Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: More music, better mental health.
Only on IPL Radio.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Here today, I'm presenting with the wonderful Oscar From Zero to Hero.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Thanks so much.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Thank you for coming down.
So I'm going to start with a little bit of an introduction. Please. Oscar, could you tell me about yourself and what is something or someone that inspires you?
[00:00:23] Speaker A: Oh, great question. Well, I'm Oscar. I'm the partnerships and fundraising manager of Zero2Hero, a WA based youth mental health organization.
And people that inspire me, actually. The people that are like closest connected to me, like my friends, my family, the ones that are trying to look inward, the ones to connect themselves but also zooming out from their own perspective and thinking, where do I fit in and amongst a variety of different things and how can I give to make a better place?
[00:00:52] Speaker B: That's wonderful.
What is Zero to Hero? If, if someone didn't know what the program is, how would you describe it? What is their core values or mission? What is the organization about?
[00:01:04] Speaker A: So we exist to provide preventative mental health education, right? So we exist in WA across every single region of wa and what we do is, is we go out to schools or we connect with young people to be able to finally educate them on what is mental health, what is mental illness, what's the difference between the two? But what are the core fundamental principles that make up really good mental health coupled with how do I actually support my friends around me and guide them towards help if they need it? We're doing that because it responds to a need for these young people. Right now what we're seeing is that people are affected by mental health, but they're not actually taught the tangibles to be able to look after themselves and others. And that's exactly what we do. So we start from as young as the age of seven all the way through to the age of 18.
And we teach in school programs that might last an hour through to school programs that last six weeks. Then we have camp programs that are five days out in the bush. And then we also do safe talk training and mental health first aid. What that means is it's a full spectrum of preventative education that layers key topics and competencies for a young person. So by the time that they're 18, they're actually very well versed in this space and hopefully better position moving forward.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: That is wonderful. Zero to Hero just really kind of targeting that age demographic because personally, you know, I can see the struggles within my demographic. And if you're not taught about these mental health strategies at these, the younger age, then it's going to be harder, I guess, when you're dealing with more deeper adversities. And it does carry on towards like adulthood.
So I guess Zero to Hero ensures young people feel heard and supported by within like the program. I could you talk about the camp? Because I'm very interested about what you do at the camp.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah, so the camp program is definitely like our concentrated program. It's like the core element of what Zero to Hero does. Our school programs sort of feed into this camp experience? Because what it looks like is it's five days. Usually at Nanga Bush Camp, in dwelling up five days where we first off we, we take phones away.
The number one challenge it seems in 2026 is that each young person that participates in the program will be without their phone for five days.
Now we have two different camp programs. They essentially are the same at a core, but we have Camp Hero youth, which is for 13 to 15 year olds. And that one's focused around understanding community and the role that we play within community.
That then moves into Camp Hero leadership, which is for 15 to 18 year olds. And that's around individual development, understanding who you are as a person, what your strengths are, what your vulnerabilities are and how to utilize both of those.
And then we teach the tangible skills after being able to look after yourself first. Then we teach the skills of how do I actually look after my friends.
So we train each young person in what's called suicidal alertness training. It's a half day workshop that helps you identify, identify someone who might be struggling, how to actually have a conversation with them, how to listen and guide them towards help.
The reason we're doing all of this is because we know that one in four young people are struggling with mental illness. But what is also a fact is that 75% of mental health illnesses actually emerge or begin to form before the age of 25, 50% before the age of 15.
And so what that means is, is that as much as someone might struggle or meet mental health challenge later on in life, potentially the formations of that started to happen during an earlier stage for them. We know that that stage where you're in your teens is actually a critical stage of development.
And then combine that with. We know that 80% of young people will say that they'll reach out to a friend first when they're struggling. So they're not going to flag something necessarily with a teacher, their parent or a school counselor. First they will flag something with a friend.
What we're seeing is if we're not educating young people, and they're not educated to look after themselves. That means that they've not got the skills to be able to support themselves at a time when they potentially need it most. And equally, they haven't got the skills to be able to support that friend that flags something with them first.
So you've got this critical cycle of outcomes that potentially can continue to occur if we do not embed preventative education.
And that's why we deliver the programs that we do, because then we're creating young mental health ambassadors that are strengthened for themselves, but also when they return to their community, they have the skills to be able to potentially create better change.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Wow, that's wonderful. And so participants that engage in these programs, do they eventually carry on to becoming mentors and facilitate these programs?
