Indigenous Cairns teenager Marianna Saba-Edge has been advocating for young people facing social and emotional wellbeing challenges through her poetry.

At 16, she wrote a poem promoting radical self-acceptance and love among young women, highlighting the benefits of counselling.

Ms Saba-Edge created the poem to cope with her own challenges and to support others struggling with self-love and acceptance.

She attended school-based counselling through the Indigenous Mental Health program.

"I wrote what I always wanted to hear growing up," she said.

"But there are so many girls like me who believe they are not capable of self-love.

"But they are, and this poem expresses what I wish I'd believed when I truly thought I wasn't capable of love."

The program, funded by the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN), is delivered by Ngak Min Health.

During her final session, she shared with her counsellor a poem she had written for a school project.

"I had been feeling really angry and guilty, and started writing about those feelings, which helped me understand them, but didn't make me feel good," she said.

"I thought, why write a story that brings me down, when I can create something that lifts people up?

"That's when I started writing the poem – and I finished it in one English class. It just felt right."

Writing down her feelings was a technique she learned while working with her Ngak Min Health counsellor.

"Working with Ngak Min was different compared to other councillors I have spoken with," she said.

"To start with we mostly talked about Stranger Things, but I was soon able to open up about more personal things in my life that normally I wouldn't tell anyone.

"I have always been a self-aware person, but I tend to deal with my problems on my own."

Thankfully, Ms Saba-Edge now feels much happier in life.

"Writing the poem was really the start to having true self-love and is something I wish I'd had when I was younger," she said.

"That's why I tried hard to write it to stick in the reader's head, and so they can feel empowered."

Ms Saba-Edge remains as an example of why it's so important for Indigenous women to have the freedom and courage to express themselves on their journey to healing.