Civic2Surf was created in 2011 by five ANU students who ran 340km from Canberra to Bondi Beach in one week. This team managed to raise $11,000 for Batyr, whilst also raising awareness for youth mental health issues. Following this event, the profile of Civic2Surf dramatically increased within the ANU Community and many more students wanted to become involved.
In 2012, Civic2Surf changed the 340km journey into a relay format, allowing the involvement of more than 60 participants. Civic2Surf continues to expand with rising success and popularity. In 2013 and 2014 the event successfully raised over $40,000 to help Batyr continue its mission to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Now in its 5th year, the 2015 Civic2Surf will take place on October 2 and 3rd. 60 ANU students will tag-team their way across 340kms in the hope of raising $50,000 to help support Batyr’s school and university programs. All donations over $2 are tax-deductible.
We would warmly welcome your support to help us reach this goal.
Batyr is a social enterprise that focuses on preventative education in the area of youth mental health. Batyr’s aim is to give a voice to the ‘elephant in the room’ by engaging, educating and empowering young people to reach out for support from a wide range of mental health services around them.
The backbone of Batyr’s work is the ‘Being Herd’ program, which trains young people who have experienced and successfully managed mental ill-health to use their personal stories to educate other young people on the benefits of reaching out during difficult times. Batyr programs are currently run in high schools and universities across NSW, the ACT, Queensland and Victoria.
The need for Batyr’s work is illustrated below. In the average Australian classroom, there are 30 students. 7 will deal with a significant mental health issues. 2 will seek help. 5 will suffer in silence.
Your donation can help address this problem and lend a voice to the elephant in the room.
Who’s behind this campaign?
Civic2Surf is student-led initiative. From gaining police approval for the event, to training sixty runners up to scratch, Civic2Surf is conceived, organised, and run (literally!) by students who are passionate about the work Batyr is doing in the mental health space.