batyr welcomes Federal Government support for young people’s mental health through their digital storytelling app OurHerd and mental health education programs.

‍batyr is excited to announce an investment commitment of $5.5 million over three years from the Federal Government. This funding will support young people’s mental health and wellbeing with a focus on prevention and early intervention. As part of the investment, batyr will receive $3.8 million to continue developing its OurHerd app and $1.7 million for program delivery under the Government’s National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program.

Chief Executive Officer, Nic Brown said:‍

batyr is delighted to see prevention prioritised. Digital interventions and mental health education programs are critical to reducing the growing pressure on services. With one in four young people considering suicide in the past two years we have to do more to turn the tide on the number of young people we see reaching the point of crisis

‍The Morrison Government’s investment will enable batyr to deliver mental health education programs to high school and tertiary students in at-risk communities and scale our digital storytelling app, OurHerd. The platform provides a safe and supportive space to share stories about tough times, resilience and hope. It will particularly benefit young people with difficulty accessing face-to-face services such as those in regional areas or with limited mobility.

Our experience has shown that many young people who are suffering are not yet diagnosed or aware that they even need support. In addition to stigma being a significant barrier, often young people don’t always recognise the signs and symptoms of mental ill-health. Using an app like OurHerd means these young people can hear from peers about how they navigated tough times and what they do to manage their mental health.

‍OurHerd empowers young people to have their collective voices heard to create actionable change. The data captured from the lived experiences shared within the app has the capacity to drive systematic change by closing the feedback loop between young people, government, policy makers and service providers.

This funding is great recognition for the amazing work being done across the batyr community, and we are grateful to have the Government come to the table and back these critical projects. This wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of our community over the last decade. Although it is a brilliant step in prioritising prevention, there is still so much more to be done. We can’t wait to see what else we can achieve through more collaboration and commitment from the Government alongside our incredible partners, funders, supporters and our peers doing great work across the sector.