Strengthening youth mental health in North Queensland with 'Break it Down'
‘Break it Down’ is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth mental health literacy program that is breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health; including grief, trauma and substance addiction.
The Break it Down program was funded by the North Queensland Primary Health Network (NQ PHN), and run in five North Queensland communities by Desert Pea Media.
NQ PHN approached Hitnet to distribute these co-created resources to remote, hard to reach North Queensland communities.
‘Break it Down’ on the Hitnet Hub content ribbon
Through our content services, we reshaped the 15 video stories from five communities into an interactive multimedia channel for the Hitnet Hubs in North Queensland and the Hitnet app.
We worked with local radio personality Mattie, from Bumma Bippera Media in Cairns, to record the audio, lending a local voice to the content.
Hitnet’s graphic designer, James Olsen, adapted the beautiful NQ PHN Reconciliation Artwork to form the eye-catching interactive graphics.
The channel was distributed to all 15 of the North Queensland Hitnet Hubs.
‘Break it Down’ main menu on the Hitnet Hubs
What was the impact?
The Break it Down channel has been actively engaged with over 400 times in the past nine months. The most popular video stories viewed are from the two Hitnet Hub communities of Lockhart River and Thursday Island. The channel is gaining the most use at Weipa Hospital, with over 100 purposeful uses.
Importantly and suitably, the channel is most viewed by teenagers with young men engaging with the content slightly more.
By equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to understand mental health, we hope this content will create meaningful, long term change in North Queensland communities.
‘Break it Down’ Lockhart River stories on the Hitnet Hub channel