For more than five years, Healthway’s HIPHOP101 program – led by Optamus and Dazastah, members of Australian hip-hop group Downsyde – has used hip-hop as a powerful tool to engage, empower and support young people across high schools and alternative education settings across WA.
Through beat-making, lyric writing and performance, the program offers students a creative outlet to explore identity, build confidence and regulate emotions in a culturally relevant way.
Working with diverse student groups who may face challenges in the school environment, the program consistently creates safe, transformative spaces where music becomes a vehicle for connection and healing. Sessions are built around authenticity and expression – giving young people the tools to tell their stories and take pride in their voices.
Building on this success, the team recently launched a new mental health–focused pilot inside Banksia Hill Detention Centre (BHDC), supported by Healthway and BHDC. Delivered alongside the existing HIPHOP101 program – facilitated by Optamus, Flewnt, Rush and Ray Ray – the new sessions create space for deeper self-reflection and emotional awareness. This is particularly important in an environment where young people often carry significant trauma beneath hardened exteriors.
“Seeing how hip-hop can impact young people in a school setting – that’s what inspired us to expand into new spaces,” Dazastah said.
Using beat-making, songwriting and open discussion, the pilot encourages participants to connect and embrace emotional vulnerability. It adds a new layer to the broader program delivered at Department of Justice sites.
More than 100 original tracks have already been recorded inside the detention centre as part of Banksia Beats, which is hugely popular at the facility. The recording process helps young people recognise the power of their voice and supports their continued involvement in hip-hop once they are released from BHDC.
A stack of songs has also been recorded at high schools, including Governor Stirling Senior High School, Balga Senior High School, Belmont City College, Kiara College and Hampton Senior High School, as part of the broader Healthway-funded program.
As the team continues to evolve its approach, the focus remains on impact.
“We’re learning every day how hip-hop – something with such natural healing qualities – can intersect with therapeutic practices like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,” Optamus said.
“When we blend the two, we create something powerful that can change lives.”
