A brighter space for youth
Dani Albert, (Youth Support from Skillsec), Darin Stewart and Christine McKamarao both from the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust, Kelly Linwood, (Unit Manager for Youth Speciality Services), Koryu Aoshima, (Artist), Nic Ellis, (RN at YSS) attend the mural's unveiling.
A stunning mural by an international street artist is brightening up a building and allowing youths to pause and reflect on what makes them unique.
Youth Specialty Services provides assessment and treatment for people between 14 to 18 and is based in Moray Place and comes under the umbrella of Health NZ Southern’s Child and Youth Mental Health Services.
For the past couple of years, a working group has been established to find ways to make the working environment more youth-focused and welcoming.
A successful grant from the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust meant the service could commission street artist Koryu Aoshima to create a mural in the waiting room.
Southern’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Unit Manager Kelly Linwood says the exciting thing about the mural is that it incorporates a lot of feedback they sought from different youths that use the service.
“We want to create a space that is reflective of their needs and values, and also to have a working environment that our staff enjoy”.
"We collated all the feedback and themes and gave them to Koryu to help inspire his creation and we hope that everyone will enjoy it,” Kelly says.
Koryu says receiving the diverse perspectives and messages from young people to be incorporated into the design was truly inspiring.
“Among the many great ideas, the one about the moon stood out the most. The moon can shine brightly when illuminated, but even in complete darkness it is always there.
“I found this idea to be a beautiful reflection of our ever-changing inner selves.”
On February 28 at 1pm, an official thank you event was held to show off the new mural.