Mental health and sex education high on NT youth agenda

A GROUP of high-achieving young Territorians attended their first quarterly 2020 NT Youth Round Table meeting in Darwin over the weekend, with Alexsandra Thorogood and Melanie Gunner – both from Alice Springs – selected to take part.

Alexsandra Thorogood has been selected to join the 2020 NT Youth Round Table. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

A GROUP of high-achieving young Territorians attended their first quarterly 2020 NT Youth Round Table meeting in Darwin over the weekend, with Alexsandra Thorogood and Melanie Gunner – both from Alice Springs – selected to take part.

Speaking with the Centralian Advocate, Alexsandra, 15, said the weekend’s discussions predominantly revolved around the psychological wellbeing of young people, as well as the development of a more inclusive sexual education program within Territory schools.

“At the moment sexual education is mainly based on the traditional boy/girl relationship, whereas people are becoming more confident in themselves and we have acknowledgment of LGBTQI+ relationships,” Alexsandra explained.

“The education system should be able to support that diversity, because then they would be supporting students as an individual, as a person.”

Alexsandra also raised the alarming rates of death by suicide in men, with suicide the leading cause of death in men aged 15 – 44 in Australia, according to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

“That was something I definitely wanted to raise, and the feedback from my peers in the meeting was that they had been trying to find solutions in their communities also, through events and talking to people their own age,” Alexsandra said.

“Organisations like headspace are absolutely great, and it’s positive to see we’re using youth to get to through to other youths now.”

AMAZING NT News subscription offer: Only $1 for first 28 days.

With the final NT Youth Round Table meeting scheduled for November, Alexsandra said she was looking forward to continuing to develop positive relationships with the other participants.

“It’s good being able to talk face-to-face with young people from such different places across the Territory,” she said.

“And it really does affect you, imagining other people’s lives and the experiences they’ve had.”