Our mission

Our mission is to protect and promote the health and well-being of young people in NSW by partnering with health care, non-government, education, academic, community and advocacy bodies to ensure better adolescent health outcomes.

Who we are

The New South Wales Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health (NSW CAAH) is funded by NSW Health.

In partnership with NSW Health and other sectoral stakeholders the Centre seeks to improve the health and well-being of young people aged 12-24 in NSW.

Our key focus areas

CAAH aims to improve young people's health by:

Developing information and resources to increase knowledge and understanding of youth health issues

Provide information and referral services to service providers, government departments, media, and the general public
Transform research findings into user-friendly information resources
Build the capacity of CAAH's website

Capacity building to increase organisational skills and confidence in addressing young people's health needs

Host forums, workshops and seminars for service providers and facilitate networking opportunities
Design and provide specific training/capacity building programs
Identifying opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of GP youth health training and access initiatives
Support education and training of health professionals about youth health issues

Supporting applied research and promoting better practice in youth health care

Undertaking applied research into youth health issues
Providing technical support for youth health research and programming
Promote evidence-based models of care for young people
Contribute to initiatives to improve health outcomes for at-risk young people

Supporting advocacy and policy development to increase leadership and action for adolescent health

Promote adolescent health issues through media and public events
Provide input into government/ NGO/ private sector policy development
Maintaining active participation in youth services networks and developing strategic relationships with cross-sectoral partners
Provide recommendations to NSW Health, other government departments and service providers on improving young people's access to health services

Our services

Developing resources
Do you have an innovative program concerning young people's health you'd like to share with others? We can assist services to plan and write user-friendly training manuals and other resources so that their programs can be replicated in other organisations and areas across NSW. We can provide guidance with evaluation, production and dissemination strategies.

Professional development
Want to improve knowledge and skills on how to work effectively with adolescents? We can provide presentations and workshops on a variety of topics relating to young peoples' health. We can also assist you to develop your own training programs.

Is there an issue you'd like to see featured in our youth health forums? Write to us!

Applied research
Thinking of doing a research project or needs assessment involving young people? We can assist by linking you with research tools and guidelines as well as provide advice to ensure that your process goes smoothly from beginning to end. We can also provide examples of participatory tools and activities for involving young people.

Want to design a project? It's always good to have somebody external look over a project with fresh eyes! Our commitment to health promotion and a public health approach means we'll always be helping projects work out sustainability, advocacy and integration issues. We can provide planning, monitoring and evaluation support for projects focusing on young people's health and wellbeing.

Advocacy and policy development
CAAH works with NSW Health to provide advisory support, participating in policy committees and advocacy working groups. Clinical Professor David Bennett also regularly advocates in the media for an increased awareness of, and investment in, the issues affecting young people's health. Contact us for further information.

What we believe in

A holistic approach to young people's health that focuses on wellbeing

We believe that good health and wellbeing relies on being well in every sense - physically, emotionally, sexually, mentally, socially and spiritually - not just an absence of illness.
We will focus on the young person we are working with, not the symptoms they present.
We strive to learn about and understand each young person's world and how their bigger picture impacts on their health and wellbeing.
We believe services can be flexible and that interventions can be tailored to the needs of disadvantaged and at risk young people.

Young people

We see young people as valuable members of the community with important contributions to make now and in the future.
We can learn important things from young people, their experiences and their ideas about how we can do things better.
We believe in building the capacity of young people to participate in actions and decisions about their own health and wellbeing.
We are committed to supporting young people to develop in healthy ways.

Strength-based approaches

We are committed to positive youth development and approaches that build young people up.
We believe that all young people have strengths, talents and abilities that - when fostered - to achieve their goals.
We believe in building the capacity of families and communities to support young people's development.

Social justice

We believe all young people have the right to access comprehensive health care.
We are committed to reducing inequities in health outcomes for disadvantaged young people or young people at risk of poorer outcomes.
Our health services show respect for diversity in all its forms and value the contribution diversity makes to the community.

Creativity and innovative ideas

We embrace sparkling ideas about how we can do things better.
We encourage health services to be creative in their approaches to working collaboratively with young people.
We believe that from little things, big things grow.