Belonging – Sepo Young

Sepo is a Mental Health Clinical Nurse Consultant with over 15 years experience in Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol, Forensic Nursing, Addiction. She is the CEO/Director of Street Friends WA, a volunteer-based not for profit that distributes sleeping bags, blankets, warm clothing, hygiene products and other warm provisions to homeless people.

Sepo has created diverse teams working within an evidence-based practice. When Sepo arrived in Geraldton (from Scotland) in 2014, she identified the need for a Depot Clinic, which she created and coordinated and is still running successfully. She won an award at the Remote Mental Health Conference in 2017 for her work with a Community Assessment Support Team.

Sepo is a passionate about the essential power and fundamental need for belonging. At the age of 24, Sepo was a single parent and homeless after being evicted from her relative’s house. Drawing from her first-hand experience of homelessness and her own family of mental health, addiction in alcohol and other drugs, she helps illuminate the barriers to belonging and what it takes to overcome them. Sepo believes that “it’s not enough to value diversity and inclusion”. She stands up for families, communities and companies to pursue a culture of genuine belonging.