About Us
"We envision a world where all young adults, teenagers and children have the knowledge, skills and confidence to provide solace for those in need. Only through fostering a community that can support one another in their struggles can we create a better future, one that can share in mental wellness."
The Issue in the Present
Our society is one of many challenges. As we are pitted against the demands of our everyday life and our immediate environment, it is almost inevitable that we lose ourselves along the way, struggling to cope as more and more obstacles are thrown our way. In a generation where our leading cause of death is suicide, mental health must be at the forefront of our attention. Yet we rarely find youth mental health in the media, as we are told that the statistics haven't deteriorated further, and that our solutions are adequate.
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It is no longer uncommon to know multiple peers whose lives are bound by their mental illness. And in a time where many primary school children can name a classmate who is struggling with emotional trauma, we must form a collective hand that holds our community together in solace.
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But a key piece of the puzzle is missing.
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Hold My Hand is a non-for-profit Charity that embodies the vision of one of its founders, who at age 15, pledged to bring nationwide attention to the three pillars of youth mental health which are largely forgotten: effective early intervention, peer support education, and the fight against social stigma.
Life rarely decides to ease itself into its rough parts.
When we become vulnerable to things that feel beyond our control, our first instinct is rarely to contact a psychiatrist, or to reach out to a parent. To the struggling teenagers and children in this country who feel forced to answer ‘yes’ to ‘are you okay?’, who have been lost in the statistics,
I am sorry.
In the last 3 years, I have watched too many from our community fall through the support system that was designed to give a hand to those in need. Mental Health has been made to seem like an individual’s struggle, when it never actually was. After all, health is something we all share.
Hold My Hand was created to bring light to our voices.
Alone, we cannot face one of the greatest crises of our generation. But together, our community can change that. My dream is that, one day, we can have the skills, resources and an aspiration to hold each other when our peers need our hand.
Through learning peer support — the first aid of mental health — we can offer company when it’s needed most, and provide help to those the professional services are yet to reach. By pushing for more federal funding in early intervention, we can find better solutions to uncover the symptoms of trouble before they become the mental illness that ends a life before it has begun. And by joining our community, you can show your support in our battle against social stigma, as we fight for a future in youth mental health where children, teenagers and young adults can help one another in sharing mental wellness.
Daniel Gao
Co-Founder
Where does Hold My Hand come in?
Hold My Hand envisions providing a complete service to create a community of youth both online and in person who are empowered to enact change in mental health. We hope to offer access to as much information, courses and forums that we can find or create, and engage through physical events and social media. We also plan on providing education directly at schools, community-based seminars, public talks and finding innovative mediums and solutions to support young Australians in the struggle against the youth mental health crisis.
We intend to provide access to the networks of support and services to enable the youth to identify and support one another in early intervention before a stressful ordeal or a developing condition can manifest into a mental health disorder. Hold My Hand understands the importance of creating a young generation who are more knowledgeable, connected, and able to work together to find a better path to mental wellness. Only through working together as one community of children, teenagers and young adults can we establish a generation of educated youth who can protect the mental wellness of themselves, their loved ones, and our communities.