Our Impact
We exist to empower young people to talk openly about mental health and take charge of their wellbeing.
Measuring the impact of what we do helps us ensure we are delivering high quality offerings that create the right outcomes for young people. Through surveys at the end of every program, and regular impact evaluations (including those with our academic partners), we can understand our impact, and how to increase it.
455,267
young people reached
1,357
storytellers trained
After seeing a batyr program:
“In year 9 you guys came and presented and during that time I was going through a lot of anxiety. After the program, I went to the school psychologist and it changed my life.”
- Year 11 student, New South Wales (Eora Nation)
Our approach
Where we fit in the mental health space
The mental health system in Australia aims to support young people throughout their mental health journey. batyr’s role in that system is to help prevent mental ill-health before it develops and to get young people the right support if it does.
We don’t provide diagnosis, treatment or crisis care. But we do help young people navigate a complex system through unbiased education that’s grounded in the lived experience of young people who have been through it before.
The need for prevention
Mental health is not just about having the right door available in a young person's most desperate of moments. It’s about preventing them from experiencing the distress and trauma that leads to reaching the point of crisis. We must start earlier.
At batyr, we work to prevent mental ill-health before it develops. We know that young people are most likely to talk with a friend or peer support when they are struggling with their mental health, well before they walk into a service, if they access a service at all. This is why batyr focuses on empowering young people with the skills and knowledge to support themselves and each other.
Our programs and initiatives are about building mental health knowledge and personal resilience, addressing life stressors wherever possible. They are about stopping a crisis before it starts. Where do we do this? Where young people spend most of their time each day – at school and online.
Theory of Change
Find out more about how our programs and activities lead to impact by checking out our THEORY OF CHANGE.
Program Evaluations
Find out more about the results of our impact measurement by checking out our PROGRAM EVALUATIONS.
Annual Reports
Find out more about our activities, results and achievements by checking out our ANNUAL REPORTS.
“[The program] helps us to understand how we may be feeling ourselves. I am going to speak to my parents about how I’m feeling tonight because of this seminar.”
- Year 9 student, Regional Victoria (Wurundjeri Land)
What underpins our impact
Guiding everything we do is our drive to evolve our practices in line with best practice approaches worldwide. By sharing what we’ve learned since 2011 and working with others to learn new insights, we’re constantly building on the way we: deliver our offerings for young people and communities, evaluate our impact, drive forward-thinking research and elevate youth voices through advocacy initiatives.
Collaborating with others, both in and out of Australia, is central to this so we can reach even more young people with the highest level of impact we can.
Impact Evaluations
Translational Research
Policy & Advocacy
International Collaboration
Best Practice
Forging best practice alongside leaders worldwide has included leading and advising on committees such as:
- Co-Chair for the Children and Youth Working Group for the Global Mental Health Action Network
- Chair for the Lived Experience Engagement Network in Australia
- Advisors on the Suicide Prevention Australia Policy Committee
- Technical Advisory Group Member for the National Mental Health Commission’s National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy
- Advisors on the NEXUS Global Mental Health Council
- Members of the Global Anti Stigma Alliance
- Advisors for Orygen’s development of the Universities Mental Health Framework for Australia
How we spend funds
batyr is funded by a wide range of avenues including corporate partnerships, philanthropy, in-kind donations, fundraising and government funding. A portion of our income comes from fee-for-service for our mental health programs. In order to keep programs accessible and affordable for schools across the country, most of the fee is absorbed by batyr as well as generous funders and donors.
The majority of our income is spent on program and workshop delivery, as well as research projects, and innovation of our existing offerings.
You can find out more about our impact in our Annual Reports and access free printable mental health resources below.
