Youth Suicide Awareness addresses issues around the mental health of young people in a practical way by providing scholarships to professionals who work with at-risk young people.
Suitable candidates are awarded up to two years full or partial funding to complete a Certificate or Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health at the University of Melbourne through the Centre for Adolescent Health (Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne).
This program was founded in 1996 and is a Community Service project managed by Brighton North Rotary Club.
Youth Suicide Awareness is now a multi Rotary Club project with twenty-seven Victorian clubs having provided full or partial scholarships since founding
History
Youth Suicide Awareness was established in 1996 as a response to an alarming increase in youth suicides and youth self-harm in Victoria.
The Rotary Club of Brighton North has provided twenty-nine scholarships since.
The Rotary Central Melbourne has provided eighteen Silk Miller Scholarships since 2000.
Twenty-seven Rotary Clubs from several Rotary Districts have provided financial support to more than eighty graduates.
In all some one hundred and thirty students have received support from Rotary.