Screenshot of the Reach Out! Website |
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| URL | http://au.reachout.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Get The Nudge You Know You Need |
| Commercial? | No |
| Type of site | Informational |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Inspire Foundation |
| Created by | Inspire Foundation |
| Launched | March, 1998 |
Reach Out! is an internet service targeted at young people that aims to provide information, support and resources about mental health issues and enable them to develop resilience, increase coping skills, and facilitate help-seeking behaviour. The site contains a wide variety of information about issues affecting young people in the form of fact sheets, stories, interviews, podcasts and online forums.
Contents |
Reach Out! was launched in March 1998 as an initiative of the Inspire Foundation to help young people with their mental health. Inspire Foundation also runs several other programs, including Act Now and Beanbag and will be launching Reach Out! US in 2009.
Since the launch of the service, Reach Out! has expanded on services to target more specific audiences. These services now include Reach Out! Central, Reach Out! Community Forums, Reach Out! Teachers Network and Reach Out! Pro. Each of these services often incorporate other areas of the site, especially links to the fact sheets.
The majority of Reach Out! is written in an informal tone to appeal to the younger audience. The writing is often broken up into smaller sections or contains lists, and is usually accompanied by an image.
Young people have been involved in writing content and information in many areas of Reach Out! However, the service often partners with other health and community service organisations to provide accurate and current information. As the site is only informational, users are referred to phone and web counselling services such as Kids Help Line and Life Line. A number of well known personalities have also contributed by participating in a Clued Up Interview or a Spotlight questionnaire, such as Missy Higgins, Jamie Durie, The Veronicas and Rove McManus.
Reach Out! can be seen as three main sections to help users easily navigate to the information they seek.
This section provides information in the form of fact sheets researched and written by Youth Ambassadors involved with the service and health professionals that have partnered with Inspire to provide accurate and current information. Some examples of the fact sheet topics that are covered are drugs, depression, relationships, school, and sexuality.
This section gives information about the different types of help available to young people and how to access resources. Users can find information on how to find the best help for them, different therapies & medication, and links to directories of relevant services and agencies that can help users locally.
All the information within this section is contributed by young people. In this section there is Artwork, Stories and Poetry, contributed both by the site's Youth Ambassadors and other members of the site.
Reach Out! has expanded its website to include several different services.
Reach Out! Central[1] is a "serious" game designed to work interactively to help young people explore how thinking, behaviour and feelings interact with each other. A series of real life scenarios allow users to discover first-hand how the way they think and feel can positively influence their behaviour (or vice versa) and the impact this has on the outcome of given situations. The information provided in the game links with information provided on the Reach Out! website through the format of tips and tricks and links to factsheets.
On September 17, 2007 Reach Out! Central launched as a full version game after a successful run with the pilot program with limited scenarios. The current version of the game allows for further expansion in additional scenarios that can be scripted and updated when new information is made available.
Within 2 two weeks of launching Reach Out! Central was nominated and eventually named as a winner in the Changemakers.net Why Games Matter Competition. The announcement of the win with two other games was made on November 8, 2007. The interactive game was the only Australian game nominated.[2]
Reach Out! Central also came runner-up in the Health Category of the Stockholm Challenge Awards for 2008. Reach Out! Central was one of the 19 finalists chosen from across the world under the Health Category of the Awards[3]. The Stockholm Challenge Awards is a well known international awards designed to inspire and challenge the information and technology industries to create social and sustainable benefits for individuals and communities through their projects.
The online forum aims to let young people share what is happening in their lives, whether good or bad, in a safe environment moderated by staff at Inspire and trained moderators. The forums are not a counselling service but often help to refer young people to information and services. They are also a way for Reach Out! users to connect to each other and find others they can share similar experiences with.
Launched in April 2007, The Reach Out! Teachers’ Network connects secondary school teachers with the Reach Out! service by providing classroom lessons on particular issues that young people may face within the curriculum areas in schools.[4][5]
The soon to be launched service targets professionals dealing with young people and mental health by providing an online source of information and resources. The provision of these resources aims to provide a way for a range of professionals to engage young people in the treatment and maintenance of better mental health outcomes.[6]
All of Reach Out's programs have input from young people - all of whom are volunteers. Reach Out has over 60 Youth Ambassadors from around Australia and it's these young people who have input to the development of the website, and activities in which Reach Out partakes. The role of Youth Ambassadors is constantly evolving and the different tasks these young people undertake can range from administration tasks in the central office, to presentations for the service and moderation of the Reach Out Community Forums.