Learn more about the Lifeline WA Prevention & Promotion Award Finalists

This Award presented by Lifeline recognises an outstanding contribution to prevention and/or promotion in mental health.

These are in no particular order

Radiance Network
The Radiance Network was established by a Busselton mother who experienced post-natal psychosis after the birth of her first child. She fundraised a substantial donation for Lamp Inc. with the aim of improving the mental health services for women in the region. Lamp Inc. partnered with the South West Women’s Health Centre who, together with valuable stakeholders, identified a gap in community-based early parenthood support. This discovery lead to the initiative of a pilot program, run by Anne Mackay, and saw the formation of the Radiance Network.
The Radiance Network provides three tiers to their mission in supporting the wellbeing of parents:
• The Radiance website – an online service directory providing support and information for consumers.
• The Radiance informal group - A free support group for mothers who need encouragement, connection and a safe space to share their journey. Radiance is now held in three locations throughout the south west – Busselton, Bunbury and Collie.
• The Radiance intensive group - Mother-Baby Nurture is a free ten-week facilitated group that is designed to support mothers and their infants through the early days of parenting.

The Wellbeing Zone
The Wellbeing Zone books project began with a need to create wellbeing resources that simplified the vast array of programs out there into user friendly self-explanatory books for young people. The outcomes were the creation of two Wellbeing books; one for children and one for teenagers, which included a 21-day keepsake journal to kickstart lifelong wellbeing practice. The books are titled “In the Zone – Wellbeing habits for TEENS” and “Zone In – Wellbeing habits for KIDS”. They are interactive and explain the neuroplasticity of the brain and how an individual can learn the strategies to retrain their brain to control their emotions, thoughts and actions for better mental health.
The books were first published 3 years ago but the reach became significant in 2019 with uptake by the Department for Communities, Child Protection and Family Support and whole school rollouts. In 2019 the website, and social media start-up enabled a global reach to spread simple accessible wellbeing messages from the books. The project was a collaboration between a secondary teacher (Conchi Chamizo) and an education officer at the Department of Communities, Child Protection and Family Support (Olivia Samec)

Youth Focus
Youth Focus is the leading youth mental health service provider in Western Australia. The not-for-profit was established in 1994 by Ron Woss, whose daughter Melanie took her own life at the age of 17, and his friend Peter Fitzpatrick, with the motivation to save the lives of other young West Australians. The pair initiated a suicide prevention initiative for weekend camps for young people where they could feel safe and interact with like-minded peers. Youth Focus, in its current incarnation, was born out of this initiative.
Today, the organisation delivers free and accessible counselling services to young people aged 12 to 25 not only to reduce symptoms associated with suicide, depression, anxiety and self-harm, but also to build long-term mental wellbeing and help young people reach their full potential. Youth Focus also engages with communities to educate and build awareness about mental health issues and suicide prevention. As part of this engagement, it delivers education programs in schools and communities across Western Australia.

ALIVE & Kicking Goals
ALIVE & Kicking Goals! youth suicide prevention program (AKG) is based in Broome, Western Australia and is entirely staffed, led and managed by young Aboriginal people. This program was initiated by local community in 2008, specifically the Broome Saints Football Club, who were determined to address the rising number of self-harm and suicide incidents among their teammates, family and community. Since that time, the program has secured government and philanthropic funding, grown its team from 4 to 7 staff members and where resourcing allows expanded its reach from Broome across the Kimberley. AKG sits as a program under Mens Outreach Service Aboriginal Corporation (MOSAC) who have more than 20 years of working in men’s health & well-being including homelessness, mental health, addictions, family domestic violence and post prison health & employment. MOSAC also has programs working with disengaged and ‘at risk’ children and youth that partner closely with AKG.