Helping 'Jenny'

By: Melanie Draper

Melanie Draper told this true story at the launch of the Reach Out! web site on March 18th, 1998.

Getting help on the net

" Hi, I'm here to talk to you about a very close friend of mine and of her experience with the Reach Out! web site. Jenny has given me permission to tell her story, but for confidentiality reasons, I have been asked to change her name. Jenny is as normal as any ordinary youth is. She has had a few boyfriends and is constantly surrounded by her close friends. She is although, quite withdrawn, which has led to her depressive state.

Over the last few years, Jenny and I have become closer friends, and share almost everything with each other, even the fact that she has attempted suicide twice. I don't think it is appropriate for me to describe her attempts, but Jenny did make sincere efforts, and fortunately, she failed. When I returned from my summer holidays, she was quite distraught at having no one to confide in for the month that I was away. She was in a worse state than when I had left. I found out that her thoughts of suicide had worsened to the point where I felt extremely concerned for her welfare.

 At this point, I cast my mind back to August last year, when Reach Out! had the Real Appeal on Triple J. I also remembered that the site was going to be uploaded for the upcoming December. As Jenny is on the Internet, I took the opportunity to show her the web site. I immediately rang her up proclaiming that this site was so cool that it was worth the time in checking it out, and I started to dictate the address to her. I hoped for the best, and a few days later, (and a weekend come and gone), Jenny came up to me to say that she had been in contact with a counsellor about her current situation.

After many tears, and a few hugs later, she told me that talking to the counsellor had given her a new perspective on life. Thanks to Reach Out!'s website, Jenny is receiving counselling and is thankfully alive today.