A TRAGIC event which will never be forgotten, it's the unfortunate but important story of how the Blue Tree Project came to be.
Kendall Whyte lost her brother Jayden to suicide in 2018 and it was at his funeral that the story of him painting a blue tree with a special friend on the family's grain and sheep farm in Mukinbudin was told.
From there one of Jayden's best mates painted a tree blue in his memory but also as a way to help raise awareness and start the conversation among his friends of mental health.
That photo was shared on Facebook and before long it went viral, with people sharing their own blue painted trees.
"It was such a grassroots, organic growth and we thought maybe we could help stop other families having to go through what we were," Kendall said.
"The Blue Tree Project was born, it's been a short amount of time but we've seen more than 600 trees painted and registered that we know of, they've spread far and wide across Australia and even overseas in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and America."
These days it's almost impossible to drive through the Wheatbelt without seeing a blue tree and knowing the importance of it and that's the entire aim of the Blue Tree Project.
It is a visual reminder and a way for regional communities to break down the barriers, in order to help people feel like they can open up and their community is a safe space to do that.
"We are quite lucky in these regional communities that they are quite close, but the stigma is also so real that people still struggle to speak up and let their friends or loved ones know that they're having a hard time," Kendall said.
"The statistics show that those in regional and rural areas are twice more likely to take their own lives, that's a horrific stat given that in 14 to 45-year-olds suicide is the leading cause of death.
"We've got to work a lot harder to break down those barriers and it is slowly happening, you can see the younger generations being a bit more willing to open up."
From 2021, the project's focus will be on the prevention space, using education to make sure people don't get to that crisis point.
"We will be developing a program for schools, so we can start from a young age, create those conversations and make sure kids know it's OK to express their feelings," Kendall said.
"We want to equip them with the mental tools they need to tackle life's challenges, people need to know how to react and respond to situations in a healthy way."
In just two years, Kendall has risen as a leader in both the mental health space and ag in general.
It's not something she ever expected to happen, so she chooses to stay authentic and vulnerable in sharing her family's story so that they can stop other people going through what they are.
"That vulnerability and transparency really seems to resonate with people and it's lovely that people see me as a leader, but that's just a side benefit to gain more awareness for the cause," she said.
"Being a woman in ag is a unique position to be in, it's a growing area and there is a lot of attention around it.
"If I can use that to highlight the mental health side of it and help grow young, healthy, passionate farmers who are looking after themselves and each other, then that's a really special place to be."
