In the wake of the Dunedin bus hub tragedy, community leaders and school students gathered yesterday for a free and frank exchange of ideas aimed at making the city safer.
The Dunedin Youth Mental Health Round Table meeting came to fruition after New Zealand Student Council president and Otago Boys’ High School student Rohan O’Shea contacted the New Zealand First party with concerns about the state of youth mental health in Dunedin.
The party set up a round table discussion at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery yesterday, and invited youth mental health organisations, local iwi members, multicultural representatives, Dunedin MPs, regional and local government representatives, police and several secondary school students.
Rohan said the discussion was partly in response to the bus hub tragedy in May, when Enere McLaren-Taana, 16, died after allegedly being stabbed by a 13-year-old boy.
However, he said the focus of the meeting was mainly on how to deal with the wider issue of youth mental health in the city.
After the meeting, Rohan said Dunedin had a lot of youth who were "struggling on a day-by-day basis" and there was not enough support for them.
"We need to be both family focused, insuring that families know how to help their youth, but we also just need more professional help.
"New Zealand has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. It should be a national crisis, but it’s not because it’s under-recognised just how much of a problem that it is.
"Of particular concern is the toxic influencers on our young men ... particularly on social media.
"Social media was a topic of discussion today, about how it is isolating youth and also providing a place where toxic culture can spread - we’re seeing it thrive, particularly amongst young men", Rohan said.
"We have young people who are choosing to stay by themselves, scrolling on TikTok and Instagram because it is designed to keep them there...
"There are significant implications and links between social media and body issues, depression and anxiety.
"We have a major issue."
Columba College student and Dunedin Students’ Council representative Catalina Nock said one of the initiatives to come out of the meeting was for the city to create a central youth space.
"Somewhere where all different ethnicities and ages can come and feel like they are part of a community, if they don’t have that at home or school - a place where they don’t feel judged."
At the same time, it could be a warm, safe place with activities and games, and youth workers and mental health specialists could be on hand to have discussions with youth about issues they may be experiencing.
Taieri College student and Dunedin Students’ Council representative Joanne Brock-Smith was delighted at the number of city leaders that attended the youth-oriented conversation.
"I was impressed that they were not only wanting to respond to the situation, but address some of the systemic underlying issues in our society and culture, and see how that could be changed to have a better long-term outcome."
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said the meeting was "productive and very helpful".
He said there were a few initiatives raised by the group, that the city would take a closer look at - one was the creation of a youth expo.
It could be an annual event for students and parents to see all the "great things you can do in Dunedin".
"One of the things that youth often say is that there is nothing to do.
"However, if you look closely and things are put in front of you, then lo and behold, you see there are a lot of things to do.
"From that great plethora of things to do in Dunedin, I think people coming along will find something that interests them that they didn’t even know about."
The council was also working closely on "a range of initiatives" with the Otago Regional Council and police to improve the safety of the bus hub, he said.
"It’s an important aspiration for the community to have that bus hub safe."
He declined to say what they were at this stage.
Rohan hoped the meeting was the first of what could be frequent meetings with the city’s leaders.
"At the very least, it appears there is some appetite for a follow-up meeting."
