AN inaugural memorial walk and conversation bench will honour those who lost their lives to suicide.
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The Ararat Suicide Prevention Awareness Group will hold the event on March 6 at Alexandra Gardens.
A conversation bench is being donated by AME Systems in memory of several local families.
The bench will be placed in the gardens for anybody who needs a chat can sit on the bench as an invitation to other community members.
"Hopefully that is going to be somewhere where these conversations can start," Ms Nyikos said.
The walk will include a special guest from Sydney.
"We've been very fortunate to get Reverend Keith Garner, who is the chief executive and superintendent of Wesley Mission in Sydney coming down to attend the walk," Ms Nyikos said.
Wesley Mission is a Christian-based aid agency.
"We'll do a lap of the lake and we've also got (local musician) Parso coming to do a couple of musical items," Ms Nyikos said.
"We'll have a lived-experience speaker and a few other speakers talking about their experience with suicide.
"We'll hopefully have a wreath and we'll do a ceremony by the lake.
"We hope to get as many people bereaved by suicide to come along because it is a very moving ceremony, and we'd also like to have members of the public come along, members of the emergency services, and local councillors.
"The mayor has been invited. We'll also have other Wesley staff from other networks."
The walk will begin at 10am and continue until 11.30am, meeting at the rotunda.
Also aiming to help mental health in Ararat is the Resilience Project, an initiative that aims to provide young people with mental health tool-kits for life.
The program will be held in local schools in February, and will also give parents and community members an opportunity to participate.
Central Grampians Local Learning and Employment Network launched the project at its Laby Street premises in Ararat to a mix of community and business representatives in December.
It has previously been rolled out in Stawell during 2018 and St Arnaud before that.
- If you or someone you know needs help, ring Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14. In an emergency dial Triple Zero.
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