Guest Article: Why do I think R4R can make the ACT Suicide-free?
Guest Article #1: Ben Alexander
Welcome to the first edition of Guest Articles, where we continue to be community-led by handing the reins of the Rag over to someone from our community, where they’ll write on a topic of their choosing. The only requirement is that it strengthens our community or helps us achieve our goal of making Canberra suicide-free. This week it’s none other than Benny A, R4R co-founder, and why he thinks R4R can make the ACT suicide-free.
Why do I think R4R can make the ACT suicide-free.
Ben Alexander.
Because we’ve already been told we’ve saved some lives.
Now it’s just a case of improving and repeating what we did to help more people and reach those who haven’t heard of R4R.
This may sound silly, but what else gives me the belief we can do it is that 54 years ago, we put a man on the moon. And we did it with a computer less powerful than an iPhone. Less powerful than an iPhone!
But it took a great leader like JFK to get a team of smart people to focus on the challenge, and fill them with the belief they could do it.
And as our mental health IQ keeps rising as a community, and as Breeny keeps growing as a leader, I don’t see any reason why we can’t.
Even if we don’t completely eliminate all suicides, isn’t trying to save more lives not worth us giving it a red hot crack? What have we got to lose?
It’s not like we’re the astronauts heading to the moon who could die at any second if the engineering fails.
And we actually have more to lose if we don’t try.
Suicide has been the biggest killer of people I know. It robbed my Nana of her brother, my wife of her grandfather, and me of a friend.
I’m not saying R4R would have saved them. But it could of.
And I think why what we're trying to do has never been done before, is because it’s never been set as a goal.
Yeah, governments have thrown money at the problem.
But money alone rarely works, especially when the answer lies in effort and connection.
With the decline in religion and fewer people choosing to start families, people are dying to be a part of something greater than themselves. They're dying for purpose, and want their lives to mean something.
And if you couple that with changes to our environment, and how that’s impacted our habits and health (more screen time, office work, changes to food etc), it makes total sense why so many people have lost faith in their ability to do something tough.
How will we do it?
Build a diverse team.
Build a backlog of shared experiences.
Build internal team resilience.
Create more communal exercise opportunities.
Connect with more like-minded communities.
Equip communities with Mental Health first aid tools.
Continually evaluate and adjust efforts.
While the plan will change, one thing’s for sure is that we’ll need a diverse team with lived experiences from across the entire mental health spectrum.
From people who feel great, to those who’ve lost family to suicide, survived an attempt, dealt with trauma, addiction, eating disorders, divorce, retirement, gender transitions, online bullying, bipolar, cancer, being laid off, and even the death of a child.
We need anyone and everyone who’s gone through something tough.
We need to hear what going through those things are like, so we can build empathy and learn how they got through it, which will better equip us all to help.
And we need people of all ages and races as tough times can happen to any of us at any time.
But the problem with having such a diverse team is they don’t have much in common and stuff to talk about.
So the first thing we have to do is to build a backlog of shared experiences, by doing events like the City2Surf and our Gala night.
These will help us get to know each other better, and build a strong team that can be open with each other and debate about the path forward.
A team that will help each other when one of us goes through an inevitable tough time in the future, and we can't expect to help Canberra... if we can't help ourselves and each other first.
Only then can we go out and do the work of making the ACT suicide free.
But once we have, we then need to create more opportunities for people to exercise with others.
We're already planning to add another time to the week with Strolling 4 Resilience, which will help new Mums.
But then we need to create more communities like us across the territory (like Sunday Sesh, Chafe Chasers, etc.) who will reach corners of Canberra that we never will.
Then once we have exercising communities comin’ out the yin-yang, we need to equip them all with skills to help their people in moments of despair.
And if we do that, I believe we will make the ACT suicide free before 2033.
And if you don’t, I’d love to know why, and hear what I’m missing.
You know something we don’t, your message will resonate with someone we can’t, and your article will set an example for others to follow. Over time, articles from our community will strengthen our connection, build our mental health IQ, and better equip our community to pursue our goal. So, please… If you’d like to write a guest article, please click on the link below… and if you think you’re opinion isn’t worth hearing… with all due respect… you’re wrong.