The Hon Kristy McBain MP, Member for Eden-Monaro, this week inaugurated a mural at Eden Marine High School that conveys the importance of health and wellbeing, making good choices and collaboration. 

The mural is one of the community and school-based initiatives in Southern NSW to reduce the incidence of vaping and smoking among young people, implemented by Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) and funded by COORDINARE- South Eastern NSW PHN.  

The Hon Kristy McBain said, “These initiatives created through the localised ‘escape the vape’ project achieved some amazing results in terms of changing attitudes and behaviours of teenagers around vaping.  I’m delighted to see this mural at the high school I attended, it is a great way to ensure the positive messages continue."

COORDINARE’s CEO Prudence Buist said, “Southern NSW Local Health District’s project team attended 31 youth events over the course of the project, engaging with an estimated 3000 young people.  

“Almost half of the 505 young people who completed the post project survey were aware of a person in their friend circle that had cut down or ceased vaping or smoking in the last six months. The post survey also showed an 8 percent decrease in young people who identified as a vaper/smoker. Anecdotal evidence from the project highlights the importance of taking a non-judgmental approach to young people’s quit attempts, and how beneficial supportive networks and people can be to success,” she said. 

The mural artwork has been created by school students with the guidance of local Aboriginal artists Joseph Stewart, an Aboriginal health worker for SNSWLHD, and Alison Simpson, who has assisted Eden Marine High with a number of art projects.  

According to Jennifer Mozina, Health Promotion Coordinator for SNSWLHD, Eden Marine High school was chosen as the site for the project due to the higher number of Aboriginal students reporting that they were smokers or vapers in our pre and post survey activities.

"The project has offered targeted activities with  students and has seen a 16 percent decrease in their reported smoking and vaping behaviour over the course of the campaign, which is fantastic," Ms Mozina said.

The mural is on the health building at Eden Marine High, which houses the Wellbeing and Health In-reach Nurse (WHIN) and visiting clinicians. Wellbeing nurses are employed by NSW Health and co-located in public schools to support students and their families on a wide range of health and wellbeing issues.  

SNSWLHD's ‘Helping Our Youth See Through The Haze’ project recently won a 2024 ACI Rural Innovation Award in the Agency for Clinical Innovation Awards.