Youth centres and loneliness

Who this is for

This project benefits the local government sector, and youth and young people across South Australia.

What's being delivered

• Co-designed set of principles to help councils better understand and respond to youth loneliness.
• Evaluation toolkit to support councils in designing and assessing youth programs and spaces.
• Research led by young peer researchers examining how youth centres and community spaces support social connection.
• New youth loneliness measurement scale to help councils better understand and evaluate loneliness among young people.

About the project

Loneliness among young people is an increasing concern in South Australia and around the world, with significant impacts on mental and physical wellbeing. Prior to this project, there was limited understanding of how young people experience loneliness, with most research focused on adults.

Recognising the important role community and youth spaces play in creating social connection, the project explored how local government can better design, deliver and evaluate programs that support young people.

The project focused on understanding the experiences of young people in youth centres and community settings and identifying practical ways councils can reduce loneliness and strengthen community connections.

Project delivery

The project successfully brought together young people, researchers and local government partners to co-design practical resources for councils.

Members of the South Australian Youth Forum were employed as peer researchers and worked alongside participants in youth programs within the City of Onkaparinga. This ensured young people's perspectives informed every stage of the project.

The project:

• developed a co-created set of principles for designing youth spaces and programs
• created a toolkit to help councils evaluate how youth spaces can address loneliness
• developed and validated a new youth loneliness survey tool
• reviewed the relevance and effectiveness of existing youth services and evaluation approaches
• produced a comprehensive final report and practical evaluation framework for councils.

Outcomes

The project delivered new evidence, tools and resources that will help councils better understand and address youth loneliness.

Key outcomes included:

• the development and validation of the Flinders Youth Loneliness Scale, a new evidence-based measure of loneliness specifically designed for young people
• an evaluation toolkit that enables councils to assess the impact of youth programs and community spaces on social connection and wellbeing
• greater understanding of how youth centres contribute to reducing loneliness by creating welcoming, inclusive and supportive environments
• meaningful youth participation through the engagement of peer researchers, ensuring young people's voices informed the research findings and recommendations
• practical guidance for local governments to design, improve and evaluate programs that strengthen social connection and reduce loneliness.

The project demonstrated that youth centres play a critical role in fostering belonging, connection and community participation among young people. It also highlighted the value of consistent evaluation approaches that enable councils to measure outcomes and continuously improve services.

The resources, tools and findings developed through the project will continue to support local governments in creating more connected communities and improving outcomes for young people into the future.

Project funding

This project is funded through the Local Government Research and Development Scheme.

This scheme allocates funding to projects that support the development of SA local government. Successful applicants are decided through an annual grant round.

Find out more

If you have any questions, please contact:

Mathilde Thorsen
Senior Projects and Grants Coordinator
Email: mathilde.thorsen@lga.sa.gov.au