Standing together with one mission, 38 Telethon beneficiaries are dedicated to reducing mental health issues in vulnerable children and giving the next generation a fighting chance.

Pregnancy to Parenthood is providing vital support for parents and infants with perinatal and infant mental health services in Perth and Geraldton.

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With the help of Telethon funding, and in partnership with the WA Country Health Service, frontline staff across regional hospitals will receive training in early intervention strategies for infant mental health, ensuring families are equipped for success.

Australian Kookaburra Kids support children living with a parent who has mental health concerns. These children must step into caregiving roles and are often exposed to domestic violence, instability in schooling and housing insecurity.

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Pairing psychoeducation and recreational activities, Australian Kookaburra Kids ensures children have access to fun activities while providing education to help break the cycle of intergenerational trauma.

Starting high school can be an anxious time for young people. Telethon funding has given children who need it most access to workshops and programs for anxiety support, mental health, and suicide prevention.

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A Stitch in Time works in the Mid West to create equitable opportunities for children to build resilience.

zero2hero develops networks of adolescent mental health leaders in the Kimberley, ensuring no one is left to struggle alone.

Bully Zero is empowering vulnerable children in the metro area with the knowledge and strategies to build resilience against the effects of bullying, helping prevent further harm to themselves and their peers who may be at risk.

Standing together with one mission, 38 Telethon beneficiaries are dedicated to reducing mental health issues in vulnerable children and giving the next generation a fighting chance.

Pregnancy to Parenthood is providing vital support for parents and infants with perinatal and infant mental health services in Perth and Geraldton. With the help of Telethon funding, and in partnership with the WA Country Health Service, frontline staff across regional hospitals will receive training in early intervention strategies for infant mental health, ensuring families are equipped for success.

Australian Kookaburra Kids support children living with a parent who has mental health concerns. These children must step into caregiving roles and are often exposed to domestic violence, instability in schooling and housing insecurity.

Pairing psychoeducation and recreational activities, Australian Kookaburra Kids ensures children have access to fun activities while providing education to help break the cycle of intergenerational trauma.

Starting high school can be an anxious time for young people. Telethon funding has given children who need it most access to workshops and programs for anxiety support, mental health, and suicide prevention.

A Stitch in Time works in the Mid West to create equitable opportunities for children to build resilience. zero2hero develops networks of adolescent mental health leaders in the Kimberley, ensuring no one is left to struggle alone. Bully Zero is empowering vulnerable children in the metro area with the knowledge and strategies to build resilience against the effects of bullying, helping prevent further harm to themselves and their peers who may be at risk.

Championing the mental
health needs of young people

Youth Focus is leading the charge by offering free mental health counselling services to children living with mental health challenges. Co-designed by a youth reference group, services remain contemporary and relevant to young people in WA.

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Youth Focus delivered 2,275 occasions of service from Albany through to Meekatharra and Geraldton in the past 12 months, offering youth a safe place to work through challenges using clinically trained mental health professionals.

Youth Focus has been a pillar of the mental health community, offering services and interventions for children across the State. With more than 207,000 young people suffering with mental health illness right now in WA, Youth Focus will be moving to a new home to offer centralised care to ensure these children have the services and support they need to thrive.

I believe the tools have educated and empowered me, and are the reason I feel so much more confident and capable handling situations that arise. Recently, for the first time, I resolved a situation myself and booked an appointment to celebrate what I’d done rather than wait for advice on how to proceed. I feel that was a huge moment of personal progress.

- Youth Focus participant

Raising a community
of strong young minds

Children in rural and remote areas face an increased risk of mental health challenges and Blackwood Youth Action (BYA) is committed to addressing this issue. In partnership with the local community in Manjimup and surrounding areas, BYA has tasked a youth worker with becoming a local champion to build the resilience of the community and foster a culture of support and understanding.

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Your kindness has supported young people, GPs, educators, parents and community groups who have rallied to create spaces and places for kids to be kids again.

One participant’s parent could not speak more highly of this incredible program:

I can’t thank BYA enough for what they’ve done for my child. Before joining they hardly left their room and seemed so withdrawn. It broke my heart to see them like that, but I didn’t know how to help.

