In an effort to further amplify the voices of young people, youth mental health charity batyr has revealed the formation of its Data & Insights and Global Impact teams. Ultimately, batyr wants to achieve better mental health outcomes for young people through sharing learnings, not just in Australia, but internationally.

“Sharing real stories from real young people is incredibly powerful in decreasing stigma and improving attitudes towards help-seeking, and we have seen this impact through our peer-to-peer programs that have reached almost 300,000 young people since 2011,” batyr Head of Data and Insights Joshua Wiseman said.

“Giving a platform to these experiences has allowed us to improve and evolve our programs, as well as partner with researchers to conduct a number of studies to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact we are having, and to listen on a deeper level to what young people are saying,” Wiseman said.

Wiseman explained that qualitative data isn’t as sourced in the preventative and early intervention space, and the perspectives of young people are critical in the funding, development and implementation of youth mental health services in Australia, and the rest of the world.

“The new Data and Insights team will allow batyr to elevate how we acquire and utilise these insights from the nearly 200,000 young people we have surveyed, truly amplifying their voices and informing research projects, policy, decision-makers and service providers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Global Impact team will be taking learnings to a whole new level. Stephanie Vasiliou, Head of the Global Impact team shared: “we have become leaders and experts in sharing lived experience across Australia. The Global Impact team will allow us to focus on bridging expertise internationally to ensure that we are informed by and are informing best practice globally.”

The teams will include dedicated staff focused on research, advocacy, project management, fieldwork and, most importantly, engaging with young people. The addition of skills and experience in digital technology will also drive forward batyr’s first and yet-to-be-released, storytelling platform, OurHerd.

“Knowledge-sharing and forging strong partnerships globally will allow batyr to bring valuable expertise to Australia and the work we do, evolving our research, advocacy and the innovative ways of creating a cultural shift around mental health,” Vasiliou said.

“batyr now has the capacity to play a bigger role in working with the sector and strengthening the great work happening at a policy level so decision-makers hear directly from the source about what is impacting young people, and what government and service providers can do to address these challenges,” she said.