Jodie

20 hours SILENCE!

Not a bungee jump. Not a 5 day trek. A challenge I will find much, much harder. 

Silence for 20 hours! 

This includes sitting in a 2x2 metre square in a warehouse, alongside 400 other participants, with no talking and no technology for 20 hours. All I’ll have are the essentials I bring with me: a chair, journal, water, and food. No distractions.

It’s a small glimpse of the isolation a lot of people with mental health struggles feel every day. I know it’s going to be tougher than I expect — physically, mentally, emotionally — but I’m doing it to stand in solidarity with the people navigating these experiences every day. 

Why am I doing this?

Suicide is still the leading cause of death for young people aged 15–44 and only 2% of mental health funding goes towards prevention (Mental Health Commission, 2022).

Prevention has always been the bit I’m most passionate about. I’ve been lucky — I’ve had the time and support to build my own tools for handling life’s harder moments. But young people today are dealing with so much more, social media especially, and they need that support and understanding now more than ever.

That’s why I’m raising money for 20Talk — a mental health charity run by young people, for young people, making support actually accessible. Every $120 raised puts someone through a full-day Mental Health Maintenance course, completely free, giving them real tools to look after themselves or reaching out before things get to crisis point.

Thank you for reading and for anything you can give. Check in on those around you, encourage people to talk. It might genuinely change someone’s life.