When early childhood teacher Kaylie White became aware of a worrying rise in youth suicides in the Illawarra, she wanted to be part of the community response.
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This started with the youngsters in her care.
"I don't have personal experience in the way that I've had to go through any of that, but I do have a daughter myself," Ms White said.
"She's nearly ten, and I guess I saw I had an opportunity to help."
Albion Park resident Ms White, 30, is currently education leader at Kiama World of Learning.
Ms White established programs to build the children's sense of self-worth and confidence, believing it was never too early to take preventative action.
She engaged with Beyond Blue to gain further insights into the causes of suicide, before bringing families and the broader community together to raise awareness and money for mental health support services.
"The Beyond Blue website had an amazing amount of information for us to go through, as well as strategies to help - things we can implement within this setting that will hopefully result in a bit of a change," she said.
Ms White has been working in early childhood education for 12 years, and said it was highly rewarding work.
"The first five years of a human's life is vital; so much of their brain develops within that first five years," she said.
"To be able to be part of that period of development and have an influence on that, and on future generations, is really rewarding."
Ms White's efforts were recognised on Wednesday night, when she was awarded the G8 Education National Standout Educator Award for Outstanding Practice, chosen from more than 10,000 educators throughout the country.
"I'm honoured and feel privileged to be recognised," she said.
"It can be a thankless job sometimes, and I think a lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes for every educator. So to be recognised for that hard work is great."
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G8 Education has 470-plus early childhood education and care centres throughout Australia.
CEO Gary Carroll said Ms White was a shining example of the critical role early childhood educators and teachers played in the lives of children and families.
"Kaylie has truly embraced the philosophy of life-long learning and the G8 values of caring, not only for the child, but their families as well," Mr Carroll said.
"Mental health is an issue that affects the whole community and building resilience starts at birth.
"Kaylie has recognised this and tackled the problem in an age-appropriate way so that right from the early years, children have the self-confidence and social skills to deal with all the challenges they will face as they grow up."
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