Since getting involved in the program, everything has changed. They’ve started making friends and have something to look forward to each week. It’s been such a relief to see my child happier and more engaged.

- Program participant

Championing the mental health needs of young people

Youth Focus is leading the charge by offering free mental health counselling services to children living with mental health challenges. Co-designed by a youth reference group, services remain contemporary and relevant to young people in WA.

READ MORE

Youth Focus delivered 2,275 occasions of service from Albany through to Meekatharra and Geraldton in the past 12 months, offering youth a safe place to work through challenges using clinically trained mental health professionals.

Youth Focus has been a pillar of the mental health community, offering services and interventions for children across the State. With more than 207,000 young people suffering with mental health illness right now in WA, Youth Focus will be moving to a new home to offer centralised care to ensure these children have the services and support they need to thrive.

I believe the tools have educated and empowered me, and are the reason I feel so much more confident and capable handling situations that arise. Recently, for the first time, I resolved a situation myself and booked an appointment to celebrate what I’d done rather than wait for advice on how to proceed. I feel that was a huge moment of personal progress.

- Youth Focus participant

Raising a community of strong young minds

Children in rural and remote areas face an increased risk of mental health challenges and Blackwood Youth Action (BYA) is committed to addressing this issue. In partnership with the local community in Manjimup and surrounding areas, BYA has tasked a youth worker with becoming a local champion to build the resilience of the community and foster a culture of support and understanding.

READ MORE

Your kindness has supported young people, GPs, educators, parents and community groups who have rallied to create spaces and places for kids to be kids again.

One participant’s parent could not speak more highly of this incredible program:

I can’t thank BYA enough for what they’ve done for my child. Before joining they hardly left their room and seemed so withdrawn. It broke my heart to see them like that, but I didn’t know how to help.

Since getting involved in the program, everything has changed. They’ve started making friends and have something to look forward to each week. It’s been such a relief to see my child happier and more engaged.

- Program participant

Empowering young people through footy

This inclusive football program builds self-esteem, independence, and communication through belonging.

Empowering young
people through footy

This inclusive football program builds self-esteem, independence, and communication through belonging.


Building blocks for success 

Early intervention is making a life-changing difference for kids, empowering them to develop essential skills and build self-esteem.

Reducing risk of harm  

A brave father shares his heartbreaking story of loss, and the support that gives him strength to carry on.

Inclusion giving kids reason to celebrate 

Kids who have often felt left out of sports can finally experience the joy of participating and achieving their goals. For many, it’s the first medal they've ever received.

Building blocks for success 

Early intervention is making a life-changing difference for kids, empowering them to develop essential skills and build self-esteem.

Reducing risk of harm  

A brave father shares his heartbreaking story of loss, and the support that gives him strength to carry on.

Inclusion giving kids reason to celebrate 

Kids who have often felt left out of sports can finally experience the joy of participating and achieving their goals. For many, it’s the first medal they've ever received.

Telethon beneficiaries supported change in the trajectory of WA’s kids at risk of mental health challenges.

Lifeline are at the forefront of a mental health crisis in WA, responding to the alarming statistic of 100-200 suicide attempts for every death.

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Thanks to Telethon funding, Lifeline’s 24/7 emergency support service provided critical help in more than 13,810 conversations in the past 12 months to young people at risk.

Embrace at The Kids Research Institute Australia is Western Australia’s first research collaboration devoted to the mental health of infants, children and young people.

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By supporting Telethon, you have enabled The Kids to undertake critical research to create evidence to build new standards of care in children’s psychological and emotional well-being across the State.

Curtin University’s enAble Institute, in collaboration with Telethon, is training Health Science postgraduates to become the frontline of mental health workers.

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Training for the mental health workers is specifically for adolescents and to help reduce wait times across the mental-health sector.

Creating safe spaces for children struggling with mental health, Cahoots Hearts and Minds has built a program targeting social and therapeutic interventions.

READ MORE

Cahoots delivered 158 workshops and engaged with 1,374 participants, highlighting the exponential need for mental health interventions in young people.

