Our Home Holiday Town
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Our Home Holiday Town is presented as a continuous 60 minute performance.
Overview of contents
Our Home Holiday Town is a 60 minute performance by 12, senior members of Byron Youth Theatre and one 12 year old member of the junior troupe.
It contains fourteen short scenes which explore different issues around life in New South Wales most popular coastal resort.
Recommended viewing age is 14+
The content has the potential to trigger people experiencing mental health issues and we advise teachers to check all materials before sharing with their students and be ready to support any student who may need help.
These scenes were devised BY young people FOR young people in an extensive research and development process created by Byron Youth Theatre.
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The Byron Youth Theatre (BYT) gave a stunning performance at the Youth Health Conference, held at Surfers Paradise 7-9th November 2018. An audience of over 200 health professionals from around Australia were held in thrall as this talented group of young people portrayed - through choreographed drama and dance - an entire gamut of issues related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health. With authenticity, subtle humour and no holds barred, they made a thought-provoking contribution to a professional event that will be long remembered.
Clinical Professor David Bennett AO Senior Staff Specialist in Adolescent Medicine, Sydney Children's Hospital Network Member, Child and Family Advisory Council, NSW Health
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Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.
Sir Ken Robinson
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Entertaining and compelling! A must-see for anyone wanting to create a better future for our young people.
Me, Myself and Mind is a powerful performance from Byron Youth Theatre that graphically portrays the mental health challenges young people face in navigating the journey of adolescence in a world beset by the crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
It is a timely and significant performance given that Professor Patrick McGorry, Australia’s leading youth Psychiatrist has just described the deepening mental health crisis arising from COVID-19, especially among young people, as the “shadow pandemic”. Mental health problems affect more than 1 in 4 young people. A 2020 national survey conducted by Headspace found that a third of young Australians reported high or very high levels of distress.
Through a series of riveting and engaging scenes, the young actors graphically portray the doubts, emotional uncertainty and confusion that beset young people in terms of their developing identity, relationships, body image and sexuality. It underscores the sense of loneliness, alienation and despair that so many young people experience which is unfortunately linked to the disturbing fact that suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–24 years (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare).
It is also a stinging rebuke of our health and social systems which all too often fail to adequately recognize and respond to young peoples’ needs.
Ultimately though, the performance provides a message of hope and inspiration as the actors poignantly convey the importance of connection, understanding, empathy and emotional support as pathways to wellbeing.
Peter Chown. Psychologist.
Consultant, NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health
Specialist Trainer, Headspace
Ambassador, Uplifting Australia
Peter Chown. Psychologist.