A very big congratulations and thank you to all for getting to the end of 2024!! We would love to take a moment to pause and reflect on the year that has been at headspace Knox and Lilydale and thank all the legends that have advocated, supported and encouraged the incredible young people of our community and furthered the reach of headspace Knox and Lilydale.

We would like to start by expressing our heartfelt gratitude to those that have shown unwavering support to our centres through time, resources, donations and advocacy.

We particularly highlight Share the Dignity. Your donations of period products exceeded all expectations! Providing us the opportunity to practically support young people, particularly those accessing our GP services at headspace Knox and the school clinics. We were blown away by the donations of the bags filled with essential items and some Christmas generosity and joy, we have been loving handing them out to people that come across our centres bringing a smile to all our faces.

Thank you to those who raised funds, advocated and participated in the Push Up Challenge 2024! Wow was that hard work!! This challenge gave us a new opportunity to connect with some organisations, schools, businesses, sporting clubs, police and firefighters across our community. We were astounded by the number of people who got on board and used this platform to have conversations with those around them about youth mental health, thank you to the teams Scoresby Senior School, Cire Yarra Junction Campus and Anytime Fitness Wantirna South for giving your all in the challenge, we really appreciated all your Push Ups and donations!

Massive shout out to Boronia Hawks Football Club for their annual headspace cup! And of course, we honour and thank Dylan Dower who exemplifies generosity and a heart of giving through creating a company GrowClubAu to sell headspace hoodies with all profits going to headspace.

We also want to thank Holey Moley at Eastland for their incredible effort's on Funlabs Day of Fun, we love spending the day with your awesome team. You always make us feel welcome and go above and beyond to show the community how much you support us, from turning everything green to the amazing green costumes! We also thank those who joined in on the day, had awesome conversations while getting into the fun spirit of mini golf, escape rooms, bowling and Karaoke.

To those who throughout the year contact our team asking how you can donate to our programs and young people, your generosity is to be commended. In the busy world we live in it is easy to live in the moment and focus on our own lives and each of you have stepped out and advocated, connected, put time and a whole lot of effort into actively supporting our day to day programs, services and team. Your dedication and commitment have been instrumental in helping us make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people. Thank you to Peace for Patryk, The Lions Club, Lilydale Heights and Ferntree Gully Rotary Club.

We also thank headspace Lilydale Aaron Violi Federal Member for Casey & Shadow Minister Anne Ruston visiting our headspace Lilydale centre to listen from our staff and hear about the challenges we are seeing in our community and asking how you can further our capacity to reach young people in the Yarra Ranges.

We also acknowledge and thank anyone we might have missed along the way!

We also want to highlight the amazing people within our community that acknowledge and promote headspace throughout the year at their events. Thank you for inviting us to hang out in your spaces to meet and support more young people.

Thanks to our amazing lead agency EACH for their continued support into community events and collaborations. We really enjoyed partnering with you at Maroondah Festival, NAIDOC Week and Knox Festival. And a massive Happy Birthday! We had a fabulous time celebrating and acknowledging how far we have all come in the health field over the last 50 years!!

Thank you to all our partners in the consortium; Eastern Health, ysas, Anglicare, Knox City Council, Maroondah Council, Yarra Ranges Council, OELLEN, Inspiro, EMPHN, EACH and the legendary chairs Anoushka Wooton and Kyla Stephens. These meetings are vital to our continued engagement with reaching our communities and we value all your input throughout the year!

Thank you EV’s Hangout for having us make some awesome badges with your young peeps! Thanks to the legends at Fapmi for bringing your young people to check out our centre. We have been so grateful to see mental health continuing to be a priority across our community from the Talkin It Up Mental health Forum earlier this year, to the She’ll be Right Mate Car Show and Family Fun Day and Finally the Lilydale St Fair thank you all for making a space for headspace Knox and Lilydale at your events, we have loved connecting with each of you.

