The St Patrick’s College student, 18, said he was inspired to band with other indigenous youth from across Australia, after attending a National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy camp last year.

It was there he joined 11 other young people from across the country, to establish the R U OK? community conversation group.

The campaign encourages people to have meaningful conversations with friends and family about suicide prevention in a bid to save lives. 

“The purpose of the camp was for us to learn how to be leaders, not only just within our own indigenous community but also in society,” Will said. 

“When we started the group, our focus was on improving the support services in place for indigenous youth. 

“But then we thought that suicide and mental health are widespread issues.

“They are relevant to everybody of every age and background. We started looking outside of that and at ways we could include the wider community into bigger campaign.” 

On Friday, the R U OK? bus tour stopped in Ballarat and Will led groups of years 7 and 8 students from Ballarat High in a workshop that included physical activities and open discussions about mental health.

Ballarat was the 14th stop for the travelling bus, which has already driven from Darwin to Townsville and down to regional Victoria. 

R U OK? general manager Brendan Maher said the purpose of the touring bus was about reaching out to regional communities. 

“We felt that we needed to take bigger steps to ensure or message was getting out to remote communities where people are often more isolated,” Mr Maher said.

“It’s about providing community conversations and inspiring people to look out for one another to strengthen and connect people.”

National R U OK? Day is on Thursday and the message of the campaign it is a simple one. 

The national day of action, asks everyone to connect with someone they care about, to help stop little problems turning into big ones.

For details, visit ruok.org.au

melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au