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Yeah, we have some amazing mentors and volunteers that are part of the Zero2Hero community. As every time we have a camp Hero group graduate from their camp, they're immediately part of the Zero2Hero alumni, and they're connected to Zero2Hero for life. The really inspiring thing now is, is that we have alumni that have been part of camp either last week, last year, five years ago, or even 10 years ago. And so that what that means is that when they're referencing their learning that they had on camp, they're saying, yeah, I might have got this learning when I was 15, but now I'm 25, and I still carry the lessons that I learned during that critical week. For me, we're really pleased to see some of our alumni continue. Some of them try and continue immediately following camp. They want to volunteer, and they do. Some of them wait until they're 21, and then they mentor on that camp so they can be a supporter for the next generation of young people that are coming through.
And we've even seen some go on to become the facilitators on that camp themselves who want to go down a path of studying psychology, studying youth work, social services sort of stuff, and wanting to make a difference in community. And so it's a very beautiful place. 02Hero has a very large array of supporters, and we're really happy to have them all.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Yeah. So I'm guessing because I know some students at my high school that undertook the program, and I kind of, you know, me and my other friends, we didn't know this existed up until she did the program and, like, posted it on her Instagram. How do you go reach out to school schools first or do individuals, like, apply online? What is the process work? How does it work?
[00:07:55] Speaker A: So there's. I think the avenues into Camp Hero are quite varied because.
Because mental health education isn't consolidated within an approach for young people at the moment. It's not like you are entering school and near seven or eight that you're doing mental health education once a week in school already. It relies on us as a third party coming in and delivering that education.
So then when it comes to Camp Hero applications, anyone is welcome to apply year round.
But that might mean that you were in school and your teachers have promoted the program and said this is what's available.
You, you might not have seen us in school yet, but your parents have found the camp online somewhere and they've encouraged you to apply, or the young person themselves might just find it on their own accord.
What that means is, is that as long as it connects with young people, they're welcome to apply whenever. But it's important that we all play a role in that referral process because I think there's a really high value in young people, particularly connecting with not for profit community initiatives at an earlier stage to be able to understand what is happening in community and what's available to them. Not only to just upskill them, but to put them in a position to better support others and play a role within the community that surrounds them.
So then when a parent or a friend or a teacher says the hey, I see you as this person within community, I think this Camp Hero program would be fantastic for you.
I encourage you to apply and I might even help you with your application.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Oh, that's wonderful.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Breaks down a huge amount of barriers for us. What's particularly helpful is that the program is completely free for young people to participate. Their whole week, their three months worth of support following the camp is all completely free thanks to the amazing sponsors and supporters that we have.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Wow, that. That is amazing.
I'm trying to think.
Okay, you're good.
I think you like articulate yourself so well.
I want to know how did you get into this role? Let's do a lead way into that.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: So I'll give you the short version.
I've been at zero to Hero for three years.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Three years.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Um, I used to work at Food Bank WA prior to that. And so that six plus years of experience in not for profit has been the best time I could ever imagine working.
Working as part of not for profits, but also just things that have an impact on community has been really valuable.
Prior to that, when I was 19. Oh, sorry. When I was 20, I was working in a school and I was looking after boarding students with a few friends, we worked in boarding communities.
And to say that our understanding of mental health was narrow is a bit of an understatement to the point where I didn't even know the term anxiety. Right. It wasn't something that was necessarily educated at that time. I'm 31 now. Back then it was just something I wasn't aware of.
And so in response to that, me and three friends wanting to make a difference, we set out to do a charity bike ride.
And so we did a bike ride where we cycled from Perth to Melbourne as a team of four. And we wanted to raise money for youth mental health. And in that process we would learn about it and we learned a lot. We decided to learn about that one in four young people were struggling. We started to learn what these terms were around depression and anxiety.
And so with that experience, which was hugely valuable, fast forward to when I'm in my late 20s and I'm now working in not for profit and then opportunity comes up to work in youth mental health. It felt like, oh, I'm just going to be like part of that bike ride again where I get to make a difference and I get to work in something that I think makes an impact on young people.
And so came along the introduction of Zero to Hero. And I've loved it ever since because it's also seen me grow within the Zero2Hero journey as well. When I joined, Zero to Hero was impacting 27,000 young people every year. Oh my gosh, that was in 2022.
