Live4Life launches in Ballarat to tackle youth suicide crisis
A community is coming together to increase mental health education and reduce the stigma following a spate of tragic youth suicides. Read how.
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An award-winning program to increase mental health awareness across communities has launched in Ballarat following a spate of devastating youth suicides.
With a focus on increasing mental health knowledge in youths and their support networks – including their parents, teachers and coaches – to promote pathways to help seeking, the Live4Life program will roll out across eight Ballarat high schools.
The program has four key components – evidence-based mental health education at schools, partnership between schools and community organisations, mentoring support and youth participation and leadership.
The program will initially roll out to Year 8 students at Damascus College, Ballarat Clarendon College, Ballarat High School, Phoenix Community College, Mt Clear College, Mt Rowan Secondary College, Ballarat Christian College and Woodmans Hill Secondary College.
Next year the program will be delivered to both Year 8 and Year 10 students and may also expand to other schools.
Mayor and Cr Des Hudson said the initiative would see “the entire Ballarat community working together to save lives”.
“We want to ensure that young people, teachers, parents and the wider community are better informed about mental health and are proactive in identifying the signs and symptoms of an emerging health issue before a crisis occurs,” he said.
“This course, delivered by locally based trained instructors, is designed to improve the mental health knowledge, skills and attitudes of our community.”
Run by a not-for-profit health promotion charity, the course is the only mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically to be implemented in regional communities.
Youth Life4Life chief executive Bernard Galbally said 110 Ballarat adults had already undertaken ‘youth mental health first aid’, with 20 community members also putting up their hands to be the community’s ‘teen mental health first aid instructors’.
“The Live4Life model has been proven to create more highly-networked communities, which enhances community resilience during hard times and helps to support young people living in regional and rural communities,” he said.
The launch of the initiative comes after a series of heartbreaking youth suicides in the western Victorian city.
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