In global youth mental health, strength and change will come from unified and coordinated efforts. That’s why Orygen Global works closely with different types of organisations around the world to promote mental health in young people. Collaboration, not competition, is key in this global space.
Orygen Global has begun working with Waves for Change (W4C), a community-based organisation providing evidence-based surf therapy for young people in South Africa.
With its youth living in communities where they experience an average of eight traumatic events – such as being subjected to violence or living in poverty – W4C have identified the power of community-building and mastering skills (in this case, surfing and meditation) as critical to development and well-being.
Orygen Global is working with W4C to develop tools to measure and evaluate the “active ingredients” for youth mental health that work in this setting, and to develop an advocacy strategy that makes sense in South Africa.
Significantly, Orygen Global will work in partnership with W4C to help implement culturally appropriate supports for young people, working with youth peer workers through local community groups and mentors that have been endorsed by young people locally."
"The partnership between Waves for Change and Orygen Global is a game-changer in helping raise awareness on community interventions for mental health and for the implementation of tools such as the Global Advocacy Toolkit. With the Orygen Global team we feel like we have come home: we’re standing in the company of old friends pushing each other and the mental health conversation to the realisation of its fullest potential. Thank you Orygen Global for your passion, vision and insight."
-Aviwe Funani, Programme, Policy and Advocacy Manager, Waves for Change; World Economic Forum Global Shaper; Member of Orygen Global Advisory Council. Cape Town, South Africa.