Then we celebrated our 10 year anniversary in 2023. We got to start to reference a big body of work. And now as of last year, we impact 66,000 young people.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: 66.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: That's a lot. It's a lot across every single region.
And that growth has come around from people recognizing that preventative mental health education is sustainable, it's impactful, it gets to young people at a really important time and people have gone. It's not something I necessarily understood before, but it's something I'm passionate about and I want to be a part of it. And we're really happy to welcome them on that journey.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: So that was a lot of like destigmatizing mental health because, you know, my parents, generations, my grandparents, generations will absolutely say, what is mental health? I don't understand, you know, even like my, my dad, it's kind of the old man syndrome.
Oh my goodness. I'm like, I'm studying psychology.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: But anyways, yeah, well, it's, we There's a lot of different people that come to our cause, and they either come from a high knowledge base or they come from a low knowledge base. Like you're saying, like people have had different experiences across different generations. Generations.
People coming with an open mind and learning about mental health is one thing, but often they're coming and they're saying, I know that it's an issue, but I don't know where we can start. And that's where we start to educate them on what we are and what, as an introduction, positively to mental health, we provide for young people through education.
And then they start to see, oh, some tangibility to some stepping stones that can support a young person.
So often they're actually looking for answers, you know, but particularly I emphasize that we are supporting young people that might not even have experience with mental health yet, or they might have started those formative experiences.
We're not a treatment service. We're purely preventative. But equally an understanding of where we are and what we provide at a certain stage, and then the relationships that we have with other orgs, other community providers that we're able to provide support beyond that, if they're at a later stage as well, people are looking to finally understand that so that they're not having to understand it at a crisis point when they've got a friend or even if it might be too late, where they go. I just don't know where to begin.
I think people are trying to get on the front foot with it now.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
With your, like, regional people, how do you do you outreach to them?
[00:15:02] Speaker A: So we, our education facilitators are beautiful. They we work predominantly in Perth metro, but when we go to a region, we call it a regional roadshow. And so say we receive a combination of interest from schools, they will say, I want to book you for this, and equally have the support to do so.
We go and communicate with all the surrounding schools in those areas. So, for instance, so when we're in Kimberley and we have Broome reach out and they say we want to book some school workshops, then we connect with who are the surrounding schools around that, and we will be there for a week at a time. And so what that means is we'll get to different schools and we'll educate about a thousand young people in that week. And what's really important about that is that it's quality engagement. It's not necessary. We're not just in and out within 10 minutes. We are either in front of a classroom that might just have five kids in it, it might have 30 to 40. Right. It might be a combination of classes that make up a year group. But it's important that we're getting to these kids in front of them with a quality set of education and particularly because we're there for the week giving them multiple workshops.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Those one hour workshops that we deliver, they go through the core competencies of mental health. So there might be things on understanding anxiety and depression, how to be a good friend, men's Talk, Mental Health 101.
If you can start to get multiple engagements to these young people, then they're starting to layer key topics on top of one another. So they're aware of them early.
Yeah.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: With each of your programs and like the workshops do you ever do. I don't know about you. Sometimes with workshops I always get like, you have to do the surveys and do you use that feedback to restructure or like, you know, change specific things within your programs or workshops?
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Yeah. So our programs are all evidence informed. So we know it's based on things that work and it's responding to a need for young people. But we do capture information around what is the knowledge of young people before the workshop and what is it now? Post the workshop.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Similar with the camp program. What is their understanding of mental health and their confidence levels within mental health pre camp versus post camp? And these start to address, well, now what is your confidence in being able to communicate with parents, communicate within your school?
How confident are you to be able to understand mental health in general?
So when we start to understand that, we start to see where it works and maybe where it needs to evolve.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: Wow. Is applying a competitive process.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: It's not comp. It's competitive in the sense of that each camp program is limited to 40 students. 40 students we do run. We will host 10 camps this year. Yeah. All right, so 40 students at a time. And the application. There is a few questions in the application. So when we encourage people to apply, I say, please do not get scared by the level of questions that there are. It is worth it. And I think anyone that graduates from Camp Hera emphasizes that it's well and truly worth it. But the camp. The application questions are asking you about a. Where you at on your mental health journey to make sure the camp Hero is safe for you at this time. But also what is the difference that you are looking to make for your community? It's speaking to those leadership skills.
It's sort of how are you going to be best placed to impact your community? Following Camp Hero and What's the need that you're seeing within community, within your community at the moment and what difference do you want to make? And so people, we have to balance a lot of different applications A, to make sure, yes, it's safe for them at this time. But also you might have kids that are coming from different regions to participate. You might have people applying for the second or third time. Yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of things to take in consideration. But we are open with our communication to every single person that applies. Everyone will speak to a 02 Hero team member.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: And supported to be able to make sure that they can engage zero to here at some point.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Wow, that's wonderful. And it's great to see that a lot of people do want to get in. It shows that there is that need. They want to be educated and.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. But what I will say is that we have, we're seeing that there is a huge need for boys to be applying.
We have a lot of amazing young women that participate in the program. But if I look at the last round of the camp that we had last week, maybe a quarter of the participants were boys.
And that's not unique to just our program in general. I think young males taking up mental health education is sort of at a lower end.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: Maybe that speaks to stigma. I'm not too sure.
But what we're finding though is the boys that do graduate and along with the young women that participate, they're amazing ambassadors. They become amazing role models for themselves and others around them. And so we communicate to all of them. Being like this experience it was for you. We see you as being a change maker for those around you. Don't need you to go and solve the world's issues. But if you connected this with five
[00:20:19] Speaker B: people, that's already a massive difference.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: If you get five people to apply, it would be a huge difference. Right. And you get one, you get two. Like it's just, you start to see a real difference in community. Because we know that it's life changing, the impact and we know that it's a long term impact.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: It's just a matter of getting to the start line.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Do you. So you do those tailored workshops for men or just not for young boys or.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: No, there's one workshop that we do that is around men's talk specifically.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: But the program is for all.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: For all. Yeah.
Alrighty.
What do you do if you're a volunteer? If you, you know, wanted to participate, maybe you're not in the age bracket or like you Want to contribute somehow.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So for Camp Hero, our mentors need to be 21 and older.
So anyone that's below the age of 21 or might not necessarily have the full five days to participate in the camp program, they volunteer. And they might be. They're. They're involved in the operations of the camp program, they're helping out the kitchen, they're helping out with the logistics of Camp Hero to ensure it all runs smoothly.
Whereas our mentors, they are a key conduit within the education that is delivered. So you've got the young people on one end that are receiving the education, you've got our trained education facilitators that run the camp. But in the middle, acting as a key support during that time are our mentors. They're a listening ear. They're a shoulder to cry on if needed, but they are a guide during that week. They don't necessarily have the answers, but they are a support for you. Right, so if we have young men participating, we have young male mentors, or we have male mentors, we have similar for females. But if you've got indigenous students participating, indigenous mentors, that is a huge need for us as well.
Mentors that are particularly coming with some life experience. So particularly people over the age of 30. It's a bit of a barrier in terms of getting five days off work, perceivably, to come and participate, and it is during the school holidays.
But the program is just as much of a thing for our mentors as it is for the young people. And when it gets to the graduation ceremony, the open declaration of gratitude from each of the young people towards the mentors that have supported them during that week is huge. And the reward that comes with that is massive. So we have some amazing mentors that revisit that are up to their multiple Camp Hero programs now. And we have some people who have just done it for the very first time as well.
But it's always an ongoing need for us. So our next round of camp programs are in September and October this year.
And the call out is for. Yep, Applications, but also mentors as well.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Mentors.
I'm. Don't make the cut off. I'm only 19. I'm so sad.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Soon.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So. And with graduation, you will. Just talking about it and how you said, like a declaration of their gratitude. Do they get like a certificate or how. How does it work?
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Yeah, they get a nice pack to finish off their camp experience certificate to acknowledge their participation in the camp program. And some support resources as well. Some key Information to help them transition out from camp.
And then our team connect with them fortnightly to make sure that they're navigating the learning sustainably.
And we organize reunions so that they can catch up with their group as well. But more often than not, like the group that have just graduated last Friday, they're already organized to catch up with themselves. So they love it. They make friends for life on this camp, which is amazing to see.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: It's so good having, like another network because, you know, maybe in high school you just have your cliques or maybe you have your sporting club. But having this is such a unique kind of, you know, alumni network.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. Like, it's. You'll be learning amongst young people that come from all different walks of life, different schools, potentially different regions, different ages, because the camp is 15 through to 18.
Really good demographics in which becomes a great representation of society.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: It becomes that this is how we operate amongst one another. This is learning that can involve each other to impact not only ourselves, but all the people that we have around us.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: I think I have. I think my questions are getting really limited.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: I.
Oh, good.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Can you share any success stories?
[00:24:56] Speaker A: So many. We've got now thousands of kids that have participated in the camp program.
1 well I will share is we had a Young person in 2024 participate in our camp program from Broome.
She was living in the Kimberley at that time. Yeah, she participated in camp. Loved the experience. Really took all the skills on board.
And then at the end of her year 11, she moved to the southwest region. Her family were up in life and moving to the southwest, which I can imagine during a time like that, you're settled within your school community, you don't really want to move, particularly not for your last year of school.
She referenced by the time she got to the southwest and the school that she was a part of there, she referenced the learning that she had within her time at Camp Hero as being able to help her strength to navigate that time, to realize that she was okay and to take breath. And the leadership skills that she learned during that time, she immediately translated because in their first year, she was nominated as the school captain of her new school.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Amazing to see. So when we see these stories of young people directly referencing the learning on Camp Hero, we're incredibly proud. But we're incredibly proud of absolutely everyone that participates in the program.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, just to see them grow professionally, holistically, and their, like, well, being strategies, just absolutely so wonderful.
[00:26:29] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: And in terms of, like, you know, Sponsors. Who are your main sponsors that, you know, help fund this amazing, you know, organization?
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Yeah, we have a wide range of supporters. So from the full spectrum of people that organize Bunning Sausage sizzle and raise $1,000 or $2,000 to support either a young person to go on camp, a school workshop, or just to support Zero2Heroes mission in general all the way through to some supporters at the very end, like Chevron, who support our regional work. But also our camp program and our school workshops in Perth Metro as well particularly, they help us create these long form programs around compassion and resilience.
But in the middle of all of that, you've got various grants, trusts, foundations, different businesses that want to make a difference and connect with us in a variety of different ways. They either want to see kids on camp, they want school workshops delivered, or they just want to see Zero2Hero grow. Yep. And equally what I say to them is, is that we can give to them as much as they give to us, is that yes, they might be donating to us, but I'm equally able to provide application flyers for. If you've got staff who have families with kids that are in the age range for 02 Hero, they're welcome to participate in the program. Right. And so then when you see that tangibility of, yeah, my business gave to this charity and equally, actually my daughter or my son participated in the program and it was amazing. Then it's like a twofold win. I really like seeing him. And so then when you start, I think seeing the impact that a charity can play in life, because too often our only point of engaging with a not for profit is either when we're in a position to support them, like personally donate towards them, or on the other end when we require the services of that charity.
So what that means is in the middle there is a huge amount of people that aren't sure where they might engage at a not for profit. And so the Zero to Hero programs being so accessible and particularly free for young people to access means that if your business was already connected, it's an opportunity to connect it into your personal world as well.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you're building that rapport. And that would continue to recycle such like, you know, it's mutually beneficial.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: Final last question.
I can't think of any more at the moment.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Okay, I think I've answered them.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: Is there a role that you haven't done at Zero to Hero or you've done pretty much everything.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: I think everyone at Zero to Hero, we're a medium sized Charity.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Everyone plays a role in everything. So at some point we're all hands on deck for things that might sit outside of our role. But we absolutely love it because we know the mission that it plays. So I think of what's coming up in August, we have our in your head forum. It is WA's largest youth mental health forum. So it's a one day excursion at Perth Convention center where we have about 50 to 60 schools participate, thousand students.
It's also live streamed for kids in the region. So if they can't make it to Perth Convention center and they'll hear from keynote speakers, mental health facilitators and breakout room presenters all in this one day of learning. And all of us absolutely love it. So as much as some of us might work in the partnerships, fundraising, some might work in events, operations, accounts, they might be facilitators themselves. When it becomes an event day like that, we all chip in and become an event day coordinator. Essentially we come and set up and volunteer and help out. But we love it because we see the, the impact of the program.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: That's wonderful.
Well, I believe that's all my questions.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Fantastic. You've asked some very good questions. No, all good.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: Thank you, Oscar, from zero to hero for coming down to IPL and sharing such wisdom about Zero2Hero program. And I've learned a lot from this conversation.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: I'm glad. Thanks so much for having me.
