Last week Year 8 students from Kindlehill Steiner School toured an award-winning play about youth anxiety to primary schools across Sydney and regional NSW, pairing each performance with a live question-and-answer panel alongside mental health professionals from headspace.

New research from the University of Sydney shows anxiety disorders among young Australians have more than doubled in the past 15 years, making conversations like these more urgent than ever.

The students performed Australian playwright Katy Warner’s Reasons to Stay Inside and presented it with permission from Barking Gecko Arts. They took the show to 3 schools including Lithgow, Dulwich Hill and Pagewood Primary Schools, the later 2 being in Sydney. The play explores youth mental health, with a particular focus on anxiety. After each performance, staff from various headspace centres joined the students on stage for a panel-style discussion, giving the Primary School students the chance to ask questions and talk openly about mental health.

Kindlehill Steiner School Year 8 student Heidi said the experience had changed her own understanding of anxiety.

“I learnt how to spot if someone might be going through anxiety and how I can help them, as well as what I can do if I’m dealing with it myself,” she said.

Aaron Hayden, Community Engagement Coordinator for headspace Ashfield and Chatswood, said the initiative helped give young people the understanding and language to talk about mental health.

“Reducing the stigma around mental health for young people is really important. A performance like this can give young people a deeper understanding of what they or their friends might be going through, as well as some of the vocabulary to begin talking about it,” Mr Hayden said.

For Kindlehill Steiner School, the project is an example of learning moving beyond the classroom which is a firm part of their dynamic curriculum. Rather than simply rehearsing the play, students researched social anxiety and explored the issues it raises to prepare for the panels. They then put that learning into practice by sitting alongside headspace professionals to field real questions from younger students about anxiety, mental health and supporting friends.

Kindlehill Steiner School drama teacher and director Georgia Adamson said the experience enabled students to create openness around mental health for their younger audiences.

 “I think it enabled them to really model that it’s OK to talk about mental health and that there’s no shame — it can happen to anyone,” Ms Adamson said.

Now in its second year of touring, the initiative has attracted strong positive feedback from participating schools for its peer-to-peer approach and the unique learning experience it offers. Kindlehill Steiner School and headspace are now exploring how the program could grow to reach more young people in 2027.

Reasons to Stay Inside is written by Katy Warner and presented with permission from Barking Gecko Arts.

headspace is Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation, providing early intervention mental health services to 12-25 year olds.

Research paper from Sydney University: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2026/07/24/mental-disorders-surge-among-young-adults-research.html

This article was published in The Blue Mountains Gazette, Wednesday September 2nd