New funding to help bridge gaps for young people in south-west Victoria

For Jordy Gray, barriers that come to mind living in the far south-west of Victoria are lack of public transport, poor internet access and a lack of available walk-in mental health services.

She's excited to be part of a new rural place-based program through the Moyne Shire Council, helping young people aged 15 to 25 living in the region.

"Distance and physical accessibility, as well as social connections, can be really tricky if you're not a sport-based person," she said. "There's not quite as many opportunities so hopefully we can try to bridge the gap out here."

The 19-year-old will provide a youth perspective on what's needed in the south-west.

It's an initiative in partnership with VicHealth's The Big Connect program, with $244,410 in funding to roll out in Moyne, Glenelg and Southern Grampians shires.

Over 18 months the councils will deliver the program, providing opportunities for social connection through place-based programs and hands-on learning in small rural towns leveraging off local industry expertise and regional community service partnerships.

"I think its really good they are wanting to address the needs and issues of young people by actually listening to young people in the community," Ms Gray said.

"It's very exciting and hopefully very beneficial to reduce barriers for young people in smaller rural areas."

Ms Gray is the chairperson of Moyne NextGen, a new youth engagement program in the shire, and has spoken at forums like Youth Parliament about mental health and agriculture.

"I've always been someone who is very passionate about social justice and community services, and I've done a lot relating to advocacy and spreading awareness for people in rural areas," she said.

"I'm definitely passionate about giving people a fair playing field, there needs to be more access here where distance is a problem and you could be travelling over an hour for specialist appointments.

"In COVID lockdowns many young people in remote learning didn't have stable access to internet which impacted their entire schooling and education.

"Accessibility is a very apparent issue."

Being raised on a dairy farm in Garvoc meant extra-curricular activities were harder to get to for Tim Reesink.

"We would go to Terang for things like swimming lessons or tennis or youth group, there was nothing that really happened where we lived. We had to travel even for weekly shopping," he said.

The 20-year-old is on the Moyne Shire Youth Council and is excited to be part of the program, especially emerging from COVID-19 lockdowns.

"There were lots of good things growing up in regional Victoria but also challenges as well," he said.

"Distance is a really big one - if you want to go and be involved in things it takes longer to travel - and things like fuel prices and bad roads certainly add to the challenges.

"Through COVID a lot of things were done online which was great and I'm thankful for that technology but it's not the same. I didn't realise how much I had missed out on social connections and how much COVID changed things. A program to help get people connected and getting out is really helpful."

He's especially looking forward to the mental health first-aid training.

"That will be key coming out of COVID - a lot of young people are struggling," Mr Reesink said.

"Losing the last two years because of COVID really negatively impacted people's mental health and social media more broadly - spending so long online does lead to consequences that aren't always helpful or healthy.

"I think training for that will be really important."

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