Swept Under the Carpet: a Community Initiative to Youth Mental Health (IN: Preventing Youth Suicide: Proceedings of a Conference Held 24-26 July 1990, edited by S McKillop)

This paper discusses the Youth Mental Health Project initiated by the National Youth Council in New Zealand. The main stimulus for the project was the steadily increasing rate of suicides & parasuicides among young people. The main formal activities the project undertook were in communications, production of resource materials, & training. Some of the issues encountered during the 14 months of the project are discussed. It is concluded the whole area of youth mental health needs to be addressed more seriously both in terms of the provision of services & the model on which mental health promotion is based. (6 refs.)