Youth Council launch positive postcards

An exciting mental health campaign led by the Warrnambool City Youth Council is being launched this week to coincide with National Mental Health Month.

The 2021 Warrnambool Youth Council Mental Health Check In campaign will provide Warrnambool secondary school students the opportunity to connect with friends and loved ones across the nation through a series of funky and informative postcards designed by Youth Council members that urge people to ‘Send this to a friend – spread the importance of talking about mental health’.

Funding for the postcard campaign has been obtained through Warrnambool City Council Youth Services, Warrnambool 21/25 as part of the W2040 Plan, and Beyond the Bell Connect Up.

The Mental Health Week campaign was initially developed in 2018 by the Warrnambool Youth Council in conjunction with a psychologist.

The campaign was informed by the Biopsychosocial model of mental health that recognises mental health outcomes are the result of multiple factors.

As a response, the Youth Council worked with a graphic designer to create posters with the messages: Be Social, Be Playful, Be Kind, Be Yourself, and Just Be.

How everyone went about managing those factors changed dramatically in 2020 and the Community Mental Health Check In was set-up to ask how people were managing to Be Social, Be Playful, Be Kind, Be Yourself, and Just Be during the disruption and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 150 community members took part and the information they shared created the Mental Health Check In, a practical list of ways to look after yourself for good mental health.

Fast forward to 2021 and since their induction in May 2021, 11 newly elected Warrnambool Youth Council members have been working to redesign and refresh the campaign to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Youth Council members have worked with a graphic designer and an animator to keep the conversation going through a series of vibrant images and positive messaging that will be circulated through postcards, posters, Warrnambool CBD roundabout banners and the W2040 website raising awareness and stressing the importance of good mental health and well-being through staying connected.

The Warrnambool Youth Council believes that talking about mental health and learning about the things that help it is important for everyone. You can access the Mental Health Check In at w2040.com.au/mental-health-checkin. You may like to share with a family member or friend and maybe even test out some of the tips together.

/Public Release. View in full here.