On Friday 12 August, CGS Senior School students gathered in the Quad to raise awareness for mental health and the impact that it can have on young men, and to change the types of conversations being held around suicide. The social media campaign, #ITSOKAYTOTALK, began with a UK rugby player, Luke Ambler, deciding to take the conversation (or lack of) around mental health into his own hands after his brother-in-law took his own life very suddenly.
This conversation graduated into the social media campaign, and has rapidly spread throughout Australia, and the world, and helped to facilitate more open conversations around one of the leading causes of death in young men.
CGS School Captain, Ben McGinness said that ‘we understand the severity of the impact that mental health issues can have on daily lives, and it is important for men to recognise that talking makes it easier to overcome various problems and that it is okay to express your feelings. As a part of the #ITSOKAYTOTALK initiative, CGS students gathered in the Quad to raise awareness about mental health.’