Local men­tal health ambas­sad­ors meet with Duke and Duch­ess

News story from the Warragul & Drouin Gazette, published 28 April 2026.

Former Baw Baw Live4Life crew mem­bers joined young men­tal health ambas­sad­ors to give a voice to regional men­tal health con­cerns in a present­a­tion to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duch­ess of Sus­sex dur­ing their recent visit to Mel­bourne.

The Regional and Rural Youth Voices: Shap­ing the Future of Men­tal Health forum allowed the young ambas­sad­ors to dis­cuss ideas for a bet­ter men­tal health approach which meets their needs.

Former Live4Life Baw Baw crew mem­bers Jes­sica Hick­ford of Drouin, Regan Smith of Nilma North and Jewel Burchell-Robins now of Lang­war­rin were invited by youth men­tal health pre­ven­tion organ­isa­tion batyr to join 16 young people from regional and rural com­munit­ies across Aus­tralia for the two-day forum.

The young advoc­ates took part in a series of activ­it­ies designed to help them safely share their exper­i­ences, explore solu­tions for tack­ling the men­tal health crisis in regional and rural com­munit­ies, and test ideas with their peers in an open and sup­port­ive envir­on­ment.

The three Baw Baw men­tal health ambas­sad­ors, along with a num­ber of other past Live4Life crew mem­bers from other rural com­munit­ies, had the oppor­tun­ity to meet with Prince Harry and Meghan and share their exper­i­ences of chal­lenges faced by young people in rural and regional com­munit­ies.

Read the full story here.