How Alec’s life turned from hopeless to full of hope

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Lucas Walsh, who is director of the Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice at Monash University, said that in addition to exposure to social media, the pandemic had curtailed young people’s ability to establish friends and networks outside the family. Resilience, he said, was deeply connected to social and peer networks. If those are lacking, so is the ability to bounce back from the small irritations and big dramas of everyday life. Cost-of-living pressures also took a toll. “Insecurity has become pervasive since the pandemic, but it is now being ramped up by cost-of-living pressures. The idea you can plan your life according to certain goals like finding affordable housing, starting a family, even having enough to eat is completely scrambling young people,” Professor Walsh said. At the same time, too few seek help.