Prime Minister's Pledge Boosts batyr's Reach
ESG Alignment
Supporting batyr’s mental health advocacy, aligning with government’s commitment to youth mental health initiatives.
SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being)
Diona has welcomed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s $2.8 million pledge of support for batyr to fund a new digital offering to help reach more young people with stories of hope and resilience.
batyr is smashing the stigma surrounding mental ill health and creating an environment where young people can reach out for support.
In June 2015, Board Chair David O’Connor, pledged that Diona would fundraise $1m in five years for batyr. “One of our core values is ‘caring for people’s well-being’, so our support of batyr and the work they do as mental health advocates resonates with us. We are incredibly proud of all the hard work batyr has done, and the Morrison government’s financial pledge will help acknowledge ‘the elephant in the room’, said David.”
Diona staff participated in a number of batyr events in 2018/19:
CIRQUE DE L’ELEPHANT BALLS FOR BATYR
In November and December 2018, Diona held three end of year staff and client charity events to celebrate the year that had been, and raise awareness and funds for batyr.
From ticket sales, sponsorships, raffles and donations, a total of $87,000 was raised for batyr – an amazing result that would not have been possible without the generous donations and sponsorship from our employees, clients and delivery partners!
Event Highlights
A hot air ballooning elephant installation took centre stage at the Dream Circus themed events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to symbolise batyr’s mission of ‘giving a voice to elephant in the room – mental health’.
All in attendance were moved as guest speakers from batyr Jono Peatfield, Suz Russell and Matt McAlpine who shared their personal stories of strength and resilience. Each shared a powerful message – it is okay not to be okay, and that help is out there.
Photos from the events can be viewed on the Diona Facebook page.
DARKNESS INTO LIGHT WALKS
Diona has supported DIL in Sydney at Bondi Beach since 2015. In 2018 and 2019, Diona and Calibre extended the sponsorship of the Darkness into Light walks to include Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Newcastle. In 2019, over $200,000 was raised for batyr through sponsorships and registrations.
Attendance at these events was strong again this year with over 4,000 people participating in the walks – a great achievement.
In Brisbane, Ben McMullin from batyr said, “It was really awesome to see a lot of the messages of hope and resilience coming through from all the people who attended.”
Reflecting on the morning, mental health advocate, Aaron Dixon who opened the walk in Brisbane said, “Darkness into Light really enables the whole concept of mental well-being to be brought out into the open, to be talked about and to be seen in a positive way and to squash the stigma that has surrounded it for generations. It’s really important to know that it’s okay to speak up, it’s okay to seek help and it’s okay not to be okay, there are other people just like you, you’re not alone.”