By John T. Moore

New South Whales, Australia

Since the launch of Australia's Reach Out! Web site by the Inspire Foundation in March 1998, the country's young people have had an innovative way of being helped through tough times.

The Web site gives youth ages 15-25 anonymous access to important information, contacts, suggestions and advise that can help them sort out their problems. Included in the site are interactive tools that can be tailored to a youth's preferences, which provide stories and profiles about the difficult issues these youth face.

Following its highly successful launch, the creators of Reach Out! are making the Web site accessible to more of Australia's young people than ever before. The group is setting up its "Reach Out! Bush Network" Internet Access Centres in 20 towns across New South Whales, Australia.

Jack Heath, executive director of the project, says that after the site was created, the group became aware that rural and regional areas of Australia lag behind the cities in terms of Internet accessibility and affordably.

In these rural areas, where Internet access is rare, the suicide rate among the youth is twice as high as in cities, Heath says.

"There's no point in something being really cool and practical if young people either don't know about it or can't access it," says Heath.

That's why Reach Out! is creating the Internet access centers, which Heath hopes to duplicate across the rest of the country.

All 20 initial center will be set up by early next year and will be complete with computers that are networked together and share a single Internet connection. Each computer will be loaded with Windows 98, Office 2000, antivirus software and privacy software.

Heath says the centers will be housed inside "youth-friendly environments" like youth clubs. One center will even be in the general store of a small country town.

In addition to Internet access, the youth will receive training to use community support services like Reach Out! The goal is to make them feel less isolated and help develop new skills they can use in the community.

The centers will be conducting training sessions for 100 young people from rural New South Whale so they are able to train about 1,250 people, both young and old.

The initial 20 centers are being funded entirely through the Commonwealth Government's Networking The Nation program, Heath says. This phase of the project costs about US$200,000, including hardware and software, ISP charges, most of the telecommunications costs, training, evaluation, staff and overheads.

To develop future centers, Reach Out! expects to create partnerships with the corporate sector and is working with local communities and governments.

Each of the centers will be looked after by a local community group, to ensure maximum usage and support, Heath says.

At the same time, Heath and his colleagues have been promoting the centers and the Reach Out! Web site throughout regional and rural New South Whales on what is called The Big RORRT! or the Reach Out! Rural and Regional Tour!

The tour also promotes the Big RORRT! site, Heath says, which is another place to help break the sense of isolation youth often feel. It builds on the community at a local level and provides an important creative outlet for young people.

The Big RORRT! site captures positive profiles of young people through interviews, songs and artwork.

Heath says that marketing is a key strength of Reach Out! The organization has secured an association with radio stations, other Internet companies, and Australian corporations.

"Just over a year ago we set ourselves the goal that by the end of the year 2000 two in three young Australians would know about Reach Out!" Heath says. "At the time it seemed a naive dream -- now it looks like its becoming a reality."

Through its work and marketing effort, Reach Out! focuses more on "young people going through tough times rather than suicide per se." Although the suicide rate in the country is disturbing -- 25,000-45,000 attempts by Australian youth each year out of a population of 20 million -- Heath says to focus on those figures can get overwhelming.

By concentrating on the numbers, the public "may miss the great things young people are doing while adding to the sense of despair that is already out there," Heath says, adding that focusing on suicide attempts can force Reach Out! to miss all of those youth who may not be suicidal, but who are going through a "tough time."

Once a discussion begins about suicide, Heath says, it's difficult to turn it around in a constructive way.

"As we see it," Heath says, "suicide prevention is about generating hope and meaning in the face of pain and suffering and that's all about inspiring people to realize their full potential and fundamentally good nature."

Heath says these young people have benefited from Reach Out's environment that provides anonymous and unconditional support. The Internet centers will provide options for these young people, especially at a time when community services are being withdrawn in rural Australia, Heath says.

"By introducing technology and linking to a wider community," Heath says, "we can increase the sense of connection for young people and provide options to youth who feel uncomfortable or can't access traditional services such as doctors and counselors."

John T. Moore can be reached at
johntm@mindspring.com