Live4Life's Top News Items:
Live4Life: Educations Sessions
The Live4Life program has been a great success so far within the 5 secondary schools so far this term! We have covered an Introduction session in which Markus a young man involved with our partnership organisation WayOut came to shed some light into what it was like growing up and “being different” he did a great job of engaging and motivating the year 8’s, they all had plenty of questions for Markus.
We then jumped into session 1: What’s Up! Taking a closer look at what mental health is? What are mental health problems? How do we know if we need help! Students did a great job negotiating some group work takes and they all got involved with the games! Lots of laughter and learning!
Session 2: In your Head! Takes a closer look at how our thoughts, feelings and actions are all connected. Students participated in a range of interactive activities and a group work task which encouraged them to interpret and act out a range of different scenarios focusing on common issues impacting young people.
We would like to formally welcome the Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School’s Bullengarook campus into the Live4Life family! We have been running our term 2 programs and really enjoying working with the students at Bullengarook campus and hope to continue our program with them into the future.
We are very proud of our Crew members who have all stepped up to help educate the year 8’s! They have given up their own time both within school hours and after school hours and are doing a fantastic job! So we’d like to thank all the schools for continuing to encourage and support the Crew as they learn more about mental health issues and lead the year 8’s in de-stigmatizing issues surrounding mental illness. Well done guys!
The Live4Life Launch 2013
Live4LIfe 2013 has been launched! Over 600 year 8 students from Braemar College, Macedon Grammar, Kyneton Secondary College, Gisborne Secondary College and the host school Sacred Heart Catholic College all come together to promote mental health awareness and reduce stigma in the Macedon Ranges. The crowds entered to pumping beats provided by local DJ peter DeVos as they got settled for a great morning!
The fantastic Live4Life Crew hosted the day, they have been working really hard to make the day a success. This year we were really lucky to have some very talented local young people perform from all over the shire. The day kicked off with an original song written by Sam Hasell AKA Mumblr especially for Live4Life! Sam rocked the morning and then closed the show with his hip hop beats....all 600 young people were up and dancing!
Next our Crew lead us through a Mythbusters activity outlining some of the common myths surrounding mental health! As many young people don’t really understand what mental health is! They often think ‘mental health’ has something to do with not being very smart or being a little strange...This is NOT TRUE! The truth is we all have mental health just like we have physical health so our Crew gave us an very insightful lesson.
Then we were lucky to hear a very real and moving story from a young man named Lachie Korvin, he is a member of CanTeen “The Australian Organisation for Young People Living with Cancer” and he sits board of directors at CanTeen and has been through some very tough times but gave a great speech about how we can all look for good in any situation and how important it is to seek help.
Local girls Yasmin and Yolanda make up pop group FLAXXON, they wowed us with their moves and great songs- again everyone was up dancing away!! We then had a bit of insight from the Zaque Drama group as they acted out some great real life scenarios, encouraging the year 8’s to think how they can make change...and treat each other better!
All this is making me hungry! A big thanks to the wonderful team at Romsey Fresh Wholesale, Brumbies Gisborne and Bakers Delight Kyneton for such hard work and generously donating all the morning tea goodies for over 600 people a massive effort!! Morning tea was great, loads of food and lots to do! Thanks to our EXPO participants: CanTeen, St Luke’s, Cobaw Youth Services, WayOut, The Red Cross, Headspace, Vic Police, Sane and Reach for setting up some great stalls and providing support, information and goodies for all the year 8’s!
Next, Hannah, Isaac and James year 11 students from GSC were fantastic, singing whilst playing guitar and really connecting with the audience. The Crew educated us about respectful relationships, through a great local (Bendigo) film called Photograph, the film really outlines how one seemingly small action can dramatically change lives and ultimately effect the mental health of many people.
We were then really lucky to have Sam back on stage singing some original hip hop beats...what a great morning of entertainment and more importantly we are out there in our community talking about mental health and why it’s so important, thanks to all involved in making today such a great success!
We would like to thanks our wonderful sponsors of Live4Life: The Bakers Delight team from Kyneton, for proving excellent Hot Cross Buns at the Launch! So let’s all help support our local business and grab your freshly Baked Hot Cross Buns from Bakers Delight Kyneton! Baked fresh everyday!
Jacqui Carter
Live4Life Coordinator
Check out the two videos below from the day. The first is our own Live4Life song written and performed by the very talented Sam Hasell and the second is a slideshow of some photos taken by students on the day.
What is Live4Life?
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Live4Life's involvement in the community in our Videos section.
Live4Life is a youth mental health primary prevention initiative targeting young people in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria, Australia
The Live4Life initiative is a community-wide response to a reported increase in 2009 from schools, police, community health and medical services to depression, anxiety, cyber bullying, self-harm and suicide in the Macedon Ranges Shire, particularly at year 8 level (13-14years). The Youth Development Unit of the Macedon Ranges Shire Council, along with schools and community leaders, identified a need for a coordinated, collaborative response with a focus on seeking solutions prior to the need for crisis intervention Live4Life is an innovative, evidence-based, local community driven response to youth mental illness. The initiative aims to provide a local solution to a global problem by adopting a whole of community approach to increase knowledge, reduce stigma and improve mental health service pathways that are appropriate for young people.
The five secondary schools and community partners have focuses on mental health education and promotion that targets all young people, their families, schools and community, not just young people with identifiable problems or a diagnosed mental illness.
The 2012 Live4Life Partners are;
- Bendigo Health – Child and Adolescent Health Services (CAMHS)
- Cobaw Community Health
- Macedon Ranges Shire Council (Lead Agent)
- Victoria Police – Kyneton
- Braemar College
- Gisborne Secondary College
- Kyneton Secondary College
- Macedon Grammar
- Sacred Heart College
Check out the latest Photos of Live4Life in the Community
'Live4Life in the Media' has a great selection of articles about Live4Life in the media and local papers.
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- The Live4Life Team
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