Year 9 students Georgia Taylor and Meg Shaw saw a need for improved access to mental health support during a difficult period for young people throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

They are collaborating with staff at school to improve the well-being page on the school's website and promote it to students.

They are also working to organise in-school sessions with psychologists or Headspace for students on relevant topics, like Year 12 exam preparation, healthy friendships and motivation coming back to school.

"It is really hard to find our school psychologist and we wanted to make that accessible. Kids need help with mental health and stress as well," Meg said.

"Our overall goal is to make it easier for people to find the mental health page, for people to know more about how to get help and what the school offers in terms of well-being and mental health," Georgia said.

"Everyone has their own mental health struggles and everyone could benefit from something like this. We want everyone to be able to have a safe place to go to and be able to get more information and resources."

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Meg said she had talked with many friends who had struggled not knowing the school psychologist existed or how to book a session with them.

"We see how important it is to look after ourselves and our mental health and well-being," she said.

"We want everyone to see how important that is. If you have bad mental health it affects a lot of things in your life, your relationships and school life."

"It is not always visible to other people. You usually have to start dealing with it yourself unless you get help so this should make it easier," Georgia said.

"We hope it will have a positive impact and give people strategies and ways to cope with different situations."

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Meg and Georgia surveyed the Year 9 cohort and found the coronavirus pandemic was a big strain on students' mental health and well-being.

Meg and Georgia said going in and out of lockdowns had taken a toll on a lot of students.

"A lot of my friends will show up to Zooms but just can't find any strength to do any of the work," Meg said.

"We want to minimise the stress for people coming back into school."

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Meg and Georgia have been working together on their project through the Crazy Ideas College program.

The program encourages students to identify and issue and brainstorm ideas on how to address the issue, before bringing their ideas to life.

Student ideas were showcased through a two week walking tour with posters of student ideas in Ballarat businesses earlier this month.

Other student projects include a Ballarat Pride weekend to promote LGBTIQ+ inclusiveness and an education campaign to reduce plastic waste.

The Courier will continue to feature student projects.

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