Northern Rivers Disaster Recovery and Future Preparedness Roundtable and Report

Image: Participants at the 2023 Youth Led Disaster Recovery and Future Preparedness Roundtable in the Northern Rivers

The roundtable event was an amazing evening and attendees were privileged to hear from an incredible group of young people who so generously shared with us their experiences and ideas on what young people need in both recovery from natural disasters and preparation for future events. Key things that young people shared with us included:

• Young people want to make an active contribution to disaster recovery and preparedness efforts. 
  In the 2017 and 2022 flooding events, young people felt as though they were not considered  in recovery responses and not seen as having important skills to offer their communities. They want to be involved in youth led recovery responses to support the recovery and preparedness efforts in their community. This needs to be centrally coordinated and include training for young people, capacity building activities and be truly youth led, with the support of adult allies.
  
  
• Young people need greater access to flexible, face to face, youth friendly mental health support.
  Limited access to school counsellors and other mental health professionals alongside significant transport barriers in the Northern Rivers is impacting on the wellbeing of young people. Telehealth appointments aren’t always found to be youth friendly and young people, particularly those living in pod villages, can experience barriers to reliable internet access. Young people must be supported and resourced to be able to effectively connect with mental health support in their communities which includes the provision of greater public transport options in the Northern Rivers.
  
  
• Disaster recovery responses, including the establishment of evacuation centres and pod villages, should be better designed in future to include the unique needs of children and young people. 
  Evacuation centres and emergency responses must be designed with the safety of children and young people as the foundation. Young people believe these centres and responses not only need to be more youth friendly, but more accessible to people living with a disability, people in the LGTBQI+ community and to people experiencing mental health concerns. Young people want to be consulted in the development of recovery responses in preparation for future disaster events and be seen as subject matter experts from their own lived experience.
  
  
• Young people want the education curriculum to be formally updated to include disaster recovery, preparedness planning, climate change and independent living skills. 
  The current education curriculum is not meeting the needs of young people living in disaster affected communities. Young people want to see the education curriculum updated to include important topics such as independent living skills and financial literacy, disaster recovery, preparedness planning and climate change. Young people believe schools also need greater support in disaster recovery responses, and that teachers and Principals shouldn’t be relied upon to solely lead recovery efforts at schools.

It was very important to us to include the voices of children aged under 13 years in this event. We had the opportunity to consult with younger children living at Coraki and Wardell pod villages.

Find out what they had to say in the video below:

Young leader Ruby Hill shared with us her experience of being involved in the facilitation of this powerful event

‘A member from ACYP’s Recovery Youth Support Services team had been attending our local youth drop-ins and proposed that I help out at the event. It was a bit daunting to be approached with the role but was overtaken by the excitement of being part of a larger youth consultation. As a coordinator for our local Youth Advisory Council, it was a great skills development opportunity!

My key takeaway from the event, was the necessary and often overlooked part that young people have in government spaces. Young people, alongside other demographics, are on the frontline of change and disaster and miss out on being approached for their opinions and help. Watching so many youth come together and share their experiences so fiercely, demonstrated the absolute absurdity and contradicting nature of not seeking their guidance in the discussions that affect us.

I hope that the government allows youth to take a more active role in the changes and the approaches to disaster preparedness/recovery, and every other topic that has a flow on affect onto our youth. This roundtable event showed the potential for gauging a comprehensive response to traumatic and interconnected issues that youth are facing; such as housing, cost of living etc.

ACYP created such an incredible and welcoming space for the Roundtable Event. The flow of the night and focus on allowing young people to have a voice was so greatly valued. Being able to witness the connectivity and knowledge sharing between youth and representatives was a personal highlight. I look forward to the next youth consultation!

ACYP’s Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Report: ‘Voices of children and young people in the Northern Rivers’ captures the thoughts, views and ideas that young people generously shared with us at the Roundtable event. This report features a number of recommendations that were co-designed with young people on how disaster recovery and future preparedness responses can better meet the needs of all children and young people in NSW.’