Thanks to your generosity, Pregnancy to Parenthood conducted 618 free counselling sessions for more than 250 children and more than 600 parents.

READ MORE

Pregnancy to Parenthood helps build stronger and more resilient family units through early interventions, ensuring our most vulnerable infants and young children experiencing mental health challenges are supported from Perth to Geraldton.

A Stitch in Time is proving that location does not matter, reaching 21,896 children from 108 schools across WA, including 56 regional areas.

READ MORE

A Stitch in Time ensures students who are faced with disadvantage or are living within vulnerable communities have access to essential mental health resources, role-modelling and support networks.

Telethon beneficiaries supported change in the trajectory of WA’s kids at risk of mental health challenges.

Lifeline are at the forefront of a mental health crisis in WA, responding to the alarming statistic of 100-200 suicide attempts for every death.

READ MORE


Thanks to Telethon funding, Lifeline’s 24/7 emergency support service provided critical help in more than 13,810 conversations in the past 12 months to young people at risk.

Embrace at The Kids Research Institute Australia is Western Australia’s first research collaboration devoted to the mental health of infants, children and young people.

READ MORE


By supporting Telethon, you have enabled The Kids to undertake critical research to create evidence to build new standards of care in children’s psychological and emotional well-being across the State.

Curtin University’s enAble Institute, in collaboration with Telethon, is training Health Science postgraduates to become the frontline of mental health workers.

READ MORE


Training for the mental health workers is specifically for adolescents and to help reduce wait times across the mental-health sector.

Creating safe spaces for children struggling with mental health, Cahoots Hearts and Minds has built a program targeting social and therapeutic interventions.

READ MORE

Cahoots delivered 158 workshops and engaged with 1,374 participants, highlighting the exponential need for mental health interventions in young people.

Thanks to your generosity, Pregnancy to Parenthood conducted 618 free counselling sessions for more than 250 children and more than 600 parents.

READ MORE

Pregnancy to Parenthood helps build stronger and more resilient family units through early interventions, ensuring our most vulnerable infants and young children experiencing mental health challenges are supported from Perth to Geraldton.

A Stitch in Time is proving that location does not matter, reaching 21,896 children from 108 schools across WA, including 56 regional areas.

READ MORE

A Stitch in Time ensures students who are faced with disadvantage or are living within vulnerable communities have access to essential mental health resources, role-modelling and support networks.

Helping young hearts to heal after profound loss

Grief is a journey no one wishes to take, especially when it comes to losing a loved one too soon. Yet for many children and families, bereavement is an unavoidable reality.

Research highlights the significant risks associated with childhood grief, including mental health challenges, self-harm and substance abuse, underscoring the need for quality bereavement support.

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Recognising the acute impact of loss on young people, Telethon has provided essential funding to programs and research that help children, adolescents and families navigate the challenges of grief.

Lionheart’s Grief Camps provided a safe and supportive environment for 172 children across five camps in 2024. These camps help bereaved children understand that while grief is part of their life, it does not have to define them.

Beyond its camps, Lionheart’s Raw to Roar program is Western Australia’s first evidence-based, intensive grief support service. Raw to Roar engaged 280 children and 117 families in 2024, offering a structured grief pathway for children, teens, families and schools.

No matter where families are in the grieving process, your giving has provided guidance and care to our most vulnerable, regardless of financial status or location, ensuring no family must face loss alone.



Helping young hearts to heal after profound loss

Grief is a journey no one wishes to take, especially when it comes to losing a loved one too soon. Yet for many children and families, bereavement is an unavoidable reality.

Research highlights the significant risks associated with childhood grief, including mental health challenges, self-harm and substance abuse, underscoring the need for quality bereavement support.

READ MORE

Recognising the acute impact of loss on young people, Telethon has provided essential funding to programs and research that help children, adolescents and families navigate the challenges of grief.

Lionheart’s Grief Camps provided a safe and supportive environment for 172 children across five camps in 2024. These camps help bereaved children understand that while grief is part of their life, it does not have to define them.

