Headspace Horsham's youth reference group is launching its first swap challenge on October 7 with the aim to promote positive mental health in the region.

The challenge asks people to swap an unhealthy lifestyle habit for a healthier one, such as swapping evenings on social media to reading a book.

There are six people aged between 12 to 25 in headspace Horsham's youth reference group.

Member Brylee Taylor said the group initiated the challenge because it wanted to help young people make healthier lifestyle choices.

"We've been looking at doing something like this for a while now and we had lots of ideas," she said.

"In the beginning it was just going to be based around food, and now it's opened up to other things. So for instance, instead of driving your car to school or work, we're asking people to ride their bike or walk.

"Basically we want to show young people that they can do simple, healthy things to improve their mental health. Although we encourage young people to seek help at headspace if they need it, it's important to make sure they are making those healthy choices too."

Group member Montana Crane said the challenge asked people to make small lifestyle changes.

"You don't have to change up your whole day or routine to make it more healthy, it's just changing those simple small things," she said.

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The challenge is open to anyone. Participants are asked to get sponsors to help raise funds for headspace Horsham.

Headspace Horsham youth engagement and community development co-ordinator Louise Barnett said the youth reference group had devised the challenge on its own.

"No other headspace centre has done a challenge like this, so it's pretty special. We are so proud of the work they have done to raise awareness about mental health," she said.

"We'll see whether other centres pick it up. The national headspace chief executive Jason Trethowan is doing the challenge and said it was a fabulous initiative. We're hoping this will run as an annual challenge."

Ms Barnett said headspace's model of care was preventative not crisis.

"We're here to teach people strategies around ways they can improve their mental health, and that's what this project does. We'd love to see adults take part too," she said.

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The challenge will run for two weeks from October 7 to 20, and ties in with Mental Health Week and National headspace Day on October 9.

There will be prizes for participants who have raised the most money and received the most shares for social media posts using the hashtag #hshswapchallenge.

Ms Barnett said people could sign up by calling headspace Horsham on 5381 1543 or dropping in to its office at 77 Hamilton Street, Horsham. She said people could also head to headspace Horsham's Facebook page for updates.

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