Learning from each other: Share the Spark

Mental Health Coordinating Council is proud to launch Learning from each other, a new member highlight series that showcases the incredible work of our members, supporting collaboration and sharing resources to strengthen our sector.

Founded in 2017 on the Northern Beaches in response to rising youth suicide and gaps in service access, Share the Spark is a community-led organisation providing free, long-term, one-on-one mentoring for young people aged 8–24, delivered by screened and trained volunteer mentors.

While youth suicide prevention is central to Share the Spark’s vision, its model is deliberately non-clinical, strengths-based and accessible. Young people can self-refer without complex pathways or a mental health diagnosis.

“The purpose of the organisation really is to foster hope, resilience and inspiration,” Dangar Nguyen, head of the Events Committee, explains.

Share the Spark’s approach is grounded in the belief that trusted, sustained relationships can help young people build connection, confidence, purpose and agency before they reach crisis point.

“It also helps reduce the stigma around suicide, because for young people, it can be very challenging,” he says.

Building trusted relationships with young people

Through its mentoring program, young people are matched with trained mentors – who provide consistent, one-on-one support over time – even up to two years. The relationship gives young people space to set goals, explore their interests and make decisions about what support looks like for them.

“The ultimate aspect of the program is giving the young person agency,” Dangar explains.

This means that mentoring can look very different depending on the young person receiving it – with mentees matched up with mentors to explore interests as varied as learning an instrument, sport, surfing, gaming – and in one instance even watch making, as requested by the young person. This focus on choice extends to the mentor relationship itself.

“We have had scenarios where we’ve connected mentor and mentee together, and the mentee has gone, yep, not really connecting with that person, can you find someone else?” he says.

Share the Spark currently has a mentor library of more than 100 mentors and supports an average of 30 young people each year. Each receives training in safeTALK suicide alertness, as well as guidance on how to safely support and mentor young people.

Where clinical or crisis support is needed, Share the Spark refers young people to the appropriate services.

Spark Tank as a gateway to confidence and connection

Share the Spark also runs Spark Tank, a biennial youth business pitch event that helps young people build confidence, purpose, skills and community connection.

Participants are supported to develop and pitch their ideas, with many continuing to pursue business concepts, education pathways or personal goals after taking part. This reflects the longer-term impact of early, relational and community-based support.

Envisioning a whole-of-community approach

For Share the Spark, impact is not only about scale or funding. It also depends on clarity of purpose, model integrity and strong community participation.

The organisation sees itself as part of a broader ecosystem, contributing to a whole-of-system prevention approach. Its work aligns with national calls for more integrated, cross-sector responses to youth mental health challenges.

Share the Spark is interested in collaborating with other community-managed mental health organisations across:

Workforce development: sharing approaches to mentor recruitment, screening, training and ongoing support.
Referral pathways: strengthening connections between community-based mentoring, mental health services, schools and local support networks.
Measurement and evaluation: developing ways to capture the impact of non-clinical prevention models, including social impact and outcomes for young people.
Strategic policy engagement: contributing to sector conversations on primary prevention, early intervention and the role of trusted, non-clinical relationships in youth mental health.