Arts & Culture
30 October, 2025
Brave Conversations Spark Hope at 2025 Highlands Wellbeing Forum
The Bowral Memorial Hall was abuzz with energy and purpose on Monday, October 27, as nearly 400 community members gathered for the annual Highlands Wellbeing Forum – aptly themed “Brave Conversations.”
Article by Sarah Mangelsdorf, The Youth Impact Foundation
The Bowral Memorial Hall was abuzz with energy and purpose on Monday, October 27, as nearly 400 community members gathered for the annual Highlands Wellbeing Forum – aptly themed “Brave Conversations.”
Over three sessions, with the sold out students’ session, teachers and parents/carers representing 27 local schools and four community groups came together to explore what it means to foster whole-of-community wellbeing in the Southern Highlands.
The forum was a powerful reminder of the strength and collaboration of this region. Young people took centre stage, expressing gratitude for the schools and community that support them. A highlight were the presentations by internationally recognised educator Justin Robinson and speaker and illustrator Matthew Johnstone.
Their explanations of normalising worry resonated with everyone in the room. Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick attended the student session and modelled vulnerability to the local students by sharing his own story of worry, reinforcing the forum’s message that bravery begins with honesty and connection.
The importance of a wellbeing ecosystem framework was explained using the analogy of a swimming pool to illustrate the importance of both individual resilience and the broader community responsibility.
“It’s not just about teaching young people how to swim,” explained organiser Sarah Mangelsdorf.
“This puts the onerous of wellbeing purely on the individual. It is ensuring the quality of the water they’re swimming in is clean, safe and nurturing.”
Sarah highlighted that indeed the Wingecarribee Shire needs more ‘lifeguards’ – early intervention and psychological resources - however it is the whole of community’s responsibility to the children and young people of this area to work collaboratively on healthy ecosystems to thrive.
Wellbeing is more than just health and wellness: It’s also our jobs and income, access to services and housing, feeling safe and included and having places to connect and enjoy life.
We need to build wellbeing into community decision making, strong regional communities are built of strong wellbeing frameworks & local government is well placed to promote and enable community wellbeing.
We need to work together to create a future focused framework with long term vision, that reflects what’s unique about our area.
Wellbeing economy and literacy: If we have language around our own and community wellbeing, then we have the capability to comprehend and compose common language across contexts, with the intention of using such language to maintain & improve wellbeing of oneself and others.
The event was made possible through the generous support of Bowral District Children’s Foundation (BDCF) and local businesses and organisations including, Berida Hotel, Sweets & Treats, Country Accent, Alkapower, Coles, HighlandFM and The Fold.
Their contributions—alongside the efforts of incredible community members, student helpers, created a welcoming and inspiring space for all.
As the Southern Highlands continues to lead with compassion and collaboration, the success of this year’s forum stands as a testament to what’s possible when a community invests in its young people.
Sarah’s hope is “That everyone who attended will have one conversation with another person, to build on the gold already here and create a ripple of wellbeing throughout this amazing community”.
