Anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide are rising among young people, and everyone has a theory about why. Australian journalist and mother Shannon Harvey went looking for the real answer.
Her search takes her around the world, from early childhood programs in Boston to trauma-informed schools in Nashville, from community hubs in Detroit to remote Himalayan villages in Nepal, and to schools in Adelaide rewriting the rules on technology and online safety.
What she finds is radical and hopeful. Mental illness is not inevitable. When protective factors like safety, connection and stable relationships outweigh the risks, children’s outcomes change, even in the hardest conditions.
Which means the question was never what is wrong with our children. It is what is wrong with the world around them, and what we are prepared to do about it.
The Campaign
Raising Superheroes shows that preventing mental illness is possible. 5% for Prevention is how we make it happen.
Half of all mental illness begins before the age of 14. In Raising Superheroes, Shannon Harvey sets out to discover whether it has to be that way. She meets the scientists, teachers, families and communities showing that it doesn’t. When we change the conditions children grow up in, at home, at school and in their communities, fewer of them go on to
struggle
So why isn’t Australia doing more of it? Right now, less than 1% of the federal mental health budget goes to prevention. Nearly every dollar arrives after a young person is already unwell.
5% for Prevention calls on the federal government to lift that to at least 5%. That means growing the overall budget, not cutting the services people rely on today.
The public is already on board. 80% of Australians say prevention should be a top-three government priority. And we’ve done this before. Prevention helped cut cancer deaths by 27% and cardiovascular disease by 47% over 20 years. Mental health deserves the same approach.
In the film, Shannon asks one of Australia’s leading paediatricians why “they” don’t fix this. His answer: there is no they. Change happens when enough of us ask for it. Every screening, every signature and every letter to an MP builds the case ahead of the May 2027 federal budget.
of mental illness begins before the age of 14
begins before age 24
young Australians report high or very high psychological distress
Less than 1% of the federal mental health budget goes to prevention
of Australians say prevention should be a top-three government priority
Streaming for free
Coming soon to
Bring Raising Superheroes to your community. Free screenings are available for schools, workplaces and community groups across Australia until March 2027.
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