• Rural Womens Network
• Tai Chi
• Social Gathering For Bushfire Affected Community Members
• Whittlesea Get Together
• Donated Horse Gear
• Thesis on post-disaster planning
• Free Photography projects
• Bushfire Memorials Update
• Free firewood available for fire affected people from Wallan Transfer Station
• Mental Health First Aid Course
• Environmental Management Funding
• WTC Wharf Gallery Opportunity
• Cello Donation
• Website for bushfire affected youth

Website for bushfire affected youth

Can you help? Do you have some ideas for a new website for young people affected by the bushfires?

‘Your Bushfire Space'  is a project that aims to provide online support to young people who have been affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires both directly and indirectly, with a focus on mental health and emotional wellbeing.    The key features of the site are :

• Bushfire stories - place for young people to share their experiences of the fire and their recovery
• Clinical support - mental health clinician will review all stories and emails submitted and provide appropriate clinical response/information
• Factsheets - information on coping with and recovering from the 2009 Victorian bushfires for young people and workers
• Noticeboard - place for young people to write short comments about the recovery effort, what has helped etc
• Links to support - range of links to key bushfire information
• Question & Answer - service by which young people can write questions and get answers from a mental health professional
• and Peer forum - moderated forums will be held on a regular basis inviting young people to talk amongst themselves about their experiences and share ideas/tips about their recovery

Many of these features will be available when the site launches in the first week of February, with others coming online soon after. 

So, my questions to you are: 

• 1. Are there any key issues that you are experiencing in the community that should be covered in this type of online support?
• 2. Do you know of any young people who would like to tell their bushfire story for us to then post online. As with the headspace website, we expect young people will submit their stories over time however we would really like to have some online as the site goes live. The focus of the stories is about the bushfire experience and then recovery, what helps etc

If you have any suggestions or know how I may be able to talk to young people about sharing their story please contact me on the details below.  Much thanks

Heather Miller

Clinical & Project Coordinator - Bushfire Portal

Tel +61 3 9027 0119   Fax +61 3 9027 0199  
mailto:msidey@headspace.org.au