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Benalla students to walk for 12 hours for mental health awareness while raising funds for Live4Life
Five Benalla students are taking a proactive step to raise awareness of mental health, and funds for Live4Life.
Alex Briggs, Andrew Noyes, Mikayla Borredale, Sophie Winkler and Erin Jenkins recently had an opportunity to attend the School for Student Leadership in Marlo, Victoria.
As part of that program, students do a community learning project in their home town.
Mikayla Borredale said the SSL was a Year 9 program where around three to six people went from each school and there were around 40 kids at the campus.
“We went to the Snowy River Campus, near Marlo,” she said.
“There’s lots of fun outdoor activities like surfing, cave exploring and mountain biking.
“And we also did some indoor classes where we learnt about empathy, identity and leadership.”
The five Benalla P-12 College students, when asked to find a community project to benefit Benalla, had only one thing in mind.
Sophie said they came up with the idea to hold a 12-hour walk around Lake Benalla to raise funds for Live4Life’s Youth Mental Health First Aid Training.
“We had heard about the Relay for Life that past students of SSL did,” she said.
“It was an idea we liked, but didn’t want to do 24 hours, and decided to do it over 12 hours.”
Erin said as all five have been involved with Live4Life, they decided to do it in partnership with it.
“We all did the mental health first aid training in Year 8,” she said.
“And in Year 9 you get the chance to join the Live4Life Crew.”
Something which Erin, Mikayla and Sophie have done this year.
Erin said the mental health of young people in the area was an issue close to all the students’ hearts.
“We chose it because in Benalla, even in the past few weeks, there’s been a number of youths who have died by suicide.
“I guess that it’s just something a lot of young people in Benalla struggle with, their mental health.
“And that’s why live4life came to Benalla.
“So we want to spread awareness of the issue, and raise funds to help.”
The five students said they wanted to thank local businesses that had donated to a raffle they would hold at the event.
“And Stephanie Brack from council has been a big support, she’s helped us a lot,” Sophie said.
The event, which is from 7am–7pm on Saturday, November 16, will begin at Benalla Library and will take the route of the lakeside walking track.
There will be a sausage sizzle and raffle.
The community is encouraged to take part, but the students said people can do as much or as little as they like, and everyone is not expected to walk for 12 hours.
Alex, Andrew, Mikayla, Sophie and Erin, however, are walking the full 12 hours and are seeking donations.
You can donate online, and the group has already received well over $2250.
If you would like to donate, and do your bit for the mental health of youngster in the Rose City, you can do that via ourwalkformentalhealth.weebly.com/