Voices for Hope: encouraging help-seeking

This week our Year 11s were inspired by Voices of Hope, featuring three speakers who know all about what it is to struggle with mental health as teens - and the road to overcoming it.

The main speaker was Jazz Thornton, who was repeatedly hospitalised as a young person for ill mental health, as a result of a trauma in childhood. After receiving the necessary support, she co-founded the charity Voices for Hope alongside Genevieve Mora, and went onto author three best-selling books and even won Dancing with the Stars. Jazz used the analogy of life being like a movie: it's easy it is to compare your movies to others, or to believe that your script is already 'written' and won't change. The key is, she shared, to realise that you're still in the middle of a scene and your situation isn't permanent.

The aim of the talk was to encourage help-seeking behaviour. "Asking for help doesn't make you weak, it makes you smart," Jazz shared. "I once talked to a rugby player who said he just 'pushes through' his challenges . I asked him, 'if you had a broken leg, and you kept playing on it, it would make it worse. It's the same for mental health, ask for help as soon as you know something's wrong." Jazz also shared a story about the Head Boy from another school sharing at assembly that he was going to see the school counsellor to break the stigma of asking for help. As a result of his bravery, 73 students went to a counsellor for the first time.

Genieve Mora opened up about her struggles with OCD and an eating disorder and the challenges of reconnecting to her Māori heritage, while Paula Fakalata shared about the difficulties that came with growing up in financial hardship.

"Struggles are normal, but struggling alone isn't," he explained. "There was a poster in my maths class that said 'a problem shared is a problem halved, and that's true."

Such was the trio's rapport with the students, that many stayed around after the session to talk one-on-one with them, exchanging hugs and encouraging words.

• Students can book to see a Guidance Counsellor at Avondale College (contact details on the website and Student Hub), and are able to be referred to a Psychologist or Psychiatrist at the College. There is also the government-run 1737 service, which people can call or text 24 hours a day to speak to a trained counsellor.