Jodi Sharman on the Open Parachute program

On 1 July 2022, a crowd of people gathered in Wagga Wagga to send off Guy Sebastian on his 500-kilometre walk to Sydney, joining the fight to raise awareness and funds for supporting mental health.

Among them was Jodi Sharman, Managing Principal at Marsh Advantage. Together with her husband’s business Happy Days Donuts and Coffee, Jodi donated $20,000 to The Sebastian Foundation.

“The walk started from Wagga Wagga, where a tragic story unfolded last year that a 12-year-old took her life after battling with mental health,” Jodi recounts.

“We chose to support The Sebastian Foundation because they run an in-school program called Open Parachute, and for the cost of $30, another child could be put through the program. I personally met four families at the walk in Wagga Wagga, who told me that the program had changed their child’s life. In the end, the walk raised an incredible $1,000,000.”

The Open Parachute program, fully funded by the Sebastian Foundation, is designed to teach schoolchildren practical skills for overcoming mental health challenges.

Unlike other mental health programs, Open Parachute shares the stories of peer-aged youths who have experienced their own mental health challenges through documentary-style videos, making the perspectives shared through the program deeply relatable to their audience.

Donating to the Sebastian Foundation marked one of several ways that Jodi – together with her family business – hopes to support early mental health conversations among young people.

Jodi has been a proud supporter of Open Parachute, actively campaigning for its inclusion in schools, particularly in her home state of Victoria.

“We are now working with schools to get them on board, so this amazing program can be rolled out and help kids at an early age,” she says.

“From the 14,000 children who benefited last year from the program, not many are from Victoria. I aim to raise enough money this year to fund the program in five Victorian schools, and for them to be fully funded in 2023.”

Jodi’s staunch advocacy for mental health awareness began from witnessing her own father battle with mental health for several years.

“Happy Days Donuts and Coffee was actually created around my father’s 1951 Chevy. My father suffered from depression and three years ago, he tragically took his own life. To keep his love for cars going, we created Happy Days, where we sell delicious donuts and coffee from a custom-built van that matches the Chevy. 15 per cent of our proceeds go to mental health awareness.”

Jodi has also advocated for the program through her broker network. She has seen this as an opportunity to foster important conversations about mental health in brokerages.

“We have been doing morning tea sessions with brokers. Only last month, we did one at Edgewise Insurance Brokers in Richmond. We served coffee and donuts to all staff, and then I went in the boardroom and gave a five-minute talk about depression and making sure people know that it’s okay to ask for help if they are not feeling okay. These one-hour sessions have been really well-received by brokers and the staff who attend.

“Brokers should get involved, as it’s a small cost with such a big impact. Taking an hour out of our busy days to acknowledge mental health and just talk about it means the world to staff.

Unfortunately, everyone has been affected by it in some form, so this is something that we can all resonate with.

“I encourage brokers to get involved by sharing information with their local schools and raising awareness that this program is available now.”

Members interested in learning more are encouraged to attend in-person sessions taking place in Sydney and Adelaide next week, where they can learn more about the program and receive special access to review the online content. To see the available sessions and register, click here.

For members outside of Sydney and Adelaide interested in learning more, visit the Open Parachute website at www.openparachuteschools.com.