Social Media: Essential for At-Risk Youth, By Tracey Vale

Image courtesy of In2Life

With a whopping 23000 members, this Facebook group is Australia’s biggest social-media suicide support service for youth and, with only 20 volunteers and limited funding, this essential service is under threat.

The group, “Coming Together to Prevent Youth Suicide,” has grown rapidly from its inception last June 2012 by two Melbourne teens saddened and frustrated by a series of suicides in Casey, Victoria, and the lack of adequate support to prevent these deaths. Their aim was to establish an avenue of support and open discussion through a social media strategy that young people can relate to and that is more accessible to them. The chosen medium also means they can seek help while remaining anonymous, if they so wish, and can chat openly, peer to peer.

The rapid growth of the group is proof of its essential and accessible nature, with trained volunteers monitoring and responding to 400 daily posts on issues of suicide, depression, self-harm, homelessness, addictions and bullying. On average, the group refers more than 300 cases per month to counselling services with at least one weekly incidence of a critical case requiring immediate police intervention.

The group has been moderated by Adelaide’s In2Life youth organisation since August, with its 20 volunteers coming from South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. In2Life CEO, Darryn Keneally, says they desperately need funding to increase the volunteer base and to investigate the viability of employing professional counsellors.

Currently, the group’s request for Government funding has hit brick wall after brick wall. With a negative response for federal funding, they are now seeking state funding from Victoria and South Australia as well as philanthropy from businesses and individuals.

It is the only suicide support and prevention avenue of its type in Australia and is representative of the social media revolution, of its potential and of the need to embrace change and use these mediums to ultimately forge change toward a better future for our at-risk youth.

To read more, please refer to the link below. The article: Facebook Youth Suicide Prevention Group Needs Government Funding, by Petra Stark, News Limited.

http://www.news.com.au/national/facebook-youth-suicide-prevention-group-needs-government-funding/story-fncynjr2-1226556182329