In May, headspace Echuca tasked students from across Campaspe Shire with producing a podcast around mental health awareness and promoting it to their peers.
The podcast would be written and produced solely by the students, with guidance from teachers and advice and consultation from two education sessions with each school before the podcast sessions.
The initiative encouraged students to promote their podcasts throughout their communities and friendship networks, with the most-listened podcast earning $2500 worth of professional podcasting equipment.
Jayden Howe, headspace Echuca's community engagement officer and former teacher, spearheaded the project.
His experience taught him that youth-led discussions are crucial for engaging young people on sensitive topics like mental health.
“Kids don’t always want to listen to you, but they’ll listen to their friends. So I thought let's get their friends to say the message,” Mr Howe said.
VCE VM teacher Bianca Moore said that while particular students kept to themselves typically, she noticed those very individuals gaining confidence once they got behind the mics.
“It was a busy term two for the kids, but when they got there and got into the hands-on practical stuff, they only had positive things to say,” she said.
St Augustine’s College was in tough competition with Kyabram P-12 College, St Joseph’s College Echuca, Twin Rivers Specialist School Echuca, Echuca College, and Rochester Secondary College making their own podcasts about various topics.
The topics tackled bullying, body image, cyber safety, vaping, supporting friends and family, and anxiety and depression.
The students were also taught the ins and outs of podcasting with the help of Ralph Barba, a Melbourne-based media producer and presenter.
St Augustine’s podcast pulled in more than 2000 listens, adding to the total of 7000 listens across the entire project.
“It’s an impressive number. That is 7000 individual people who have listened to what these students have to say, and that’s all we could ask for,” Mr Howe said.
St Augustine’s students were presented a box filled with headphones, microphones and other audio gear at their school assembly on Tuesday, September 10.
Mr Howe said that following the success of the project, he hopes they can replicate it in future years to keep students talking and engaging in those topics.
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