Planet Youth Blue Mountains

Planet Youth Blue Mountains is a global and local community-based project that aims to improve the wellbeing of young people, strengthen their social environment and protect them from alcohol and drug use.

Planet Youth works by focusing on the things that help protect young people from substance use. It is about understanding their attitudes and behaviours, and then it’s about supporting parents, carers and communities to work together to find positive ways to reduce risk of substance use by strengthening ‘protective factors’.

Planet Youth began in the 90s in Iceland as a local initiative. Over the next 20 years, Iceland changed the game. They went from having the highest rates of substance use amongst young people in Europe, to having the lowest. Planet Youth is now being adopted by communities all over the world. The Blue Mountains is one of five pilot sites for the program in Australia.