Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

New guide for teenagers

The Health and Aged Care Minister, Rob Knowles has launched a booklet, Adolescent Health and Well Being: A Guide to Effective Coping, for the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre.

The aim of the guide is to give parents, young people and the community a general understanding of the relationship between emotional effectiveness and coping with the stresses of life.

The book looks at the experiences of teenagers and why some find it difficult to cope. It teaches skills and provides ways of coping.

Over the last 30 years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of young people, particularly males taking, or attempting to take their own lives.

Although the suicide rate in Australia has declined for most age groups, those aged over 80 and young men aged 15 to 24 are still high-risk groups.

In Victoria, about 100 young people kill themselves every year, most of them between 15 and 24 years of age.

The guide is written in easy-to-read language and provides strategies on skill development to improve adolescent wellbeing.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, June 17, 1999)