Events We Run
We aim to impact change by instilling the values of community, collaboration and conversation into all the work we do.
One of our key approaches is running community-based events.
Chasing Change are a not-for-profit group that has the ambitious goal of preventing suicide.
Each event we host has the same overarching goal; to engage and support community members. Our events bring people together for genuine connection, help the community to better understand the challenge of suicide prevention and in doing so reduce stigma about mental ill-health and suicide.
We run various events each year, collaborating with both for-profit and not-for-profit groups to broaden our reach.
A summary of some of our major annual events are detailed below.
For a look at our complete events calendar, click here.
Walk For Suicide Prevention
The Walk for Suicide Prevention is a community event hosted by Chasing Change, in collaboration with other community stakeholders. The Chasing Change Walk for Suicide Prevention is held annually to mark for World Suicide Prevention Day. The walk is part of a half-day event where community members who have been impacted by suicide come together to reflect, converse and support each other. The event includes speeches from Chasing Change members, wider-community members, local politicians and other guests, all with the goal to start genuine, raw, and real conversations to help prevent suicide. 2019, saw over 1000 people of all ages walk for Suicide Prevention with Chasing Change.
One of the hallmarks of the event is a collective space to remember loved ones lost to suicide. Prior to the event, community members are able to register their loved one’s name with Chasing Change and on the day of the walk the names of loved ones lost to suicide are read aloud.
This formal event then leads into the community walk. There is an opportunity for community members to further commemorate their loved ones by tying a coloured ribbon to either a fence near the Mornington shorefront or another public space.
Through the Walk for Suicide Prevention there are also opportunities for community workshops and hands-on activities with food and coffee options supplied by local traders.
Information regarding mental health and wellbeing, support services and upcoming training in the area form part of the awareness raising activities of this event.
How & When Is The Event Held?
The Walk for Suicide Prevention is held annually on the Sunday in September which falls closest to World Suicide Prevention Day – 10 September.
More information will be provided each year, closer to the event and will be made available via this website and on our social media platforms.
Our Motivation For The Event
Our motivation in holding the Walk for Suicide Prevention is simple – to give the community a safe place to come together, reflect, share stories, support each other and raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention.
This event is key to Chasing Change’s mission of valuing community, collaboration and conversation to effectively prevent suicide and an example of how various for-profit and not-for-profit groups can work together to bring about change in the community.
Who We Run The Event For
This event is for everyone. The Walk for Suicide Prevention provides all community members, regardless of how they may have been impacted by mental health challenges or suicide, an opportunity to come together and show their support for each other.
Blue Christmas
Blue Christmas is an annual Chasing Change event that provides a safe and supportive environment for those having a difficult time during the holiday season.
Blue Christmas is an event that seeks to enable people to come together with fellow community members at a time where they may be feeling isolated and especially impacted by grief and loss.
The event, held at sunset, has a reflective and supportive atmosphere, where live music, poems and speeches are shared. Those who wish, can light a candle in remembrance, taking time to reflect about loss they may have experienced.
Support Services are available at the event for those who may need someone to talk to, as is printed information about seeking support from services in the community after the event.
When Is Blue Christmas?
Blue Christmas is held in late December every year, to bring together those who are bereaved by suicide or other loss and to provide support for each other during what can be a particularly difficult time of year.
Blue Chrismas is held in Beauty Park, near the Frankston foreshore. Beauty Park is an idyllic setting with sunset views and a small lake. The natural environment and tones of the dusk start time set the atmosphere for the reflective event.
More information will be provided each year, closer to the event and will be made available via this website and on our social media platforms.
Our Motivation For Blue Christmas
As with all of our events, Blue Christmas was started by one of our lived-experienced members with a desire to provide a supportive and reflective space for members of the wider community to come together and remember their loved ones.
The inaugural Blue Christmas event held in December 2019 bought together 60 community members.
With many of Chasing Change’s members personally impacted by a suicide loss, we appreciate how difficult the holiday period can be. Everyone’s experience of grief and loss is unique. This is where the motivation for Blue Christmas comes from. We wanted to provide an event without a set agenda, one that allows people to come together, see they are not alone, and reflect in their own way.
Who we run the event for
As members of Chasing Change, we tend to think – If this event would help us, maybe there are other people out there in our community who may also find benefit.
Like many of our events, when we run Blue Christmas we have no preconceived idea of who or how many people attend. It is an event for anyone who wants to be part of a community reflecting and supporting one another.
In summary
Whether it is the 60 people who attended the first Blue Christmas, or the 1000 people who attended the 2019 Walk for Suicide Prevention, Chasing Change are are just a team of community members trying to open up opportunities for support and sharing in our community. All of our events are created with this in mind.
