A Day-in-the-Life of a Young Person: Reflecting on the TheMHS Conference through Video

When we invited our three young people to attend the TheMHS Conference and co-facilitate  the Satellite Connect — Making the Hard Conversations Possible workshop, we also asked if they would provide a reflection of their experience across the four day inter-state trip to share with our wider Satellite community.

There weren’t many parameters. Our young participants were free to provide their reflection in any format they felt comfortable. The third reflection we are sharing is from Caleb (he/they) and he chose to provide his reflection in the form of day-in-the-life video diaries, follow along to read some highlights from their experience with the four day conference in Canberra. As with  Charlotte and Chloe, we will share Caleb’s full video series at the end of the article.

Caleb is working on developing a career in the Lived Experience workforce. Joining Satellite by sheer circumstance, Caleb has grown an ever-long obsession with the ideologies and mission of the organisation, after running through just one of the programs. He participates as a Youth Advisory Council member, volunteer and expresses interests in as many facets of Satellite as possible.  In his spare time, you can find him at the park reading or playing board games & Larping online.

Video Diary Highlights: Resonating with Learnings from a Carer Presentation

“I went to my first event which was at.. it was at 2 o’clock or I think it was at 2-0-5.. and it was self-advocacy learnings from a carer.. and I think I went to the “five ways to wellbeing” and” being active consumers” and then I bumped into the “revitalising recovery, the dynamic impact of Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing locals”, which was hell yeah! I screamed out Victoria Rules, which just got some looks, but the self-advocacy, learning from a carer was cool, because it was kind of this discussion about mindfulness and intelligence and appreciating the moments of being a carer.. and finding balance and meeting people where they’re at. And the way— like I’m aware of meeting people where they’re at, but the way that it was talked about was really empowering.”

Watch the video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/oZ3iEPGuJCs?feature=share

Key Moments: Caleb’s Favorite moments and Key Insights

Reflection on the keynote speaker: “I think the acknowledgement of lived experience actually went to Mary O’Hagan. Her speech was very powerful and I was really impressed and getting to hear from… it was a legend, a legendary session.”

Watch the video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/lnQjFhQzTyA

Favourite moment of Day 1: “My favourite session for today, the highlight for me was actually meeting Paul [Dziatkowiec …] He was a diplomat and his whole thing was he was talking about the similarities between the mental health and how we engage with mental health and how we interact and have the similarities and the common ground, which is hilarious once again, because the whole conference is about common ground. And he started off with a Sir David Frost quote, which is ‘the art of letting someone else have your way.’ And that the primary skill that is similar between our two roles is dialogue and the lack of constructive communication and the lack of common ground equals bad dialogue. And I thought it was very powerful.”

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xPbk2yke7dM

Insights on networking: “And it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun with the networking because I realized that all of us are very social human beings, even though we’re all from very different stretches of life. Even if we have lived experience or not lived experience, we all have very good talking skills and are all very funny and also very nervous for when we have to present”

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BpPDo8kPUYs

Final Reflections from Caleb

“I’m really honoured by the opportunity and I had a lot of fun and I hope these videos are not too embarrassing when I see them in the future. So thank you so much and I’ll let you go. And I guess I salute for the final time, yeah.”

Watch the video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/iuqXUs1XPaE?feature=share

What’s next? Let’s continue youth engagement in mental health advocacy together!

Youth voices are crucial to the mental health movement. We must continue to show up, speak up, and create the change we want to see. For an organisation like Satellite, this means partnering with other organisations and people passionate about mental health and youth advocacy to create opportunities for young people’s voices to be included in system change. We believe that young people should be empowered and supported to not only participate in, but to lead and shape positive change in the Mental Health Sector. And we hope you do too after joining us on this journey!

Please reach out to hello@satellitefoundation.org.au if you would like to collaborate on opportunities for positive change together!