Growing Beyond Mental Illness is a free information evening for all parents and teens who would like to receive advice from a panel of professionals on how to deal with mental illness as a teenager and how to live a meaningful life.

Guest speaker, Jesse Rowan, will talk about her journey as a teenager dealing with a mental illness and offer valuable insights into building a healthy and happy life.

"Being diagnosed with a mental illness in your teen years may seem earth shattering, but there’s always room to grow beyond the confines of a mental health disorder,” Ms Rowan says.

“It was a challenging time managing my severe mental illness as a teenager, but I learned to live alongside my diagnosis to build a meaningful life and I would like to empower other people to do the same.” 

“Mental illness in teenagers is a growing concern; in the 2016 Mission Australia Annual Youth Survey, mental health was listed in the top three national health issues for young people,” Russell Ingram, MidCoast Council’s community strengthening officer says.

“More education and community support on how to effectively deal with these illnesses is needed and events like this are extremely beneficial to parents and teens”.

This information evening is a fantastic opportunity to come together as a community and to provide valuable information and resources to parents with teens.

It also helps to breakdown the stigma attached to mental illness by providing an open forum to talk about managing mental health and living healthier, happier lives.  

If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP Russell Ingram on 6592 5338 or visit the Manning Youth Facebook page to join the event.