Suicide remains the leading cause of death for young people in Australia.
Jim and Samantha Cooney, and the Comanche Crew, are supporting the Harrison Riedel Foundation by raising funds for their help-seeking app, YourCrew. This app is for all young people and is a fun way to communicate regularly with known and trusted adults and friends - their Crew. The aim is to stop small problems from becoming large and potentially catastrophic ones.
Sailing the Sydney to Hobart is exhilarating but can also be treacherous. The Comanche Crew trains hard so that sailing and responsive actions are automatic. It is the same with help-seeking. If we wait until help is needed, we often don¹t know what to do in times of distress. Teens who may need to seek help at some time in their life need to have a pathway in place well in advance - if help is needed, it is then an automatic push of a button to reach out to their Crew.
The YourCrew app does this by setting up regular contact with known and trusted people using easy emojis, photos or writing. Thus building the base of trust, so if a time arises where help or advice is required support is available quickly.
The YourCrew app was released in September 2019 and is now available in the App stores. It is free for all people to use.
With the increasing demand for youth mental health support, we need to raise more funds to keep the app relevant and responsive to teens. Please support the Harrison Riedel Foundation by getting behind Jim, Samantha and the Comanche Crew and raising funds for this incredible tool.
For more information about YourCrew and the Harrison Riedel Foundation go to www.yourcrew.org.au