Collaborative Project Breaking Down Mental Health Stigma Expands with New Resource

18 August 2026

Satellite Foundation, Monash University, and rural Gippsland youth launch a brand-new companion resource to challenge intersectional stigma.

Satellite Foundation has officially expanded its StigmaBeat project, a research and community initiative co-designed alongside Monash University and young people from rural Gippsland. The platform has been updated with a brand-new companion resource, now available here.

StigmaBeat aims to challenge mental health and intersectional stigma, using a series of short films to help communities, families and workplaces understand the challenges young people face, including stigma that can come from well-intentioned people.

This is the culmination of a decade’s work, including five years in the Latrobe Valley with young people who have parents with mental health and/or substance use challenges, through a wildly successful partnership between Satellite Foundation, Monash University, and a broader network of Australian and international researchers.

Creativity sits at the heart of this project, which has produced academic publications, a series of short films, an advocacy and education workshop presented by young people and adults to more than 200 people, and now this brand-new resource. Together, this work has generated new knowledge about the experience of intersectional stigma, and how stigma-free spaces can be created with and for young people and families experiencing mental health challenges

“This project is the product of ten years of relationship-building, trust, and genuine co-design with young people who know exactly what stigma feels like, because they’ve lived it. We hope this new resource gives services, workplaces, and communities practical, everyday tools to build spaces where young people and families don’t have to hide what they’re going through.” Leanne – Projects Lead, Satellite Foundation

“Working alongside young people from the Latrobe Valley over these past five years has fundamentally shaped how we understand intersectional stigma, not just as researchers, but as collaborators. This resource distils that co-designed knowledge into something practical and accessible, and reflects what’s possible when research is genuinely done with communities, not on them.” Rochelle Hine, Lead Researcher, Monash University

The latest addition to the suite, “Creating Stigma-Free Spaces Is Everyone’s Responsibility,” shows the key ingredients for safe, inclusive spaces where everyone’s ideas, priorities and needs are heard. It’s everyone’s responsibility. If you have power and influence, share it to create better outcomes for all. It can be used alongside the other StigmaBeat materials by anyone working to combat mental illness stigma, class and rural stigma, and all types of discrimination, and is available now on the Satellite Foundation website.

Satellite Foundation thanks the young people, partners, researchers and collaborators who have contributed their insights, creativity, commitment, and expertise to this project since its inception.

About Monash University
Monash is a modern, global, research-intensive university, delivering education and research excellence in Australia and across the Indo-Pacific. Education and research is at the heart of what we do – and our focus is on addressing the challenges of the age for the betterment of our communities, both locally and globally.

Media Contact
Catherine Devine
Brand and Strategic Communications Manager, Satellite Foundation
[email protected]
0412 045 191

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