Every day, more than eight Australians take their life. This equates to over 3,000 suicides every year.

For every death by suicide, it is estimated that as many as 30 people attempt to end their lives. That means approximately 65,300 Aussies attempt to take their life each year.

In 2011, the cousin of a team member lost a brave battle with depression and took his life. Shortly after, our community was devastated again by the unexpected passing of a group member’s father. Two years later, having quietly struggled with mental health issues, a close friend of ours also took his life.

While discussions around suicide have been raised a great deal more since these tragedies, we’re conscious that a stigma continues to exist around mental health and suicide.

Suicide is the biggest killer of young Australians, accounting for the deaths of more young people than car accidents. But if we can’t come to terms with or speak about suicide as openly as we do about safe driving, how will this devastating situation ever change?

Having all been touched by suicide at some stage in our lives, we are determined to take the conversations around suicide one step further. We want people to talk, we want people to listen, but most importantly, we want to make sure our friends, family and every single Australian that is fighting their own mental health battle, feels supported.

Working collaboratively with Lifeline, we are proud to launch a new not-for-profit aimed at making sure the conversation about suicide doesn’t fade away. It shouldn’t have to take the death of another family member or friend to remind us how important it is to keep this conversation alive. Mental health is an inevitable part of our society, so let’s start dealing with it and Beat the Breakdown.