A bereaved Cranbourne father’s 1000-kilometre ‘walk of hope’ for youth suicide prevention moved many, not least himself.
Nyibil Amum, a Dandenong-based mental health worker, dedicated his 23-day trek from Melbourne to Canberra and Sydney in March to his late son Oyiti.
It marked a year since 23-year-old Oyiti – a young leader and talented basketballer – took his own life.
The trek raised more than $10,000 on Go Fund Me to launch Mr Amum’s Oyiti Foundation for Multicultural Youth as a “voice for the voiceless”.
It inspired communities and raised the need to tackle the scourge of youth suicide.
Now fully recovered, Mr Amum says the walk had a “huge impact on so many lives – starting with myself”.
“The shift in that walk was I came to realise many people need help.
“It was just like a healing process. It was a way to reflect on what’s happened, what I can really change and what can I do about it.
“I let go, I felt supported, I heard from other points of view and saw I could have an impact on many people’s lives.”
Mr Amum was buoyed by the overwhelmingly positive response from locals in country towns in NSW and Victoria.
Many confided their own personal losses “to mental health”. They shared tears over lost loved ones.
Started new friendships, Facebook connections, invitations to sit down for a coffee and phone chats.
“Nearly everyone is impacted by mental health either directly themselves or their loved ones,” Mr Amum says.
“This is what I’ve come to know – mental health is a journey which we should walk together.”
In Australia, about 3000 people take their own lives a year – about eight a day. And one in five Australians have a mental health condition.
“The services are there but the rate is very high in the CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) community as well as in the indigenous community.”
On 23 April, Red Roo Basketball – one of Oyiti’s former clubs – and the Oyiti Foundation teamed together for a basketball game and get-together with his son’s friends and teammates to celebrate Oyiti’s life.
The partnership aims to support young people to achieve their dreams in sport. Even on the every day level of transporting them to training and games.
“The message to young people is ‘don’t give up’,” Mr Amum says.
“Life is not easy. You don’t get nothing for nothing, you need to pay a price to do something you want and don’t get defeated by obstacles you face in life.
“You need to talk to someone.
“You need to be part of the community and to be connected.”
Part of the point of the walk was to highlight the disconnection between youth from diverse cultural backgrounds and mental health services.
The Oyiti Foundation will be a bridge between young people and service providers. Its website is set to be launched within days.
Mr Amum’s journey ended with a “beneficial” meeting with David Coleman, who is Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, in Sydney on 1 April.
“He was so supportive and very happy for me to take that approach so my voice for my people could be heard.
“He was very keen to make time to meet me.”
In a video post at their meeting, Mr Coleman said: “Thank you and congratulations on what you’re doing. It’s incredibly important.
“(To bring) attention to the importance of suicide prevention and mental health in the community is a great thing to do.
“It’s a wonderful thing that you have done.”
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If you need help, call Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
