Thursday Island health staff, youths and stakeholder groups who attended the first Waibeni Youth Network meeting.
A group of Thursday Island youths will form part of a new network which will work to improve health service delivery in the community.
The Waibeni Youth Network held their first meeting last month in the recently opened Buai Mudh (Family House) at Mura Kosker.
Staff from Wakai Waian, Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service’s Men’s and Women’s Health teams, and Maternal and Child Health team, Education Queensland, the Department of Child Safety, Torres Health Indigenous Corporation and Mura Kosker attended the first meeting.
It is hoped other major community stakeholders will attend future meetings.
The group shared data collected earlier this year which identified the health needs which local youths had identified as their priorities.
Torres and Cape HHS School-based Youth Health Nurse Brooke Birt said she had encouraged young people at Waibeni Keoy Ngurpay Mudh to attend and be part of the new group.
“We wanted to ensure youth voices were at the centre of all discussions as these are issues that directly affect them and their peers,” she said.
“The purpose of the network is to collaborate with local services and key stakeholders who support adolescents and young adults, aged between 12-24, in the community.”
“Stakeholder groups were each able to share insights about their services, discuss key issues and share data collected by the young people identifying the health needs they see as priorities within their community,” she said.
One of the youths who attended, Tyrell Whap, said he was passionate about doing what they could to improve the lives of his peers.
“I felt proud we are doing something to help the school community and that there are people who actually care and want good for teenagers and that we are the next future,” he said.
Another youth Kunio Sagigi added: “I didn’t know these supports were available. It was good because it opened up about what is available for young people”.
A third teen who attended, Thomas King, said he was thrilled with the chance to talk to the people delivering the services.
“(We could tell them) what the actual problem is and help us,” he said.
Along with invited Thursday Island stakeholders, it is hoped to expand the network to include the inner and outer Torres Strait islands.
Anyone wanting to learn more about the Waibeni Youth Network should contact Ms Birt at TCHHS-SBYHN@health.qld.gov.au.