Dr Jane attended the Youth Health Conference last week in Melbourne. This was sponsered by the Australian Association of Adolescent Health. The delegates included a mix of doctors, nurses, social workers , psychologists , teachers and academics from Australia and Overseas.

Dr Jane , Melissa Blake and Damian Collins presented the Colloboration of the Junction HUB project. Medical student Kaitlin Duell presented her findings from her research in to Youth Friendliness of local GP practices. The 4th year medical students , presented a poster outlining the infomation they gained from their interviews with the Don College students about what they feltconsituted youth friendlyhealth care. All presentations were received with great enthusiasm.

There weremany gems gained from this confernece:

1. Young people from the Youth Health Forum, passionate about their own health care and wanting to have a voice in the process.

2. Use of online tools and social media to empower young people to manage their health. There is evidence based research that now proves that early intervention can lead to better longterm health and well-being.

3. Outline of the evidence based benefitof Family Based Therapy at the Royal Children's Hospitalin Melbourne totreateating disorders.

4. Emerging issues and rights for young people with transgender issues.

5. The importance of establishing and strengtheninglinks between education and health sectors.

6. The importance of the 'middle years', ages 8-11 , when mental health issues can begin to emerge.

7. The establishment of a national framework for children and young people to help establish policy relevant to young people.

I met some great people, working hard to support the next generation. Don Medical Clinic is leading the way with some creative and innovative programs.