Des our powerhouse Live4Life Community Champion
Cr Des Hudson OAM accepts his Community Champion Award at the Live4Life Annual Dinner
Live4Life is proud to announce that its annual Community Champion Award winner for 2024 is Ballarat Councillor, former Mayor and Victoria Police Youth Resource Officer, Des Hudson OAM.
Live4Life CEO Bernard Galbally announced the Community Champion Award at the organisation’s Annual Dinner on Saturday 31 May, which was attended by over 300 guests, including the Hon. Andrew Giles MP, Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas MP, Parliamentary Secretary Paul Edbrooke MP, Mayor of Macedon Ranges Dom Bonnano, and Mayor of South Gippsland John Schelling.
Cr Des Hudson presented with his Live4Life Community Champion Award by Ebony Whitehouse of MHFA Australia
“Des’s outstanding contribution to the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Ballarat extends to all aspects of the Live4Life model. In driving the roll-out of an innovative preventative mental health approach across a diverse and populous regional community, and delivering evidence-based mental health education directly to young people as a teen Instructor himself, Des has proven to be a powerhouse in the lives of young people in Ballarat,” Mr Galbally said.
Wearing a variety of hats in the community — including Youth Officer with Victoria Police, Councillor and three-time Mayor for City of Ballarat, Chair of the Ballarat & District Suicide Awareness Network, and Teen Mental Health First Aid® Instructor — Des Hudson continuously and widely advocates for young people and was instrumental in bringing the Live4Life model to Ballarat through his role as the Youth Resource Officer with Ballarat Police.
He has been tireless in his ongoing support of and commitment to the Live4Life program in Ballarat. He championed the growth of Live4Life as Chair of the inaugural Ballarat Partnership Group and was responsible for bringing the majority of Ballarat schools and several community organisations on board. He was hugely influential in Live4Life Ballarat partnering with the local women’s football club East Point Dragons for the 2024 Mental Health round in the Ballarat Football Netball League female footy competition and in having Live4Life nominated as beneficiary of the Unlock Possibilities’ Trivia Night fundraiser.
Des accepted the award by saying, "Sometimes, out of tragedy, positives can emerge. Ballarat has faced significant loss with the suicide of several young people in recent years. From this grief, our community has come together with a strong focus on keeping our youth safe. Through our partnership with Live4Life, we’ve trained nearly 4,000 young people in Teen Mental Health Awareness in just two years. In the next two years, we plan to double that number as all schools are now involved. Mental health training is a lifelong skill, and the conversations we’re encouraging will help keep more people safe. This award is for all those who’ve contributed along the way, and especially in the memory of those young lives lost to suicide."
Cr Des Hudson with members of Crew4Life
Ballarat is the first regional city to implement the award-winning youth mental health and suicide prevention program. Live4Life Ballarat was launched in March 2023 and is delivered by engaging the whole Ballarat community, including 11 secondary schools, health provider networks and local community organisations. The lead agency overseeing the local implementation of the Live4Life program is the City of Ballarat.
Live4Life is Australia’s only youth mental health education and suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural and regional communities. Key achievements for the Live4Life Ballarat program include:
Training of 2,531 Year 8 students in Teen Mental Health First Aid®
Certification of 1,060 Year 10 students in Teen Mental Health First Aid®
Qualification of 404 adults in Youth Mental Health First Aid®
Development of 32 fully accredited Teen Mental Health First Aid® instructors
Training of 4 Youth Mental Health First Aid® instructors
Photographs by Kim Selby Photography. Please visit the following link to see the all the photographs from the evening.