Batyr: Giving a voice to the elephant in the room
MissionProvide preventative education on social issues by engaging, educating and empowering young people. In particular by presenting in a way that provides a link to organisations and resources that provide services that develop coping and preventive mechanisms.
Vision
A young generation free from prejudice, vilification and isolation yet rife of acceptance, understanding and education.
Aim
The aim is to engage students with young speakers who are willing to discuss the issue(s) that they have faced at a young age and to educate school students about the networks and support systems available to them.
Purpose
To provide a real life educational experience to senior school students about various social issues that are often not discussed or spoken about such as depression, suicide, losing a friend/family member, sexual assault, eating disorders, bullying and personal health. These social issues are what we refer to as the ‘elephants’ in the room, issues everyone is aware of but don’t discuss.
Batyr is the voice of those elephants.
Batyr was a famous Asian elephant living in a zoo in Kazakhstan known as the 'speaking elephant'. He was famous for being able to speak 20 human phrases. He is the mascot for this organisation; the inspiration for the hope that young people can speak out and communicate on all issues.
Batyr also means ‘person of courage’.
The Logistics
The organisation will send young speakers under the age of 30, to schools to talk to students about those elephants in their room, thereby providing the students courage to deal with their own issues.
Batyr aims to create a network that enables those who have experienced hardship or gone through a difficult time in their life to be proactive and share their experiences with other the young people.
It is an opportunity to discuss responsibilities, practical strategies for dealing with real experiences and also to encourage the use of support networks such as Headspace, Beyond Blue, Bite Back, TuneInNotOut, Lifeline (and so many others!)
So, let the Elephant do the talking.
It is essential to understand that Batyr does not provide counselling services but is rather focused on increasing awareness of the benefits that professional services offer. The goal is to provide preventative education on the benefits of communication about social issues and to foster an environment where reaching out and talking is more than acceptable, it is positively encouraged.
Nobody should fight alone.
