At the Kade Macdonald Foundation, the mental health and wellbeing of our local young people is the highest priority. In 2021, KMF received a $10,000 suicide prevention grant from Wellbeing SA for our program initiative, Train the Village; Save a Child.
We are delighted to finally be in a position to roll this program out into the community.
Now, with four fully-trained and accredited instructors within KMF, we are offering free training for up to 60 mid-northerners in Youth Mental Health and First Aid. This is a two day intensive course aimed at fortifying a cross-section of the community’s ability to respond to critical incidents of mental ill-health experienced by our young people.
The SA Suicide Prevention Plan 2017-21 highlights that “Communities need to be prepared and resourced appropriately to respond to a person in distress, to show compassion and give hope for recovery.” It is extremely important to have active, compassionate channels of communication available. We at KMF believe Train the Village, Save a Child is an important step forward in building human resources and resilience within our community.
The initial course dates were be delivered by Lorna Woodward (Lifeline Connect) and Tracey Davies (Clare Medical Centre) on 11th November, 2022, at the Clare Medical Centre.
Another course is proposed to be held in Port Pirie on 15th and 16th December 2022, and this too is already almost fully booked. Please contact Lorna at Lifeline if you are interested in attending.
Likewise, expressions of interest for future course dates are encouraged. KMF would like to hear from you – the first 60 places are free of charge!
KMF is offering the training across all sections of the community with a youth focus: sporting clubs, high schools, businesses employing young apprentices, and emergency services (including ambulance volunteers, hospital and other medical services).
Adults will be trained to readily identify youth-at-risk and engage with them through compassionate conversation, leading them towards ongoing professional support and assistance. Improved interactions between local youth and a more clued-in adult cohort will hopefully improve access to support services, with those, in turn, being managed by more clued-in adults.
Through the Kade Macdonald Foundation, the greater mid north community has invested a huge amount of energy, time and personal funds towards creating greater resources and support for local youth, following the suicides (and attempted suicides) of several of our young people over the past eight years or so.
KMF also plans to deliver community training via a four hour face-to-face “Conversations about Suicide” course down the track.