Amplifying Young People’s Voices with a New Anti-Stigma Campaign
“Stigma is a virus/pollution that continues to grow and thrives in many places – especially in the communities in which we live. It needs to be taken seriously”
– Young Person, StigmaBeat Participant
Satellite Foundation, in partnership with Monash Rural Health (Monash University), have launched a new anti-stigma campaign, featuring videos which amplify the voices of young people with lived and living experiences of family with mental health challenges.
Did you know — the term stigma comes from ancient Greek and originally referred to a tattoo? That’s because tattoos were used to visibly mark slaves or criminals as members of society with “lesser” value. In the 1960s, a sociologist called Erving Goffman broadened the definition of stigma as a “deeply discrediting” trait that reduces a person “from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” (Lancet Commission Report, 2022).
Stigma continues to be harmful today — it hurts individuals, families, communities, and society, and exists across all countries and cultures.
For people with mental health conditions, stigma and discrimination breach basic human rights — including by reducing access to mental and physical healthcare and educational and employment opportunities (the World Bank’s Global Overview of Stigma).
In a national survey of more than 7500 people, approximately four million Australians experienced mental health-related stigma and discrimination in the 12 months before taking the survey. This mostly came from people close to them such as family, friends, spouses and partners.
This is why Satellite continues to work with young people and partners to explore solutions to stigma and work towards stigma reduction. Satellite and Monash Rural Health previously partnered on ‘StigmaBeat’, a project to co-create digital resources to identify and address intersectional stigma. The current campaign is an extension of the messaging young people from ‘StigmaBeat’ want people to understand. Namely:
Stigma happens everywhere!
Combatting stigma is exhausting.
We can all be both victim/survivors of and perpetrators of stigma at different times.
Stigma holds important discussions hostage. We need to insist on and role model how to have courageous conversations.
In these videos, young people with lived and living experience are sharing where they have experienced stigma and how it has affected them. They are also telling us different ways to fight stigma.
Watch the videos here:
Satellite and Monash Rural Health are proud to support them in doing so. We also want to continue spreading personal messages to encourage courageous conversations. To do so, we need to hear more voices and invite video submissions as part of our ongoing messaging.
Amplifying Young People’s Voices with a New Anti-Stigma Campaign
Satellite Foundation, in partnership with Monash Rural Health (Monash University), have launched a new anti-stigma campaign, featuring videos which amplify the voices of young people with lived and living experiences of family with mental health challenges.
Ali Turner’s “Every Door I’ve Ever Opened” – A Powerful Exploration of Regret
One of Satellite's YAC (Youth Advisory Council) members, Alison Turner (Ali) received a high commendation for her short story "Every Door I’ve Ever Opened" in Odyssey Victoria's 2024 Short Story Competition. Ali’s entry stands out as a deeply emotional and reflective work on the theme of 'regret'.
Marking today as the National Day Against Bullying and Violence, we want to raise awareness by sharing the testimonial of one of our Satellite team members who experienced bullying in their childhood. She shares some tips that helped her overcome bullying.