Good Guidance
with Karyn Baxter, Jenny Morris,
& Silke Hetherington.
FROM THE GUIDANCE OFFICE
Last Thursday, along with many other Australians, our school took the time to celebrate RU OK? Day.
It was 1995, when much-loved Barry Larkin was far from ok and his suicide left family and friends in deep grief and with endless questions. In 2009, his son Gavin Larkin chose to champion just one question to honour his father and to try and protect other families from the pain his endured.
"Are you OK?"
What started as an idea to make a documentary to raise awareness, the team Gavin gathered quickly realised the documentary alone wouldn’t be enough. To genuinely change behaviour Australia-wide, a national campaign was needed. And from this realisation, R U OK? was born.
Gavin remained a passionate champion of the fact a conversation could change a life, even as cancer ended his in 2011. His legacy is a national Conversation Movement that is equipping Australians with the skills and confidence to support those struggling with life.
The results of the most recent study undertaken by RUOK? In 2019 were that 37% of Australians are confident they know the signs to look for if someone is struggling with life ; 41% of Australians didn’t ask R U OK? in the last 12 months because they were not sure that they knew the signs and 49% of Australians believe knowing the signs would increase their confidence in starting a conversation with someone they care about. With this in mind, the RU OK? team continue the journey of how to recognise signs that someone is struggling, when to ask and how to do it.