Mandurah lads tell mates: ‘It’s ok to talk’

Earlier in 2016, one of their friends died from suicide and they said they don’t want anyone else to go through what they had suffered.

Jack Jones said he wanted to raise the community’s awareness of suicide prevention.

“A very close friend of Callum's and of Nathan's has done it recently and it affected us all in a big way,” he said.

“We’re real close friends and we can see how it just affects everyone.

“We're just trying to get people to talk; people get scared and they don't want to maybe because they’re embarrassed, but we thought if did those selfies and that brought everyone together, then doing something like that might get people to talk.”

Mr Jones said he also wanted parents to become aware their children could be suffering.

“Even parents at home, they may not know their kids are going through something so they can start asking questions and kids will know its okay to talk,” he said.

Callum Dews said he wanted his mates to know that if they were feeling down they could reach out to someone.

“Going through what I did that morning [when his friend died], I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that,” he said.

“Just talk, don't be scared.”

Mr Jones said they would continue trying to get their message out.

“Just reach out to someone, just talk to someone, just message someone, even on Facebook,” he said.

“They're going to listen, they're not going to brush you off like you think they will.

“People are more mature than that these days.”

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