THIS month, everyone in the community is being asked to push for better mental health by hitting the deck and doing push-ups.
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During May, headspace Bathurst is calling on the community, local businesses, gyms and clubs to join thousands of Australians across the country and sign up to The Push-Up Challenge to push for better mental health.
Participants across the country will connect virtually to challenge themselves physically, learn about mental health and help raise awareness of the 3046 individuals in Australia whose lives were lost to suicide in 2018.
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"The connection between our physical health and mental health is well researched so we know how important it is to look after both," Mr Byrne said.
"This challenge comes at a great time, when we're all looking for new approaches to connect socially in fun and healthy ways."
Each day as part of the challenge, participants get down and push-up, with the number of push-ups each day changing to reflect a vital mental health statistic.
In 2019, almost 50,000 participants got involved in The Push-Up Challenge, ranging in age from 11 to 64 and raising almost $2.5 million for youth mental health services delivered through headspace.
Together, participants completed a total of 55 million push-ups - about two for every Australian.
... join us in raising money for young people in our community.
- Jake Byrne from headspace Bathurst
"Young people have been hit hard by COVID-19 with massive interruptions to their education and substantial job loss and economic troubles," Mr Byrne said.
"We encourage the community to band together and support local youth.
"We encourage people who sign up to think local if they're donating and join us in raising money for young people in our community.
"We're hoping to use any funds raised to create more engaging programs for young people while we navigate this stressful period."
The Push-Up Challenge is running now over 21 days from Monday, May 11 to Sunday, May 31.
You can still register as an individual, a team, or get your workplace, club or gym involved as a community at pushupchallenge.com.au.
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