What is Planet Youth?
Planet Youth is not a program, it’s a new approach to identifying and establishing long-term strategies that promote positive changes to the environment where young people grow up.
Building a strong community around children is the healthiest and most cost-effective way to promote their well-being in the future.
Building this community takes time, effort, and the commitment of key partners focusing on four major domains of the environment surrounding young people: parents and family, school, peer group, and leisure time (or local community).
The model encourages parents, educators, and community leaders to work together to create a supportive and caring environment for young people.
The model’s whole population approach offers an opportunity to improve outcomes for young people in many areas of their lives. It works by focusing on the risk and protective factors that determine substance use behaviours, and by enhancing the social environment young people are growing up in.
By developing local interventions that are designed to reduce the local risk factors and strengthen the local protective factors, problems can be reduced or prevented before they arise.
