Rotary Youth Suicide Awareness Program

Youth suicide is the last taboo. In Australia, adolescents are the only group in the community whose health has not improved over the past thirty years, and youth suicide rates are now higher than deaths from road accidents across all age groups.

For nearly 20 years, Phil Wheatley, a member of the Rotary Club of Brighton North, has been a driving force in the Youth Suicide Awareness program and has spoken at countless Rotary club meetings spreading the message and obtaining support to sponsor people in regular contact with youth to undertake the Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health.  Over that period there have been in excess of 135 scholarships awarded throughout the District and a total investment by 35 clubs in the District of in excess of $500,000 to such scholarships.