Q&A: Celebrating RightByYou’s WA Youth Award nomination

This nomination means a lot to the Suicide Prevention Coordinator team. We’ve worked hard to establish RightByYou as a meaningful and accessible resource for young people, and it’s particularly special knowing that the program has been co-designed and led by young people in Perth.

Being recognised in a state-wide award is a wonderful acknowledgement of the work that has gone into building RightByYou and, importantly, the contribution of the young people who have helped shape it. Their ideas, experiences and perspectives have been central to how the platform has developed, and we’re really proud to see their contribution recognised.

Partnerships have played a huge role in the reach and uptake of RightByYou.

We’ve worked with organisations such as Freestyle Now, Pixel Expo, Sneakerland and a range of youth expos and community events to connect with young people in spaces they already enjoy and feel comfortable in.

Two particularly exciting partnerships this year have been with Gymnastics WA and Swimming WA, who adopted RightByYou as their youth mental health partner and showcased the platform at their state championships. This allowed the RightByYou message to reach young people, families and communities across WA through major sporting events.

We also partnered with youth-led organisation Kids of Purple to develop new RightByYou content focused on family and domestic violence (FDV), helping young people recognise when a friend may be experiencing FDV and understand how they can offer support.

At its heart, though, our most valuable partnerships are with local youth groups, schools, community organisations, local governments and grassroots initiatives. Building genuine relationships with organisations already connected to their local communities has allowed RightByYou to reach young people in a much more organic and meaningful way.

One of the biggest lessons has been the importance of giving young people genuine ownership and a voice in the work, rather than simply asking for their feedback at the end.

Through the RightByYou Ambassador Program, young people have shared their perspectives, ideas and creativity, helping us communicate suicide prevention and mental health information in ways that resonate with their peers.

We’ve learned that young people see the world differently, particularly when it comes to social media and what captures their attention. Young people want to see content that feels authentic and reflects their lives, interests and experiences.

Giving them the opportunity to shape RightByYou has made the initiative far more relevant and meaningful. Involving them in creating promotional content, web resources and merchandise has made a real difference to engagement.

We’ve also learned that meaningful change doesn’t happen in isolation. Working alongside our partners helps ensure the work remains responsive to the needs of young people and their communities.

One of our biggest achievements has been seeing RightByYou reach more than 160,000 individual visitors, driven by growing partnerships, community engagement and advertising.

We’re also proud to have recently rewritten and simplified the website to make it more accessible and age-appropriate for younger users.

We’re continuing to build on the creative side of the platform too, with new artwork being commissioned from young artists and new social media content being developed.

It’s exciting to see RightByYou continue to evolve while keeping young people at the centre of its development.

Our priority is to continue strengthening our relationships with youth groups, grassroots community initiatives, local governments and youth services, so that RightByYou continues to reach young people in the spaces that matter to them.

We also want to continue ensuring that young people have a genuine voice in the ongoing growth and development of RightByYou – from the content and design of the website through to social media, partnerships and future initiatives.

Ultimately, we want RightByYou to continue growing as a resource that young people see as relevant, accessible and genuinely made with them, rather than simply for them.