As a registered health promotion charity, we are committed to ongoing evaluation and review. 

Evaluations in Progress

University of Melbourne

In 2023, we were excited to formalise an external evaluation partnership with the University of Melbourne. The first project in this partnership is the undertaking of a multi-community, multi-year external evaluation of Live4Life led by Professor Nicola Reavley from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing. Titled 'Improving connection and mental health in regional and rural youth: co-evaluation of the Live4Life whole-of-community approach', this flagship project is being conducted as part of the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation activities and research agenda. Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Centre (NHMRC) Special Initiative into Mental Health, it measures the extent to which Live4Life protects and promotes mental health and wellbeing in secondary school-aged young people in rural and regional Victorian communities, as well as exploring what aspects of implementation contribute to mental health and wellbeing outcomes.

Five communities have signed up to be part of this important work across 2024-2026: Bass Coast/South Gippsland, Ballarat, Baw Baw, Hepburn and Southern Grampians. Over 1000 Year 8 students have already completed their 2024 survey. We are very grateful to these communities for their commitment to and contribution towards this important project.

Sophie Barker, Prof Nicola Reavley, Nina Logan, Dr Lakshmi Neelakantan, Rebecca Morecroft, Bernard Galballly standing outside the Live4Life Woodend office.

Impact Measurement

As a Social Impact Partner of Future Generation Global (FGG), Live4Life is participating with 13 other organisations in an impact measurement framework until 2026. Funding from Future Generation Global in particular has increased our organisational capacity for monitoring and evaluation. Combined with ‘Enabling Education’ funds secured from the William Buckland Foundation, expanded activities in this space include a new suite of internal evaluations being piloted in communities in 2024, with the goal to build community capacity for impact measurement in the longer term. 

Tasmania

The Federal Government’s National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program (NSPLSP) funding of our first interstate community in Break O’Day, Tasmania, also includes a two-year independent evaluation of the trial. The Centre for Rural Health at the University of Tasmania has been contracted to undertake this evaluation, which is well underway, assessing implementation and impact in the Break O’Day community across the first two years of program implementation — in particular the program’s transferability, sustainability, accessibility, effectiveness and initial impact. The UTas team has been busy completing interviews with local stakeholders, prior to commencing baseline surveys with Year 8s and Year 10s, as well as conducting focus groups with young people in the region.

Catching Up With The Crew

Funding from The Jack Brockhoff Foundation allows us to better understand how the experiences of student leaders (the Crew) in Australian regional and rural secondary schools may have shaped their pathways since leaving school. Titled ‘Catching Up With The Crew’, the project explores how experiences of community connection, leadership and mental health shape the developmental transition from secondary school to further education, employment etc. This evaluation is being conducted by the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing. Interviews with Crew alumni commenced in late 2023 and recruitment into the project is nearing completion. There have been some wonderful stories coming to the fore of how Crew involvement has impacted the lives of those involved, as well as those around them.

Community Impact Data Gathering

Southern Grampians has collected impact data from MHFA® courses. Year 8 and Year 10 respondents consistently reported that they found the training both helpful and the new skill set important. 

Ballarat conducted a survey of 600 students, in which more than 80% reported that mental health education in schools is important to them and more than 88% have sought help for their mental health.

Big thanks goes to those communities who have engaged with us as we build our own internal program evaluation activities in 2024. Students in these communities have been busy completing pre-program surveys ahead of commencing their teen MHFA sessions and other Live4Life activities this year. We really appreciate communities’ participation and feedback to date.