Fundraiser pushes mental health to forefront

The Pilbara community sweated it out for a good cause last month, raising nearly $20,000 to go towards mental health care in the region.

The push-up challenge ran from May 11-May 31, with participants completing 3046 push-ups to represent the number of Australians who took their own lives in 2018.

This year, all money raised stayed in the local community.

Headspace Pilbara community development officer Dee Juskov said $19,869 was raised over the three weeks, which worked out to 227,492 push-ups. “It was so fantastic — we absolutely rode the wave of the community doing the push-ups,” she said.

“Every time they sent through a video or messaged us to say they were doing a push-up, it just made the staff do more push-ups as well.”

Ms Juskov said the generosity showed the community was taking mental health and well-being seriously. “The fact they donated to us for it shows that they trust the work we do and the message we try and bring out in the community,” she said.

Ms Juskov said headspace would work out which areas may not have mental health support through traditional funding schemes. “We want to look at what’s in the community that needs support — it could be specific programs — and fund those things,” she said.

“We’re going to consult with our clients, our stakeholders, find out where the gaps are and fill it with this funding.”

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