He hugged me and said 'Hi mum, I love you'. The change was amazing

A mental-health workshop focusing on teens connecting with other teens has been "transformative" for 14-year-old Dylan, who was an anxious and shy kid.  Please note: sensitive topics discussed.

It’s no surprise that being a parent to young people in 2023 is challenging, with current research suggesting that young people have overwhelmingly experienced a decline of their mental health since the pandemic. 

Rates of depression, anxiety, distress and self-harm are higher than they’ve ever been among young people in 2023.

But one Melbourne mother, Ebony, has described the change she’s seen in her 14-year-old son, Dylan, since attending a group mental health workshop as “transformative”.

After attending the Ignite program, one of the workshops run by non-for-profit the Reach Foundation, Dylan had a smile from ear to ear. 

“He came over to me and gave me this big hug and said, 'Hi mum, I love you’,” single-mum Ebony told Kidspot.

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Image: Supplied

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"The course really brings out the best in young people"

“During the workshops, it’s young people meeting other young people in a really open and honest environment,” Ebony says. 

“It really encourages them to hear about what’s going on in other people’s lives so that they can resonate with what’s happening with them.

“I think during the pandemic and also just being a teenager in general, a lot of the time the support that's out there isn’t based on young people connecting with other young people - it’s young people connecting with professionals like psychologists, teachers or wellbeing coordinators. 

"So it’s not the same as a workshop like this. The facilitators really bring out the best in the young people. They really focus on what’s important to the person, what makes them who they are and their dreams and aspirations.”

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He left asking, 'When can I go back?'

Dylan is an anxious kid who is quite shy and had trouble making friendships at school, according to Ebony. 

And being an only child of a single mum who has worked shift work pretty much his whole life, didn’t help. 

“He has always struggled at school socially to make connections with other kids,” she explains.

“Given that I’m a nurse by trade, I found it hard to do lots of those after-school activities like going to friends' places, because I was working.

“I was keen for a safe and accepting environment like Reach, which meant he could find connections with people from all walks of life. 

“In just the two-session workshop, the connections he made with people there were enough for him to want to go back and make other connections. Now he’s attending a camp called the Horizoncamp to explore masculinity. 

“He left the first workshop saying, ‘When can I go back?’ I was expecting him to have the typical teenage reaction of like ‘Uh, do I have to go again?’

“But he was like, ‘I wish they had these at school,’ because these workshops were so much more beneficial than the support he was getting through school.”

Image: Supplied

"He has a sense of calm"

In terms of what changes she’s seen in her son, Ebony says they’re something only she can notice.

But generally speaking, he has a sense of calm that he didn’t before. 

“I could feel that life was heavy on his shoulders before and when he came out of the workshop, he felt like that load was shared and he had things to be excited about in life,” she says.

“A lot of parents don’t realise that workshops like this exist, but they’re a great proactive tool. I think if every young person had access to Reach, I think it would make a massive change in school, workplaces and young people’s mental health.”

To find out more information or donate, head to The Reach Foundation.

Originally published as He hugged me and said 'Hi mum, I love you'. The change was amazing