Strength to Speak

Strength to Speak is a non-profit education event in support of The Australian Foundation For Mental Health Research, known as AFFIRM, aiming to empower young people with the ability to identify key signs of depression in those around them, and the confidence and skills necessary to be able to reduce the risk of depression and anxiety.

The event will take place over a period of 112 days, with a starting date of 1st August 2007. The event will see Amy Banson walk nearly 4,000 kms from Perth to Canberra.

Throughout the event, over 420 schools across the nation will be supplied with pre-recorded DVD seminars to be played on two week intervals as well as supporting merchandise to maintain and strengthen learned skills from the DVD seminars.

The eight-chapter DVDs will be a combination of updates on the location of the team as well as further education on the ways of reducing the risk of depression and anxiety. Libby Lenton is the Strength to Speak DVD presentor.

Strength to Speak is not a fundraising event. The rural route the team will be taking is symbolic of the loneliness that young people may feel during a depressive episode. The objective of involving the wider population is to educate and encourage discussion on depression and anxiety through the raising of awareness of an illness that affects many people throughout Australia.

Amy and her teams (both Canberra-based and on road) are dedicated to seeing the success of this project, including the embracement of the Strength to Speak initiative within schools across the nation and the creative and symbolic statement made by walking across rural Australia.