LEADERS in Ballarat's Indian community are teaming up with Ballarat and District Suicide Awareness Network to deliver a vital mental health project into schools across the city.
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This started with a friendly cricket tri-series in March and follows with a gala ball this weekend in a massive fundraising effort for Friends of India Network.
Their combined result will help to launch Live4Life youth mental health training and suicide prevention to reach 4000 secondary school students each year.
The Network has built a tradition in nominating a community health cause for fundraising each year and Network president Sanjay Sharma said they felt compelled to do what they could for students.
Dr Sharma, an anaesthetist, pointed to the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being results released last month that warned of a shadow pandemic with almost 40 per cent of young people aged 16 to 24 experiencing a mental health disorder.
The survey, conducted by Australian Bureau of Statistics, showed this rate was higher among young women with almost half living with mental ill-health compared to one third of their male counterparts.
"These issues are serious and a difficult situation facing teachers and parents alike," Dr Sharma said. "...Adolescence is a vulnerable time for many children and it's not looked at in that great detail, particularly since the pandemic started.
"There are a lot of mental health issues coming to light in the pandemic. It has affected grown-ups, but it has affected children more."
Dr Sharma said the network wanted to focus their fundraising and awareness on community-based projects and felt Ballarat and District Suicide Awareness Network's resilience work was the right fit.
Live4Life originated in the Macedon Ranges as a model to empower regional communities to support and improve youth mental health.
Ballarat and District Suicide Awareness Network chairman Des Hudson said the launch in this region aimed to start with year eights and year 10s in six schools next year and expand to all schools by 2024.
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Leading Senior Constable Hudson, who is also a Ballarat councillor, said City of Ballarat's initial youth survey findings also highlighted mental health as a major concern in young people's lives. A significant proportion of respondents also reported they had experienced suicidal thoughts.
The program will run in collaboration with City of Ballarat and with funding also from Western Victoria Primary Health Network's Ballarat place-based suicide prevention trial.
Funding from Friends of India will help contribute to training components.
"The program will have significant reach and building capability among young people in how to look out for your own mental health and the mental health of young people," Leading Senior Constable Hudson said.
"...When young people are telling us that then the time to act is now."
More than 300 people are preparing to glam-up for Friends of India's gala ball at the Mercure on Saturday night. The gala has typically been held on the night of the network's annual cricket tournament but, due to COVID-19 restrictions earlier this year, was postponed to a winter date.
This extra time allowed for a fun tri-series between the Indian Lions, Sri Lankan Tuskers and the Rest of Ballarat.
For crisis support, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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