Helen Dugdale swimming laps to support youth mental health service ReachOut

Helen Dugdale is aiming to raise money and awareness about youth mental health service ReachOut by swimming laps at the Narrabri Aquatic Centre.

Mrs Dugdale is swimming one-kilometre every second day at the pool as part of the Laps for Life initiative and is inviting the community to learn more about ReachOut.

With a team member in Queensland, she is also hoping to raise $2000 from her aquatic efforts. She said the swimming challenge was nothing compared to what some young people go through every day.

“By the end of the month, I hope that people see we are serious about the cause,” Mrs Dugdale said.

“ReachOut is a fantastic organisation. Some children don’t want to see someone in person. They can access the information online.”

Mrs Dugdale, who operates Narrabri-based Australian Brain Coaching, uses some of the information from ReachOut in her workshops.

She is encouraging people to share ReachOut’s details with any young people they might know. Or, they can contact Mrs Dugdale.

The one-kilometre swims mean Mrs Dugdale is doing 40 laps of the indoor pool or 20 laps of the outdoor pool.

“We’re lucky we’ve got this facility,” Mrs Dugdale said of the aquatic centre.

When at the pool, she usually starts swimming around 7.30am. People are invited to join Mrs Dugdale at the pool, however, she emphasised that people can swim at their own pace.

ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia.

The organisation’s self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well.

To find out more about Reachout, click here. To support Mrs Dugdale’s fundraising for Laps for Life, click here. Alternatively, you can contact Mrs Dugdale on 0417 064 507.