During the Yellow Ribbon Program training in Term 2 this year, a competition from the Australian Suicide Prevention Foundation came to my attention. I asked the Yellow Ribbon Ambassadors if they would like to take on the challenge to produce a short 60-second video clip with the theme 'You Are Not Alone' to raise awareness around suicide prevention.
Jayde Cooper (Year 11 Purple) took on the initiative and challenge and recruited Grace Clinton (Year 11 Purple), one of our Media students, to collaborate on this special and important message. The girls then asked their peers to get involved. Their short film was shortlisted as a finalist and then went on to become one of the winning entries. On Tuesday, there was a screening of the winning films at Village Cinemas at Crown, where the winners and other participants were presented with certificates and there was a live performance from singer Jai Waetford.
What wonderful and talented young people we have at our school who inspire others, who are there for others, who show enormous compassion and empathy for others and who I am proud to know.
Well done Jayde and Grace, and well done to the following students who made an appearance in the video: Kobi Butcher, Jessica Myers-Denton, Natalie Boxell, Emily Knight, Zara Fehring, Ethan Wake, Keilani Trewavis, Jessie Speight, Grace Clinton, Benito Di Battista, Alia Fehring, Ella Tosh, Georgia Berrie, Grace Staindl-Dymond and Jamie Marshall.
The video will be shown throughout the College to promote the message that we are all here for one another and that it's OK to talk about how we are feeling, and what we are thinking.
Here Jayde Cooper writes about the experience of winning the short film competition:
This experience was insane. After being shortlisted for a short film award, I thought it couldn’t get better, but it did, we won! Thank you, Grace, for being my partner in this whole experience. I can’t thank you enough. Thank you to everyone who was happy to be a part of our film. I love and appreciate you all and being able to work on a film that shares a message that I try to voice and spread is beyond unbelievable, and to be recognised for that is beyond words.
There are many reasons why I thought that this project was one I wanted to be a part of, and the main reason is the things that I learned in being a part of the Yellow Ribbon program that is run by Ms Tasiopoulos — that support is always accessible and people will always listen. So many young people are in need of help. If this film could help one person then that was reason enough for me to be a part of creating it. More education is still needed when it comes to mental health and mental illness, and that is what the 'You Are Not Alone' campaign strives to achieve, as well as spreading awareness. I hope this film is used for education and to raise awareness for suicide prevention in Australia and, hopefully, the world.
