Mental health projects in focus

Young people from across the Glenelg Shire have come together to celebrate mental health as part of a series of events facilitated through Live4Life Glenelg.

Live4Life Glenelg crews in Heywood, Casterton and Portland recently participated in Mental Health Promotional Days held at their respective townships and schools. The events focused on sharing key mental health messages and resources alongside providing an update on the Live4Life program to the rest of their classmates.

Youth Development Officer Jesse Beavis said it was a fantastic opportunity to promote youth mental health and encourage important conversations amongst peers.

“Our Mental Health Promotional Days are an important opportunity for our crews to ‘touch base’ and update their local school communities about what they’ve been doing throughout the year,” she said. “The Casterton Live4Life crew (pictured) opted to celebrate their Mental Health Promotional Day with a whole of school pyjama day, with all funds raised to go towards Youth Live4Life and youth suicide prevention programs.

“The crew also distributed a mental health booklet – a resource designed by the whole crew across Glenelg which includes quotes from each crew member, a teen mental health plan, information on Youth Live4Life and key contacts.

“The Heywood Live4Life crew opted for a more formal approach, using a school assembly to celebrate their Mental Health Promotional Day. The crew had the opportunity to speak in front of their whole school about what activities they had been involved in, and what was planned for the rest of the year.

“After the assembly, the crew shared a lunch with year 8 students to share the mental health booklets and also gave prospective crew members the opportunity to ask questions about Live4Life ahead of the 2023 crew recruitment process.”

Ms Beavis said Portland Secondary College and Bayview College celebrated their Mental Health Promotional Days over the weekend as part of the Portland Colour Run community event.

Live4Life is an award winning mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural and regional communities. Since its implementation in the Glenelg Shire in 2017 more than 180 young people have participated as crew members and more than 1600 young people and 250 adults have received mental health training. For more information visit www.live4life.org.au