This September 14th is R U OK Day, part of a national campaign to prevent suicide throughout Australia. Recent research by the National Union of Students and Headspace revealed that an enormous 80% of young Australians felt stressed and over 35% had thoughts of self-harm or suicide. R U OK aims to lessen these statistics.
The not-for-profit charity was founded in 2009 by Gavin Larkin, who lost his father to suicide. After seeing how the loss affected his family, Larkin created a documentary with Janina Nearn to raise awareness of mental health issues, before establishing R U OK.
The organisation is founded on the belief that a single conversation could change a life. R U OK Day encourages Australians to simply ask someone how they are doing, in the process connecting with a person who may be finding it hard to cope. “Ask, Listen, Encourage Action and Check In” are the charity’s goals.
R U OK Day 2017 is on September 14th. Visit ruok.org for more details.