Carlo's 40th Year of Gratitude for Life

Welcome to my Suicide Prevention Australia Fundraising Page!

My name is Carlo Laruccia and to celebrate my 40th year of life, and the gratitude that I have for my life, I am making a difference and fundraising for a cause that's close to my heart.  I want to be able to use my experiences of attempted suicide and mental illness in a way to help others and help heal the world. I am asking for you make a contribution directly to Suicide Prevention Australia via this fundraising page where I will be fundraising for Suicide Prevention Australia for the whole year of my 40th Birthday in 2014. 

I volunteered at the 2013 National Suicide Prevention Australia Conference and felt a strong connection with the people and organisations who were working in this sector and I want to do as much as possible to share my experiences, insight and recovery efforts to date to help others.  I have also been participating in research for the Hunter Institute of Mental Health, SANE Australia and The Black Dog Institute sharing some of my lived experiences for the purpose of creating resources to help others which are currently being trialled at crisis centres before being released nationally.

I have also completed a 2 day Suicide First Aid training program called ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) created by www.livingworks.com.au and ran by Lifeline Melbourne which was a great way of further empowering me to help others.

You can learn some more about my story through some of the following newspaper articles I have appeared in recently as well:

http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/2492009/bringing-light-into-world-of-darkness/

http://www.theage.com.au/national/suicide-survivor-shares-his-story-to-help-others-20140614-3a4th.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/how-a-new-trial-in-northern-territory-could-improve-australias-appalling-suicide-figures-20140614-zs7z3.html

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/breaking-the-silence-about-suicide-20140620-zsg99.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/why-we-need-to-end-the-taboo-surrounding-suicide-20140613-zs6mr.html

I’d appreciate any contribution, big or small. Donations made through this platform are secure and will be remitted directly through to Suicide Prevention Australia.  As Suicide Prevention Australia is a not for profit organisation, all donations made are tax deductible so you can donate twice as much!     

For me suicide prevention is about improving everyone's life and way of living and offering and encouraging others to reach out for support in times of crisis before it's too late.  If you are need of crisis support please phone Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au/crisischat or phone Mensline Australia 24/7 on 1300 78 99 78 or the 24/7 National Suicide Callback Service on 1300 659 467 (Australian numbers only).

Suicide affects many more people in the community than those who have lost their lives or who have attempted to take their lives. Currently suicide is the cause for more deaths than the national road toll - double in fact. 75% of all suicides are males. Suicide is the most common cause of death for Australians under 35 and is the leading cause of death for males between 15 and 44. Additionally approximately every 10 minutes someone will attempt to take their life in Australia.  It is hard to imagine in such a lucky country. 

As well as becoming an Ambassador for Suicide Prevention Australia I have also recently become a volunteer Ambassador & Speaker for beyondblue and will be hiking 1000kms along the Camino de Santiago through Spain to raise money for beyondblue in September 2014. 

I will also be blogging about my hike and some of my life experiences, mental health experiences and much more at http://carlo1000kcamino.blogspot.com.au/ To receive notifications and to follow all of my blog updates Like my Facebook page named 1000k Inspiration https://www.facebook.com/1000kinspiration and then select Follow & Get Notifications and every time I blog or post updates from my hike through Spain - you will receive them!

If you would also like to or prefer to donate to beyondblue and support my fundraising efforts for them, you can click on http://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/Carlo1000kms

Also remember as an OPPORTUNITY for YOU, in keeping with the spirit of the Camino, I can also receive your secrets, stories of guilt, shame, fear, difficulties and other things that have not been shared with anyone else/many others to date due to fear of judgement and shame.  I will carry your stories through to Santiago and Finisterre where we can release together and allow some lightness, acceptance and healing into your world.  You may have decided never to tell anyone but think about it regularly and may be still holding onto it in one way or another, and can now use this experience as a way of  healing and moving forward.   I've carried my secrets for far to many years and thought that I could never tell anyone and now know then benefits in reaching out and sharing. In the spirit of balance, I will also be accepting all of your intentions, creations, goals, plans and manifestations (confidential or otherwise) that you would like to bring to life in the future to add extra strength, power and energy towards these and help you focus on achieving them as I carry them across Spain. You may also like to share a positive change that you would like to see in yourself, the community or the world. Communication can be in person or emailed totally anonymously to caminodiscovery@gmail.com using an anonymous email account created using a pseudonym. I would be totally honoured to do this for you and would treat your story with absolute respect and confidentiality.

A brief summary of who Suicide Prevention Australia is:

Suicide Prevention Australia is the national peak body for the suicide prevention sector in Australia with a role in providing policy advice to governments, community awareness and public education, increased involvement in research and a future role in leading Australia's engagement internationally.

Suicide Prevention Australia is the only national umbrella body in suicide prevention throughout Australia.  Suicide Prevention Australia is a broad-based organisation bringing together diverse interests across disciplines, practitioners, researchers, and the community affected by suicide and self harm.

Suicide Prevention Australia supports communities and organisations throughout Australia, and promotes collaboration and partnerships in suicide and self harm prevention, intervention and postvention.

For more information visit http://suicidepreventionaust.org

Thanks so much for your support!  Please send on this page to your friends and family to get their support as well.  Suicide affects everyone in our community.

Join me in helping to break down the stigma of suicide and mental illness.

Thankyou

Carlo Laruccia