Students from 10 high schools across Perth’s northern suburbs, along with a number of community leaders, recently participated in a forum on issues affecting youth hosted by Sacred Heart College in Sorrento.

The forum aimed to give young people an opportunity to discuss their challenges and experiences with peers as well as stakeholders and decision makers including Colin Pettit, Commissioner for Children and Young People, David Axworthy, Assistant Commissioner Western Australian Mental Health Commission, and Paul Steel, Assistant Commissioner, Western Australia Police, Dr Chris Kueh and Dr Mandie Shean from Edith Cowan University, and Nigel Calver, Executive Manager of CentreCare and Marie Slattery, Convenor of the Valuing Children Initiative.

Senior students from Sacred Heart who had been involved in coordinating the event helped to foster group discussions and take notes, with groups of Year 8-12 students from the Australian Islamic College, Edmund Rice College, Irene McCormack Catholic College, Prendiville Catholic College, Servite College, Girrawheen Senior High School, and John Septimus Roe, Peter Moyes and St Mark’s Anglican Community Schools taking part.

The idea for the forum came about after Sacred Heart College students attended a round table discussion on youth issues with then Commissioner of WA Police, Karl O’Callaghan, at the Catholic Education Centre in Leederville in 2016.

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