordan River, about how they’re coping with lockdown and what advice they can share with young people.

Created by Youthline in partnership with Coca-Cola New Zealand, the Good2Great web series is designed to provide rangatahi with ways to normalise and deal with common issues like stress, anxiety and acceptance and face the very real challenges that can lead to mental health issues, which are now seen as the biggest concern facing New Zealand youth.

In a bid to speak directly to the 84% of young people who are accessing their information online, the videos are hosted on Youthline’s YouTube channel. This means caregivers, teachers, friends and family can access the content too.

Youthline has seen a 136% increase in the number of young people contacting its Helpline for support at this time, with Youthline CEO Shae Ronald noting that “although it was a necessary move for the safety of Aotearoa, it has still been incredibly challenging and many young people are dealing with feelings of fear, anxiety and grief as well as navigating at times, very difficult home situations”.

In the first video released last week, Stan and Jo shared tips for dealing with anxiety, coping in your bubble and staying connected. Together they negotiate the realities of our ‘new normal’ and discuss ways they are coping themselves.

Walker commented, “I’ve never been this still in my whole life. I’m used to travelling, touring, being out amongst lots of people, so the idea of lockdown was daunting. Now that we’re living it though, I’ve found there are silver linings – but to find those, I had to change how I looked at the situation and draw on a whole lot of tools and techniques I’ve learnt along the way. The point of these videos is to share those tools, plus more with our people. If one thing from these videos helps someone feel stronger or more positive, then that’s a win.”

You can view Good2Great with Stan Walker on Youthline’s YouTube page

About Good2Great: Good2Great is a collaboration between Youthline and Coca-Cola New Zealand developed to help young Kiwis recognise their inner awesome and unleash it upon the world. Good2Great is a one-day programme focusing on core skills like managing stress, supporting friends and building confidence, and now an online webisode series, designed to provide simple tools to navigate some of life’s trickier challenges.

About Youthline: Youthline has been supporting young people and working with communities for over 49 years. It is a “with youth, for youth” organisation and the first point of contact for many young people accessing youth development and support services across Aotearoa New Zealand. Youthline is recognised as “the number one organisation for youth to reach out to for help” (Colmar Brunton 2019) and managed over 270,000 contacts to its Helpline last year. It receives $90,000 from government, Oranga Tamariki, for its Helpline and has to fundraise the remaining $1million dollars each year to keep it running. https://www.youthline.co.nz/covid-19.html

Notes to the Editor with respect to the Colmar Brunton research:

1. How the research was conducted: An online panel
2. The dates when it was undertaken: Fieldwork dates 22 July-6 August 2019
3. The age range of those surveyed: 16-24 year olds
4. The sample size and margin of error: Sample size is n=406 and the margin of error on that would be 4.9%.

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