“If we can help, we must!”
Sometime predawn on the road to Sydney International Airport in April 2014, Stephen Spencer proclaimed to his close mates, Ben and Craig – “I have an idea and I need your help”. Over the following 10 days while surfing in the idyllic and remote Mentawais Island chain, the seeds of Equi Energy Youth were planted.
Stephen was about to complete his PhD research project at the University of Newcastle. He was (and still is) in passionate pursuit of developing a much better way to support young people in distress and those with serious mental health challenges.
After more than a decade of mental health nursing, Stephen was driven to make his new evidence-based approach available to everyone, rather than those only presenting at the local Hospital he worked. That way, adults would be better equipped to support young people in their care through distressful times and reduce the frequency and longevity of episodes of distress and by doing so, mental health outcomes in our communities could be significantly improved.
Enter Ben and Craig with their organisational experience and qualifications. What a rare opportunity it was for three best mates to build something together that can make such a positive impact on people’s lives in the communities we live and play our part in fixing our country’s youth mental health crisis.
Today, we continue to develop better ways to help people with mental health challenges and our mantra of ‘if we can help, we must’ grows stronger every day
EquiEnergy Youth upholds the highest standards of legal, professional, ethical and moral behaviour. We commit to maintaining the highest quality services, supported by sound governance principles.
EquiEnergy Youth embraces the need for fundamental change in mental health services and delivery in Australia. We focus on a ‘better way’, underpinned by next generation technology, creativity and new product development for a range of audiences.
EquiEnergy Youth acknowledges that young people in psychological distress are at a very difficult point in their lives. We design our care programs with an emphasis on compassion and dignity for the individual.
EquiEnergy Youth believes that raising healthy and happy young people today requires a community approach. We value the role parents, teachers, carers, health professionals, government bodies and the wider community play in the lives of well-adjusted young people.
EquiEnergy Youth is committed to building capacity in families in our community to better support the mental wellbeing of their children and young people in their care.
Part of this commitment is providing free training for families on our evidence based framework that teaches a process to follow when their children are having episodes of mental health distress. By donating to our charity you will be supporting our family programs and help us continue to provide this training for free.
EquiEnergy Youth believes in a brighter future for young people, their families, and our community. We exist to save young lives. We do this by reconnecting communities and educating adult support systems to reduce psychological distress in young people. Just like DR ABC for a physical health crisis, our TAR3 Psychological First Aid gives adults simple steps to follow in a mental health crisis.
