RocKwiz’s Julia Zemiro, Brian Nankervis, Dugald McAndrew and the RocKwiz Orkestra are primed to 'go mental' for youth mental health at a special live RocKwiz spectacular 'RocKwiz Goes Mental' at The Melbourne Town Hall Friday 3rd October. All proceeds from the night go to support Orygen.
As the only live performance for RocKwiz for 2014, the night will feature the usual entertaining shenanigans fans of RocKwiz are used to; including special one-off performances by mystery rock royalty and the teams will be asked rock trivia questions relating to songs about mental illness and substance abuse.
Last year the event attracted close to 1200 people to the gig and tickets sold out quickly. This year Orygen wants more people to come along and show they care about the plight of young people struggling with mental illness.
One in four young people will experience a mental disorder in any 12 month period and over 50% do so between 12 and 25 years. Youth is the peak period for the emergence of mental health disorders and they affect more than 1 million young people in Australia every year.
Mental health represents over 60 per cent of the health burden for young Australians. If these disorders are not treated with early and appropriate care they can lead to long-term developmental problems, much suffering for young people and parents, reduced human and economic potential and productivity, and in the worst case scenario they result in suicide which is the leading cause of death for young people aged 15-24 in Australia.
The good news is that mental ill health is highly treatable and with the right care most young people recover well and go on to live happy and prosperous lives. This is why more must be done to ensure all young people have access to specialised youth mental health services that are currently available to only around a quarter of Australians.
It is indeed time to go mental for youth mental health at RocKwiz Goes Mental on Friday 3rd October at the Melbourne Town Hall.