Home

Tour bringing mental health workshops into schools a first for young people of the Goldfields

Headshot of Madeleine Clark
Madeleine ClarkKalgoorlie Miner
Back: City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder youth senior officer Sean Smith, headspace Goldfields Centre manager Eleanor Clark, Ali Kent MLA, KBCHS student William Young, 13, MLG community engagement officer Michelle Leahy, zero2hero education manager Gemma West. Front: Sharon Duffy, youth mayor Nandini Gera, and KBCHS students Sienna Kinninmont and Agnes William, both 13.
Camera IconBack: City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder youth senior officer Sean Smith, headspace Goldfields Centre manager Eleanor Clark, Ali Kent MLA, KBCHS student William Young, 13, MLG community engagement officer Michelle Leahy, zero2hero education manager Gemma West. Front: Sharon Duffy, youth mayor Nandini Gera, and KBCHS students Sienna Kinninmont and Agnes William, both 13. Credit: Madeleine Clark/Kalgoorlie Miner

Youth charity zero2hero will this week run 34 workshops in 12 schools across the Goldfields, with the aim of addressing rising mental health issues in young people at the source.

The Goldfields’ Young Heroes Tour, sponsored by five local organisations, will deliver mental health workshops and presentations to students in all year groups across the Goldfields area, including Kambalda, Coolgardie, Menzies, Norsemen and Kurrawang.

Zero2hero education manager Gemma West said the youth charity’s mission was to engage with students and empower them to support themselves and their friends with mental health.

“The workshop covers really important stuff and links the students to local service providers like headspace . . . Centrecare, and Lifeline,” she said.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

“We guide the students to access these services for themselves but also so they know where to direct their mates.

“At the start of the presentation we let the students know that some of the material may be triggering and you know they giggle and elbow their mates because it’s that kind of taboo topic, but what we want is for the kids to start to talk about mental health like they would a rugby match or something.

“Mental health can absolutely become a topic that we talk about like anything else and it’s a shame that it isn’t already.

“The recent census data shows that mental health has surpassed any other chronic disease Australians are living with, so it should be the focus of not only prevention but discussion and conversation.

“We are hoping young people can really start to rely on each other for that early intervention to take some pressure off the services that support the region.”

The programs will be delivered to more than 1600 students, empowering them to connect with themselves and each other to better understand their needs, and how to ask for help.

WA Labor Member for Kalgoorlie Ali Kent said she has been working with local mother Sharon Duffy, who lost her son to suicide last year, on finding a mental health program for the Goldfields.

A “passionate advocate” for trying to improve access to services for young people in the region who may face mental health issues, Ms Kent said she “can’t emphasise enough the impact this will have”.

“This has been a priority for me from day one. Now young people in the Goldfields will have a chance to access support and I’m confident this tour will give so many young people the tools to help them navigate a difficult space,” she said.

“A lot of great programs run in Perth but that involves young people travelling to Perth to access them.

“We got in touch with the fantastic charity, zero2hero, last year and assembled this sponsorship group together to see how we could bring this program to the Goldfields.

“The outcome is a whole week in the Goldfields of programs run by zero2hero directly delivered to youth.

“I think this will gain a lot of traction and I want it to be an annual event.”

Ms Duffy said early intervention was key “because it is important that we catch these young people before it gets to crisis point so we don’t lose so many of them to suicide”.

Official statistics show the need for mental health support for young people in regional areas.

ABS figures from 2020 show that rates of death by suicide are higher in regional Australia: 15.7 deaths per 100,000 outside capital cities, compared with 10.3 deaths per 100,000 in capital cities.

In 2020, there were 223 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia who died by suicide, with the median age being 31.3 years.

This is more than a decade younger than the median age of death by suicide for the general population.

Zero2hero chief executive Ashlee Harrison said that by educating and empowering young people in the Goldfields area, mental wellbeing could be improved.

“The range of programs that will be delivered to students as part of the tour is a great step towards ensuring young people in the Goldfields area are equipped with the skills necessary to support their own mental health, as well as support others,” she said.

This new partnership with zero2hero is in association with Ms Kent, MLG Oz, Hope Community Services, headspace and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

MLG community engagement officer Michelle Leahy said young people in regional areas deserved access to tools that could help improve their mental health.

“MLG believes the Goldfields is a great place for families to live and equipping our young people with the tools to foster their own mental health is something we believe every child should be offered,” she said.

A parent information session is scheduled for 6pm on Wednesday at Kalgoorlie PCYC and an extra session will run at the Goldfields Youth Forum on Friday evening.

Lifeline 13 11 14

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails