A Year at batyr - 2025
December 17, 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, we’re taking a moment to reflect on a year defined by courage, community, and young people leading the way. Across schools, universities, community events and digital spaces, batyr has continued to spark life-changing conversations, amplify lived experience, and empower young Australians to take charge of their mental health.
From Townsville to Tamworth, New York to the Northern Rivers, this year has shown what’s possible when young people’s voices are not only heard, but truly centred. Here’s just some of what we achieved together in 2025!
We empowered thousands of young people nationwide
Across the year, our programs team delivered preventative mental health education to more than 30,000 young people in classrooms, lecture halls and community spaces across QLD, NSW, VIC, ACT and SA.
Students across the country told us that hearing lived experience stories changed the way they think about mental health - and about themselves:
- “I’ll feel less embarrassed to seek support… The storyteller’s story was so encouraging - thank you!”
- “You gave me the courage to finally seek support for my own struggles.”
- “It made me feel not so alone.”
This is why we show up. This is the impact of young people bravely sharing their stories.
We empowered thousands of young people nationwide
This year we trained more than 75 young people through our free Being Herd workshops, helping them share their lived experiences safely, confidently and with impact. We piloted a new lived experience training focused on systems change, and every participant reported feeling confident to use their story to influence policy and reform.
Young people also led the way in:
- OurHerd ideation sessions with Young Change Agents, imagining the future of safe peer-to-peer online spaces
- Youth insight sessions with The Archewell Foundation, sharing honest perspectives on AI, digital wellbeing and social media
- Featuring in national and global conversations, including championing youth mental health alongside Prince Harry in New York
Their leadership shaped everything - from our advocacy work, to digital innovation, to the way we show up in community.
Community fundraisers showed up with heart
The community came out in full force this year, from runners to swimmers to adventurers crossing the entire country!
Some standout moments:
- Splash the Stigma raised over $94,000 to bring mental health education to more than 3,000 young people
- TCS Sydney Marathon runners raised an incredible $139,522 as a Gold Charity Partner
- Australia Galaxy Pageants raised a massive $37,500
- Civic2Surf continued its legendary run with 25 students from Canberra's Australian National University raising over $2,200
- Trek4YouthMentalHealth saw Mark Gresser kick off his 5,300km walk across Australia supporting batyr - as Mark continues his journey into 2026, you can support him with a donation HERE!
Every step, swim stroke and conversation sparked hope and broke stigma.
Huge investments secured for our mental health initiatives
This was a milestone for major investment from two global leaders in youth mental health funding, including:
- ICONIQ Impact’s Youth Mental Wellbeing Co-Lab, supporting OurHerd for five years
- Selena Gomez’s Rare Impact Fund, strengthening our national batyr@school delivery
We also launched a brand-new partnership with Pinterest, bringing stigma-free mental health content to young people online - meeting them where they already are.
Powering policy reform through lived experience
Across 2025, we continued to ensure young people’s voices were driving conversations in government. We:
- Submitted recommendations to the National Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Agreement
- Called for investment in lived experience training, peer support, prevention and early intervention
- Participated in roundtables with Ministers and policy leaders
- Worked with young people to elevate their voices directly to government
And in June, we secured a $1.2 million extension to the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Support Program, ensuring young people can access vital suicide prevention education through safeTALK and strengthened school and university programming.
A year of standing up, speaking out and showing what's possible
From students rating our programs 100% engaging, to parents and carers sharing car-ride conversations inspired by our partnership with The Audi Foundation, 2025 was overflowing with moments of connection, courage and hope.
But most importantly, it was a year powered by young people. Their voices. Their leadership. Their stories. And their vision for a more mentally healthy future.
Thank you to every young person who shared their story; every school, uni, partner and policymaker who invited us in; every fundraiser, volunteer, donor and community who backed us. You helped us reach tens of thousands of young people this year and created change that will ripple far beyond 2025.
We can’t wait for what’s ahead. Here’s to 2026 and to a future where every young person feels heard, supported and empowered to thrive.