Local builder Darren Wooding knows what it is like to struggle with poor mental health and he is on a mission to help our youth overcome their own battles by finding connection, hope and purpose in life.

In September last year, Darren founded The Youth Shed, a mentoring program aimed at helping young people aged 12-25 who might be showing signs of disconnection and loneliness.

“I came up with the idea for The Youth Shed in hopes of having a space where young people can come and be themselves and connect with each other. Where there is no pressure on them. There is no judgement. They are safe. They can do activities together, connect with kids within the community, open them up to what’s in their community and feel like they belong to our Orange community,” said Darren.

Based out of the Youth Hub in Glenroi, Darren spent ten weeks with a - mostly - regular group of young people teaching them woodworking and other life skills. The results, he said, have inspired him to push on and expand the program.

“Council gave me a spot every Friday up at the Youth Hub to do some activities with kids and we’d do a bit of woodworking and the kids would take that home and just by doing that two hours a week, the kids opened up a lot. They felt proud of themselves, their family were proud of them, they got a good feeling out of doing it and a lot of them have already been contacting us asking when we’ll be starting again,” he said.

“Just by running that small program showed us that the kids took to it really well; they interacted with the adults really well, we all communicated well, it was a really good program and the kids got a lot out of it. They learned a little bit, but the biggest thing was they did something for themselves and they felt good about themselves.”

The inspiration for The Youth Shed came from the idea of ‘social prescribing’, a way of improving overall health and well-being by ‘prescribing’ non-medical activities, such as joining a health or fitness group, a social club, community garden or volunteering.

“It is pretty simple; it is just connecting people with each other,” said Darren. “What they’ve found is the more we are connected through technology the less we are. We are not getting that face-to-face, the hand shaking, we are not smiling at each other. We are losing that and it’s contributing to poor mental health.”

Darren has struggled with his own mental health in the past, even to the point of contemplating suicide. Having been helped through that, he is now passionate about doing the same for others. 

“I fought suicide and I went through the battles and I went through getting better, so it is very close to my heart,” said Darren, who also volunteers with Lifeline.

“I know how dark it can get for people and to know that a young person is at that point really hurts me, it really hits close to home.

“There are younger people who may feel like they don’t have people to talk to, or feel like the world is against them and they are not sure of what to do or where to go. That’s why I want to make a safe space with them to talk openly. I have had that. I was hospitalised. I’ve been through all the psychiatrists, psychologists and I’ve come out the other side and I’m lucky and blessed and I just want to provide some hope for young people — that is a big drive for why I’m doing this.”

But for The Youth Shed to really grow and expand its activities, they really need a shed of their very own.

“As much as the Youth Hub in Garema Road has been good to us, we probably really do need something a little more permanent where our tools are set up and our work benches are set up and we don’t have to do that every time,” said Darren, who is hoping someone in the community might be able to help The Youth Shed find a new home.

“We would love a shed or a building of our own which we can operate daily and have a lot more activities and a lot more community engagement and input as well. We have Mission Australia, VERTO, we have Council, the Department of Communities and Justice who are all interested in our program and would like to send kids to us, but we’ve just got to take that next step and get our own building.

“Any type of building would be fine. I’d love a little bit of a yard, so we could have a community garden and I would love to have a workshop set up, maybe a coffee machine set up to teach kids making coffee, but I’m not too concerned... I’d just love to get it started!”

If you can help Darren find a suitable premises, he can be reached through The Youth Shed’s Facebook page.