Building resilience among our future generations

Giz a Break, one of the successful pitches at the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network (MPHN) inaugural Pitch Night, completed its first round of two camping adventures with 17 young people aged between 14 and 17 years from the drought affected areas of Hay and Hillston.

Over two weekends in November, a group of nine young women and eight young men travelled to the Victorian High Country on a 4WDing, fishing and hiking adventure. 

One of the Giz a Break founders and leaders on the adventures, Daniel Thomson said the activities they were partaking in were secondary to the life skills and experiences.

“All the participants did a great job at working out problems, like how to arrange the group so everyone got to do what they most wanted to do, or making up games so everyone was involved. One group even had an impromptu lesson in bush mechanics when the suspension on a trailer failed,” Mr Thomson said.

“We were amazed by these young adults and their engagement and enthusiasm with the program exceeded all our expectations. The opportunity to explore the Australian bush also enabled strong camaraderie and relationship building, and the collaboration and problem solving encountered along the way all aid to build and foster long-term resilience.

“We have had fantastic feedback from both parents and participants, with parents telling us their children are still talking about the fantastic time they had. If these young people are our future, we are absolutely certain that we are in excellent hands.

“These opportunities make a huge difference for kids out west, and we are pleased to have been able to provide such trips, thanks to the assistance of our funding from Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network,” he said.

MPHN CEO Melissa Neal said drought is affecting many of the Murrumbidgee communities, and not just the farmers.

“The recent UNICEF Drought Report highlighted the impacts of prolonged drought on young people, often increasing stress levels and other adverse mental health outcomes among young people,” Ms Neal said.

“The Giz a Break program, does exactly that – it gives our young people a break from the day to day stresses in their lived and offers a unique opportunity to improve their resilience and forget about the drought and how it’s impacting on them and their families.

“I congratulate the Giz a Break team, their volunteers, and the Hay and Hillston communities for getting behind such a worthy program providing meaningful mental health and wellbeing supports for their young people,” she said.

The camping adventures are conducted by an experienced team over four days in the picturesque Victorian High Country where they hike, learn to fly fish and participate in activities to build their resilience and discuss strategies for helping their communities get through the drought. Two more adventures will be taken in early 2020.

If you would like further information on the adventures visit www.gizabreak.com.au or follow Giz a Break on Facebook and Instagram. Videos from the first and second camping adventures are also online.

MPHN’s Pitch Night supports innovative solutions to address community health needs around physical health and mental wellbeing. It will be returning in the first half of 2020. Read more about the 2019 Pitch night here.