Promoting health and wellbeing through climbing.

Goat Climbing aims to:

• Provide programs addressing mental health, crime prevention, behavioural change and climbing as a therapeutic tool.

• Promote physical fitness, mental health, and encourage a healthy and active lifestyle within the community.

To achieve this, we will work with the local community to co-design the Goat Climbing program to provide an effective vehicle through which personal and social development in young people can be positively affected.

Deliver therapeutic climbing sessions, led by qualified climbing instructors, to infuse evidence-based strategies to reduce anxiety and support wellbeing. Programs that specifically cater to young neurodiverse people and those experiencing poor mental health.

• Therapeutic climbing has been shown in randomised clinical trials, such as Luttenberger et al, BMC Psychiatry (2015) to offer an effective treatment for depression. There is also evidence that climbing therapy can be effective for reducing symptoms of depression Stelzer et al, Heliyon (2018).

Facilitate activities to engage and support mental health workers and community leaders, building their capacity to support young people and their families.

Actively engage populations who have historically been prevented from equal access to opportunities and may benefit from our service offerings.

Why young people?

Summarised in a report published in September 2024, mental ill health, which has been the leading health and social issue impacting the lives and futures of young people for decades, has entered a dangerous phase.

Accumulating research evidence indicates that in many countries, the mental health of emerging adults has been declining steadily over the past two decades. This alarming trend signals a warning that global megatrends and changes in many societies around the world in the past two decades have harmed the mental health of young people and increased mental ill health among them.

Mental health challenges in rural areas of Australia are particularly concerning, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that almost 40 per cent of young people experienced mental health concerns over a 12-month period.

This is the moment to demand change—with our voices and with our actions.

What health care organisations can do:

• Recognise that the best treatment is prevention of mental health challenges.

• Routinely screen children for mental health challenges and risk factors,

• Build multidisciplinary teams to implement services that are tailored to the needs of children and their families.

What funders and foundations can do:

• Incentivise coordination across grantees and foster cross-sector partnerships to maximise reach and bring together a diversity of expertise.

• Invest in innovative approaches and research on mental health.

• Create sustained investments in equitable prevention, promotion, and early intervention.

Recommendations extracted from a 2021 report published by the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting young people Mental Health.