Youth Mental Health Fellowships

Youth Mental Health Fellowships

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Orygen Global, in partnership with the Australian Government, launched the ASEAN-Australia Youth Mental Health Fellowships in 2022. 

The Fellowship program is for young people aged 18 to 30 from Australia or any ASEAN country who are passionate about youth mental health and want to create change in the mental health landscape in their respective countries.

To date, two ASEAN-Australia Youth Mental Health Fellowships have been conducted: October 2022 to April 2023 and August to December 2023.

Applications for the latest group of Fellowships closed on 5 February 2024.

The process for appointment of the Fellows will be conducted during February and March 2024. Should you have a specific query with respect to your application, please email us at [email protected].

The program has been established to build the capacity, skills and voices of young people to create positive change in mental health awareness, policy and systems reform. The program also supports participants to further develop their youth mental health project plan designed around the needs of their communities. The program runs for five months and is comprised of weekly online sessions and additional mentoring opportunities. 

The program consists of five modes of learning.

1. Education modules are a core part of the Fellowship and provide the platform to develop knowledge and insights for mental health advocacy. The modules are composed of lectures, panel discussions and practical workshops. The modules build on each other and include a strong emphasis on interaction between Fellows. The modules follow the Global Youth Mental Health Advocacy Toolkit which was developed by Orygen in 2020 as part of the global youth mental health partnership project with the World Economic Forum.

Module 1:  Defining mental ill-health, advocacy and personal development.
Module 2:  Safety in advocacy and sharing your personal mental health story.
Module 3:  Preparing for advocacy and developing a proposal for change.
Module 4:  Doing advocacy part 1: public speaking, policy and fundraising. 
Module 5:  Doing advocacy part 2: media and responding to risk.
Module 6:  After advocacy, creating sustainable change.

2. Expert mentoring is used to help Fellows develop skills and expertise tailored to their learning needs. Expert mentoring also encourages the Fellow to explore the resources and networks to enact their proposal for change. Each Fellow will be assigned their own expert mentor who they’ll meet with monthly. These sessions are designed to be dynamic, personal and informal. 

3. Peer mentoring is an invaluable opportunity for the Fellows to provide each other with strategic and emotional support. Fellows from diverse backgrounds and geographical areas will be paired together and will meet monthly.

4. Contact with leaders in global youth mental health. Beyond the impact of implementing their own proposal for change, Fellows will be able to network with international leaders in youth mental health.

5. Contribution. A key component of the program is experiential learning which allows fellows to engage with the established work of Orygen.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants are required to meet the following criteria:

  • Aged 18 to 30 years of age at the time of application;
  • Self-identify as having lived experience of mental ill-health, which can be personal experience or through family members or friends, or have a specific interest or skill in youth mental health;
  • Are from Australia or any ASEAN country (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam);
  • Are interested in changing your community’s policies or practices to create change in youth mental health; and,
  • Have a clearly defined challenge related to youth mental health that you wish to address with a viable advocacy plan.

ASEAN-Australia Youth Mental Health Fellowship: October 2022 to April 2023

Peosamnang Soth

Pursat, Cambodia

Giang Nguyen

Hanoi, Vietnam

Katrina

Manila, Philippines

Anna Souvannalath

Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR

Natalia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Isabelle Shaw

Sydney, Australia

Panupong Boontongchuay

Bangkok, Thailand

Ngan Nguyen

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Salav Oul

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Zulfan

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Anis Farid

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Global youth mental health advocacy fellowships

The Global Youth Mental Health Advocacy Fellowships are not currently available. Two Fellowship programs for young people from around the globe have been conducted, in 2021 and 2022. The program operated with the same modes of learning as that of the ASEAN-Australia Youth Mental Health Fellowships.

Case studies

Read about what past Fellows have achieved through their participation in the program:

Global Youth Mental Health Advocacy Fellowship: May - November 2021

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