Held at The Pavilion last Wednesday, the Kiama Youth Forum was organised in a collaborative effort between students, Kiama Council's Youth Belonging Project and mentoring company the Frank Team.

The issues discussed at the forum were ones identified by young people beforehand and the format of the day was also designed to be as engaging as possible for the participants.

Kiama Council's Youth Belonging Project co-ordinator Bonnie Hittman said the event created some great discussion about a range of issues identified by the students.

"Things like mental health, employment, recreational services and their perception and involvement in the community."

"The kids that were involved in planning the day wanted it to be an informal and engaging event, so we started with some general discussions and then the kids split into small groups to discuss the issues."

The ideas generated at the forum will be used by the council to guide decisions about future youth matters.

"From today there will be a report formulated and from that we'll identify the things that fall under council control and look if they can be improved," Mrs Hittman said.

"Not everything is council's responsibility though, and in those cases council will use the information to advocate on the behalf of young people to have services improved."