Real Change Makers - Young Rural Mental Health Ambassadors Make a Lasting Impact
Image Description - Talon former Live4Life Macedon Crew Member and current Crew4Life member, Charlie former Live4Life Glenelg Crew Member and current Crew4Life member, Courtney Borg former Live4Life Macedon Ranges Crew Member and current Crew4Life Member and Nathan Tolliday former Live4Life Benalla Crew Member and current Crew4Life member at the 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards.
In rural and regional Victoria, a growing group of young people are putting their hands up as mental health ambassadors and fast becoming real change makers. Volunteering through the award-winning Live4Life program, these young community leaders are helping to smash the stigma surrounding mental health in their communities.
Live4Life is the only mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural communities. With a suicide rate 40% higher than urban areas and where 63% of young people are unable to access mental health services, rural communities are seeing real, measurable change in mental health outcomes through Live4Life — and young volunteers are at the heart of the program's success.
Each Live4Life community has its own 'crew' of young people. Since its 2010 inception, over 900 young people have volunteered. It is the only community and school-based learning initiative that includes a peer-led, co-designed youth participation and leadership component as a key driver.
2019/20 Crew member Talon Gostelow says, “Live4Life is building such a large culture of mental health awareness, personal skills and intellectual development. It’s creating this unstoppable force of people that can look out for each other, empower each other, and have a deeper understanding and recognition.”
Through Crew4Life, past members who want to stay connected can now access further development, training, and mentorship.
Talon Gostelow
Currently in year 12, Macedon Ranges’ Talon Gostelow was a Live4Life crew member from 2019 and worked with peers throughout the challenging pandemic lockdown period.
"I never really realised what I wanted to do whenever I was asked, 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' until I started getting involved with Live4Life. My response now: I have a passion for people.”
Talon volunteers as a Crew4Life member, is a youth worker at Macedon Ranges Shire Council and is also involved in Macedon Ranges 'Music in the Sticks' and Engage programs.
Courtney Borg
Courtney was a Macedon Ranges Crew member from 2018-2019 and is currently a Crew4Life Member while studying Nursing at Latrobe University in Bundoora. "Being in Crew4life means a lot to me. I can continue working with young people to support them through their schooling and life when it comes to all things mental health."
"The program brings me peace. I know I am making a difference to people in our community and helping individuals through challenges that I personally might have struggled through alone when I was younger."
Nathan Tolliday
Nathan was a Live4Life Benalla Crew member from 2017-2018 and now volunteers as a Crew4Life member. He is currently acting branch manager across 3 credit unions in northeast Victoria.
"Being in Crew4Life allows me to connect with past Crew from right across Live4Life’s geographical area. Crew4Life also allows me to continue to be an active promoter of breaking mental health stigma in my community by supporting the current Crew and spreading Live4Life’s message in my daily life. "
Charlie Sawyer-Bassett.
Charlie lives in Glenelg Shire where she works for the local paper the Portland Observer as a cadet journalist. Charlie finished school in 2021 and was part of the Live4Life Glenelg crew in 2018 and 2019. Since then, she has continued to volunteer her time to Live4Life when it was needed and is now a Crew4Life member.
"I have been an advocate for mental health since joining the Live4Life crew in year 9, and to have Crew4Life makes it feel official that there is another place to help more people understand their own mind."
This Thursday, Crew4Life will have its first online get-together for past Live4Life Crew members ‘Kick Back with Crew4Life’ and are calling for all past Live4Life Crew members to join them as they celebrate ‘National Volunteer Week’.
Young volunteers' change making recognised
Further highlighting the hard work and achievements of these young mental health ambassadors, Live4Life has featured prominently in a number of recent awards:
- Youth Live4Life was a finalist at this year’s 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards in the Community Group Category,
- Live4Life Southern Grampians Crew were announced as Young Citizens of the Year, and
- Live4Live Benalla Crew won Community Group of the Year at the 2023 Australia Day Awards.
Live4Life operates in ten regional Victorian communities: Ballarat, Baw Baw, Bass Coast, Benalla, South Gippsland, Southern Grampians, Glenelg, Macedon Ranges, Central Goldfields, and Moira. Live4Life has also just announced its first interstate community in Tasmania, funded by the Federal Government’s National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program.