P02-284 - On-Going Real Life Applications in Mental Health Prevention and Promotion Among Young Adults: Bringing Elders and Youth Together for Healing

Abstract

Objectives

This paper outlines evidence from field work conducted in Sydney (a large capital city on the southern east coast of New South Wales, Australia) and in Alice Springs (a small town located in Central Australian desert in the Northern Territory, in the heart of Australia), among young adults living with mental distress. It aims to explore the efficacious effects of bringing young and elders together, in unconditionally supportive communities of belonging, providing mirroring and feedback in the journey of recovery and growth for both groups.

Methods

The paper applies case study profiling and autoethnographic practitioner reflection on work conducted between 2004-2009, in a PhD field group of 60 participants in an “open urban tribe”; and among all ages of the community involved with headspace youth mental health project in Alice Springs.

Results

The paper describes positive impacts on both age groups from sharing in the practice of “working the business of life” together - in the indigenous sense of giving feedback, humour, witnessing and testimony, about individual's life choices.

Conclusions

The evidence arising from this work is that sharing perspectives, experiences, fears and triumphs, in environments of trust and safety, can lead to strengthening and growthful outcomes for all ages. The paper concludes that combining people of diverse ages, cultures and consciousnesses can have efficacious effects on all involved. This leads to further evidence for the author's All Fruits Theory, akin to Queer Theory only referring to diversity in consciousness rather than gender preference.