Thank you to Ringwood Football Club for inviting us to hang out at your Pride Footy Games! Cheers to the awesome Yarra Ranges Promenade hosted by the Yarra Ranges Youth Team, we felt very privileged being invited into hosting a sensory space for the LGBTQIA+ young people in the Yarra Ranges. And of course, many thanks to our friends at Knox Youth Services another amazing year working alongside you all! We absolutely ADORED being part of the pride march, school holiday activities and best of all the Knox Euphoria Showcase! Can’t wait to see what next year brings us!

We also want to acknowledge all the different Primary Schools, High Schools, TAFE’s & Uni’s that reached out and invited us into their spaces and gave us the opportunity to connect with their young people in so many different ways, from headspace stalls, booths to workshops. We are so privileged to be able to share the importance of mental health with your students and appreciate all your support in making these vital connections, particularly taking time away from the classroom to highlight the value of mental health, stress, self-care and who we are at headspace. 

And finally we want to take this space to thank the phenomenal people that support, collaborate and show up for all our groups!

A massive congratulations to each and every one of our amazing YAF (Youth Action Force) members, what a team you all have become this year, it has been a privilege working with all of you and seeing your opinions, dreams and advocacy come to light. This has clearly seen in our very first healthy headspace podcast!! Make sure you check it out on Spotify, our incredible YAF have put in so much research, time, energy and skill building into this project. https://open.spotify.com/show/3VNsUmpQ7LrP4v3OXbbj7n?si=1f8b7ae4d07f4aae&nd=1&dlsi=3aa71baf0c9e4fb2

We also have an amazing group of young people that are part of headspace Knox DBT group. Thank you to the absolute legends Greg, Aish, Giselle & Jade! A massive shout out for reaching 10 years this year, what an incredible achievement!! We hear nothing but good things about this fantastic group! 

A big thank you to all our volunteers at headspace! A particular shout out to the phenomenal L2P Mentors for supporting young people in learning to drive. We are so grateful for your patience, dedication and time! Tashena thank you for organising and supporting all the young people that come through our door interested in the learning to drive L2P program!

Thanks to the awesome collaboration with Knox Youth Services! It’s always a highlight working together to create fun, free and safe spaces for young people within the LGBTQIA+ Community we love co running the Free 2 Be Me, 4Me, the pride centre tour and being part of the incredible Pride March every year and look forward to seeing our groups grow next year! 

Thank you to Alpha Doggy Playcare for continuing to support our chillspace group by bringing the best dogs in town to visit us and the young people in our community! We love spending time hanging out, playing with your dogs and having fun. We are incredibly grateful to have you and your team join us.

We have so enjoyed all the groups we have been part of this year from Melba College Change It Up Program, hosting Tuning Into Teens for parents and carers, to our very first Dill With It Pickleball group thank you Level Up Pickleball for hosting us! It is a joy to build connections, creating a safe and fun space for those interested in learning, advocacy, building relationships and so much more!

And of course, we would love to applaud, celebrate and acknowledge all the team members at Knox and Lilydale headspace! We have said goodbye to the legendary leaders Sharon Patton and Lara Clarke, thank you both for creating a passionate and youth focused team! And Hello to Amanda Thomas and Leah Becke, taking headspace Knox and Lilydale to new heights in our community. We honour the Doctors and nurses who have been a vital part of our team, meeting young people with a friendly face and creating such a welcoming and safe space, we sadly say goodbye. We cheers the Intake and Brief intervention team, the headspace students, the Works and Study team, the L2P team and all the others that spend their time, energy and advocacy coming up with new way to make immeasurable difference in the lives of young people from Knox, Maroondah and the Yarra Ranges.

Thank you again to all those who have contributed to us, we’ve been able to provide essential services, raise awareness, and create a safe space for countless young people in our community. Whether through donations, volunteering, spreading the word, or simply showing support, your involvement has had an immense impact! We are proud to be a part of such a compassionate and generous community, and we are excited for what we can continue to achieve together in the coming year of 2025!

Thank you for your trust, dedication, and support. Wishing you all a joyful and magical holiday season and a wonderful start to the new year.

Happy Holidays from the team at headspace Knox and Lilydale