Beyond its camps, Lionheart’s Raw to Roar program is Western Australia’s first evidence-based, intensive grief support service. Raw to Roar engaged 280 children and 117 families in 2024, offering a structured grief pathway for children, teens, families and schools.

No matter where families are in the grieving process, your giving has provided guidance and care to our most vulnerable, regardless of financial status or location, ensuring no family must face loss alone.



Combating loneliness

The monumental shift a child faces when their primary carer is diagnosed with cancer is terrifying. The relationship is suddenly reversed with the child becoming a carer for their parent. This can be isolating, facing the hard truths of how challenging this world can be when you must become an adult too soon.

Camp Quality’s Kids Impacted by Carer’s Cancer (KICC) program helps these children to be prepared, find friendship and have a safe space to navigate big emotions with other kids who are walking the same path.

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In its fifth year as a Telethon beneficiary, Camp Quality and the KICC program have now supported more than 1200 children who have had family members affected by cancer.

What you do for families affected by cancer is beyond any words. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend the camp and be around like-minded people. And the words cancer and chemo were not taboo.

- Camp Participant

When navigating loss, people living regionally have challenges accessing grief counselling which is only available through face-to-face sessions. In collaboration with Telethon, Curtin University researcher Dr Sarah Egan is answering this need.

READ MORE

Through Project SAIL Dr Egan and her team have developed a new self-help, interactive digital platform co-designed by 15 lived-experience youth advisory committee members. This evidence-based intervention has helped 88 adolescents in regional or remote WA process the complexities of their loss.

Combating loneliness

The monumental shift a child faces when their primary carer is diagnosed with cancer is terrifying. The relationship is suddenly reversed with the child becoming a carer for their parent. This can be isolating, facing the hard truths of how challenging this world can be when you must become an adult too soon.

Camp Quality’s Kids Impacted by Carer’s Cancer (KICC) program helps these children to be prepared, find friendship and have a safe space to navigate big emotions with other kids who are walking the same path.

In its fifth year as a Telethon beneficiary, Camp Quality and the KICC program have now supported more than 1200 children who have had family members affected by cancer.

"What you do for families affected by cancer is beyond any words. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend the camp and be around like-minded people. And the words cancer and chemo were not taboo."

- Camp Participant

When navigating loss, people living regionally have challenges accessing grief counselling which is only available through face-to-face sessions. In collaboration with Telethon, Curtin University researcher Dr Sarah Egan is answering this need.

Through Project SAIL Dr Egan and her team have developed a new self-help, interactive digital platform co-designed by 15 lived-experience youth advisory committee members. This evidence-based intervention has helped 88 adolescents in regional or remote WA process the complexities of their loss.

Community and research working together to combat childhood nut allergy

More than 40,000 children in Western Australia live with chronic allergies, facing the constant threat of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening medical emergency that can lead to death.  

For Monique, whose son James was diagnosed with life-threatening allergies, everyday moments like birthdays, packing school lunches and holiday celebrations became sources of fear and anxiety. Needing support and realising there was none available, she founded Allergy Support Hub to provide much-needed guidance and resources to families like hers.

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Allergy Support Hub’s Allergy Brave Program is a first-of-its-kind initiative in WA, offering psychological counselling to children struggling with allergy-related anxiety and social isolation. With Telethon funding, this service is free-of-charge, empowering children to better understand, manage and voice their concerns about their allergy.

Beyond supporting families, Allergy Support Hub plays a vital role in research, helping connect children to clinical trials aimed at reducing nut allergies in WA.

Paving the way is Dr Michael O’Sullivan, Immunology Consultant at Perth Children’s Hospital and Fiona Stanley Hospital, who aims to reverse peanut allergies through early intervention with oral immunotherapy. The research combines clinical trials with a Virtual Immunology Clinic at FSH in the hope of building a new model of care that can be scaled and delivered to the wider community to combat more than 1,000 new peanut allergy diagnoses each year.

Having access to treatment means that what I want for his future could be possible one day and that is a fantastic feeling. I mean at the end of the day all parents want their kids to be well and experience life and everything it has to offer.

