By DANIELLE GALVIN
THIRTEEN months ago, a small group of local young people started up a Facebook page.
Today, there are 20,000 members of the online community who log on to share their struggles, talk about their grief and most importantly to remind themselves they are not alone.
There are not many people or organisations who could boast such a strong online presence. But for Beaconsfield’s Nichole Hussey, one of the originating members of the group, it’s the older mentors who go onto the page to share their stories of depression and mental illness that helps her realise there is hope.
“When it was created it was mainly people going on there to talk about their grief after losing someone to suicide, as well as depression,” she said.
“In the last 13 months it has changed, because it has 20,000 people so it’s peer to peer support it’s about dealing with mental illness or talking about parents who have cancer, bullying at school, everything.
“It has changed significantly.
“People post positive pictures on there too, a lot of the older members jump on and say there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
The group was incorporated into the volunteer organisation In 2 Life within a month of it starting up.
Monitoring the site for a few hours a day, plus a job in customer service in a call centre means Nichole’s quite a busy girl. Earlier this month when the former St Francis Xavier student was named the Young Victorian of the Year, she finally got the chance to stop and take a breath. It was a chance to see how far they have come and everything the organisation and Facebook page has achieved.
The founder of the organisation Darren Keneally nominated Nichole.
“When they read out it all in my citation, I thought wow, I didn’t realise what I had been doing,” she said.
“All my friends keep saying you do a lot, I thought I was just doing the same as everyone else.”
Seeing some of the posts on the page can be an emotionally draining prospect but the good outweighs the bad.
“There are posts on there talking about suicide and then you have 900 odd comments from people turning it around,” she said.
“If you see someone posting saying they can’t do it anymore, you will see an influx of people saying you can.
“There are potentially about 30 suicides that we have stopped by calling emergency services.
“The great thing is that people are talking about it now.”
When she accepted the honour, Nichole recalls dedicating the award to those who work just as hard as she does in the organisation as well as those who are working towards removing the stigma of mental illness.
“We have had parents jump on and say thank you for helping my child we are talking about it now and sorting it out,” she said.
Visit beyondblue.org.au, call suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on 131 114 if you are in need of immediate assistance or talk to someone you trust.
