Organisation tackling regional men's loneliness wins mental health award

An organisation aiming to reduce loneliness in young men in the regions was named as one of two organisations to win the prevention and promotion award at the 2024 WA Mental Health Awards last month.

M8D8 is a campaign launched by Youth Focus which looks to tackle loneliness, isolation and remoteness affecting young men in the regions.

The campaign included videos shared on social media encouraging young people to discuss what was going on in their lives, including their mental health.

The program was headed by Youth Focus regional manager for Peel and the South West Mark Barrett-Lennard, and co-designed by a group of young men from the regions.

Mr Barrett-Lennard said it was an honour to win the award given the large group of people in the sector who worked tirelessly.

“People work community services for long careers and they dedicate themselves to kind of social problems and the kind of suffering that occurs in the community,” he said.

“There are relatively few awards, so it’s nice to celebrate it — it’s certainly nice to get together, because there were lots of other finalists.

“I know my name was prominently on the nomination and prominently on the award, but there were lots of other people in the organisation and in the community services sector who contributed.”

Mr Barrett-Lennard said mental health was an issue made worse in regional settings, and it was not going away.

“We know that rates of suicide deaths amongst young men certainly are higher than other segments of the population, and in the South West it’s very impactful,” he said.

“Certainly from Mandurah to the South West, lots and lots of young people will know of someone or be connected to someone who has died by suicide, so that’s a big part of our work and something that we encounter a lot in the work that we’re doing.”

The category ended up being a clean sweep for the South West, with both winners of the category being from the region.

Bridgetown-based Blackwood Youth Association was named a joint winner for its work providing mental health services, support and prevention programs to at-risk and marginalised young people.

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