It’s taken negotiating two state-wide lockdowns and ongoing social gathering restrictions, but students from across the Glenelg Shire have successfully launched the Live4Life Glenelg program for 2021.

Live4Life Glenelg crews at Casterton Secondary College, Bayview College, Heywood and District Secondary College and Portland Secondary have officially launched Live4Life at their respective school communities, marking the fifth year of the mental health initiative for young people in the municipality.

Glenelg Shire youth development officer Maddy McKinna praised the resilience of the 2021 Live4Life Glenelg crew members, with one launch event being rescheduled as many as three times in wake of ever-changing health restrictions.

“It has taken a few attempts, but we are thrilled to finally have launched Live4Life for 2021 across all of our school communities in Casterton, Heywood and Portland,” she said.

“The positivity of our crew members has well and truly shone through in the past two months as they quickly adapted to the many delays and cancellations we encountered along the way.

“Now that our launch events have been held, the crew can focus their efforts on running events and activities to encourage positive mental health conversations in our community.

“We anticipate that 2021 will continue to be another successful year for Live4Life in the Glenelg Shire, as we work towards decreasing negative mental health stigma, increasing the awareness of local professional help and increasing the mental health knowledge of our community.”

Live4Life is the only mental health education and youth suicide prevention model designed specifically for rural and regional communities.

Since its implementation in the Glenelg Shire in 2017 more than 140 young people have participated as crew members and more than 1500 young people and 200 adults have received mental health training.