- Allergy Support Hub mum



Community and research working together to combat childhood nut allergy

More than 40,000 children in Western Australia live with chronic allergies, facing the constant threat of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening medical emergency that can lead to death.  

For Monique, whose son James was diagnosed with life-threatening allergies, everyday moments like birthdays, packing school lunches and holiday celebrations became sources of fear and anxiety. Needing support and realising there was none available, she founded Allergy Support Hub to provide much-needed guidance and resources to families like hers.

READ MORE

Allergy Support Hub’s Allergy Brave Program is a first-of-its-kind initiative in WA, offering psychological counselling to children struggling with allergy-related anxiety and social isolation. With Telethon funding, this service is free-of-charge, empowering children to better understand, manage and voice their concerns about their allergy.

Beyond supporting families, Allergy Support Hub plays a vital role in research, helping connect children to clinical trials aimed at reducing nut allergies in WA.

Paving the way is Dr Michael O’Sullivan, Immunology Consultant at Perth Children’s Hospital and Fiona Stanley Hospital, who aims to reverse peanut allergies through early intervention with oral immunotherapy. The research combines clinical trials with a Virtual Immunology Clinic at FSH in the hope of building a new model of care that can be scaled and delivered to the wider community to combat more than 1,000 new peanut allergy diagnoses each year.

Having access to treatment means that what I want for his future could be possible one day and that is a fantastic feeling. I mean at the end of the day all parents want their kids to be well and experience life and everything it has to offer.

- Allergy Support Hub mum



Pioneering treatment
for children with
nut allergies

The team at Perth Children’s Hospital has successfully completed a feasibility study of oral immunotherapy (OIT) for multiple nuts. This has enabled WA children with nut allergies to be the first in Australia to access this life-changing treatment.

READ MORE

In 2025, a research grant will support a world-first trial comparing different doses of OIT in preschool children with multiple nut allergies, which will help to bring the safest and most effective treatment approach into future clinical care for WA kids. 

World-first
multi-generational
pregnancy health study

Inducting its third generation, The Raine Study at the University of Western Australia, in collaboration with Telethon, is the first-ever three-generation pregnancy cohort study in the world. Researchers will be able to investigate intergenerational genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with disease and disadvantage.

READ MORE

The study has already proven that networks of genes are differentially expressed in immune cells from healthy adolescents versus those with allergies or allergic asthma.

It is hoped that this new cohort will continue the study’s success and uncover more correlations not only in allergy, but also creating evidentiary support to changes of standards of care in mothers, babies and children.

Pioneering treatment for children with nut allergies

The team at Perth Children’s Hospital has successfully completed a feasibility study of oral immunotherapy (OIT) for multiple nuts. This has enabled WA children with nut allergies to be the first in Australia to access this life-changing treatment.

READ MORE

In 2025, a research grant will support a world-first trial comparing different doses of OIT in preschool children with multiple nut allergies, which will help to bring the safest and most effective treatment approach into future clinical care for WA kids. 

World-first multi-generational pregnancy health study

Inducting its third generation, The Raine Study at the University of Western Australia, in collaboration with Telethon, is the first-ever three-generation pregnancy cohort study in the world. Researchers will be able to investigate intergenerational genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with disease and disadvantage.

READ MORE

The study has already proven that networks of genes are differentially expressed in immune cells from healthy adolescents versus those with allergies or allergic asthma.

It is hoped that this new cohort will continue the study’s success and uncover more correlations not only in allergy, but also creating evidentiary support to changes of standards of care in mothers, babies and children.

If you would like to learn more about Telethon and how you can get involved, please contact the Telethon Team. 

Channel 7 Telethon Trust 

50 Hasler Road, Osborne Park WA 6017 

PO Box 1777, DC Osborne Park WA 6916 

(08) 9482 3974 – telethonoffice@telethon7.com  

Acknowledgement of Country 

Telethon acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Western Australia and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise the significant importance of their cultural heritage, values and beliefs and how these contribute to the positive health and wellbeing of the whole community. 

This content was prepared for digital by MINT, the commercial content studio for Seven West Media.