Moira - Live4Life crews making a difference
Article in Riverine Herald by Gabriel Garcia. Published 12 April 2023.
Changing lives: Cobram Anglican Grammar School students Melissa Voeurn, Lyra Mete, Savannah Kernaghan, Matilda Waser, Josh Edwards and Sam Stillard are part of the Moira Shire’s Love4Life crews. Photo by Contributed
Moira Shire Live4Life crews have been recognised for their work tackling mental health problems.
They are finalists in the 7News Young Achiever Awards in the ‘Group Achievement in the Community’ category.
Moira Shire’s Live4Life crews are part of a broader group that encompass all Love4Life crews in regional and rural Victoria.
The Moira Shire Live4Life crew members hail from the various schools in the region and are made up of individual students who volunteer their time to be local mental health ambassadors.
The students design and implement their own mental health theme for the year, with co-ordinated launches and activities.
Cobram Anglican Grammar School Year 9 student Lyra Mete is one of Moira Shire’s Life4Life mental health ambassadors for 2023.
Lyra said participants learnt a lot of new skills at the sessions.
“We learnt that you should go up to the person (identified as needing support) and ask if they’re okay, talk about what they are feeling/experiencing and take them to a safe place and see if they will open up to you,” she said.
Live4Life is the only mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural communities, which suffer more heavily from youth mental health issues and where suicide rates are 40 per cent higher than metropolitan areas.
The program is the only community- and school-based learning initiative that comprises a student-led and co-designed component as a key driver.
Since its beginning in 2010, the Live4Life model has been successfully implemented in nine regional Victorian communities including Moira Shire, Baw Baw, Bass Coast, South Gippsland, Southern Grampians, Glenelg, Macedon Ranges, Central Goldfields and Benalla.