Dungog's first youth forum a success

The idea for the forum came with the anniversary of the tragic deaths of two young residents - events that shook Dungog, according to chamber president Therese McIntyre.

"It's a sad reason that inspired it, those two suicides, it's their anniversary around now," she said.

"[Dungog High School's principal] Stephen Harper got up and spoke first and it gave me goosebumps because that sort of thing shouldn't happen.

"In a community this size we shouldn't have two young suicides."

Taking place on Monday, March 25, the forum drew over 85 people to Clarence Town Bowling Club.

Representatives from the Port Stephens Hunter Police district attended, providing advice as to how to engage with this sort of conversation.

Ms McIntyre said police were blown away by the interest in addressing the issue of disengaged youth.

"It's great to have senior police representation because they took time out of their lives to be there," she said.

"We had quite a few young people. Looking around the room there might have been 12."

Speaking with the police regarding the issue of youth disengagement, Ms McIntyre said that the message was that although the crime rate is not high it is important to address the issue early.

"He also said to see so many members of the community attending the event blew them away, they were expecting about15 people," she said.

Throughout the forum a number of statistics were raised to help identify what the issue may be.

Ms McIntyre said that the town is growing at a rate of 2% per year with people under 15 years old making up 20% of the population. The biggest demographic is adults aged 35 to 39.

"What's that telling you? We've got young adults who are going to have children so the issue is only going to grow if we don't address it now," she said.

One of the key points of discussion of the forum was the need for spaces for young people to go and socialise.