When you ask Chantelle Ross about her son, she doesn’t talk about how he died. She talks about his laugh.
“It was infectious, and he could find humour in almost anything,” she says of Jamerson, or Jammo to everyone who knew him. “I also smile thinking about how easily he could convince everyone to head off on another camping or fishing trip. Those simple moments together are the ones I treasure most.”
Jamerson, a marine electrician with a huge circle of friends and an even bigger heart, died in a hit-and-run in Hastings in October 2022, as he was celebrating his 23rd birthday with friends.
He owned his first home by 20, was already planning to buy an investment property, and had a devoted partner, Lucy, and a dog, Bronco, who Chantelle says was “rarely far from his side.”.
“But what defined Jammo most wasn’t what he achieved; it was his generosity,” Chantelle says. “Outside of work, he was always helping family and mates with electrical work, fixing the family boat, or organising another camping or fishing trip.”
Out of that loss, Chantelle founded Projex J, a grief support organisation whose ethos is drawn straight from how he lived.
“The ‘J’ is for Jamerson, but Projex J represents something much bigger,” she says. “After Jammo died, I knew I wanted his life to continue making a difference.”
Its tagline, ‘Get Busy Living’, wasn’t invented for the cause; it was already her son’s way of doing things.
“It wasn’t something we came up with after Jammo died, it genuinely reflected how he lived,” Chantelle says. “Today those words remind us that, while grief changes us forever, life can still hold purpose, connection and moments of joy. It’s not about moving on; it’s about carrying the people we love with us as we continue living.”
It’s not about moving on; it’s about carrying the people we love with us as we continue living.”
Chantelle doesn’t shy away from how dark those first days were. “Looking back, I wasn’t trying to survive the future, I was just trying to survive the next hour, then the next day,” she says. But she’s equally clear about what got her through: family, friends and a wider community that carried her when she couldn’t carry herself.
“There were services available, but I couldn’t find ongoing, local community support where a person could simply sit beside others who truly understood,” she says. “I realised there were so many people navigating grief in isolation, and I wanted to create a place where nobody had to pretend they were okay.
“In navigating my grief I leaned in on the lessons I learned from the passing of my mother. I realised that it was essential to feel my pain, to work through it, to allow it and to talk about it. I was determined not to repeat the same mistakes I made in my grief after the loss of my mother.
“Our loved ones wouldn’t want us to spend our lives mourning them; they would want us to live our best lives in their honour.” This understanding shaped the practical, holistic approach that Projex J now embodies.
Projex J currently runs several groups across the peninsula, including Grief Support, Bereaved Parents Together, Youth Grief Support, and Breathwork for Grief. Each combines lived experience with professional guidance. “Every group is different because every person’s grief is different,” Chantelle says.
“We create a safe, welcoming space where people can share as much or as little as they choose.” Sessions draw on a mix of approaches – grief counsellors, guest speakers with their own lived experience, and simple tools like breathwork – but for Chantelle, what happens outside the room matters just as much. “The friendships that grow beyond our groups are often the most powerful part,” she says. “People continue checking in on one another, catching up for coffee, walking alongside each other through anniversaries and difficult days.”
The organisation’s signature event is the Get Busy Living Fishing Day, which hands out around 100 fishing rods to local kids in Jamerson’s honour.
“Fishing was Jammo’s happy place,” Chantelle says. “The day celebrates his life, strengthens community connections, and raises funds so we can continue delivering free grief support throughout the year.”
She’s deliberate about keeping the day, which falls close to the anniversary of Jamerson’s death, focused on celebration rather than sorrow. “Why are we placing importance on the worst day of our lives? Their death wasn’t who they are. Their life is who they are.”
It’s an attitude she’s had to practise. “It’s brain training,” she says. “Every time you think something negative, just think something positive, and it becomes automatic.” Grief, in her telling, still comes in waves – “it takes your breath away, and you just stop, and you endure it”. But she insists that it passes, and a good cry is “so cathartic,” never something to push down.
Family threads through everything Chantelle does. Raised in a big, close-knit family – Irish on her mother’s side, Italian on her father’s – she says when tragedy struck, she knew people would rally around her.
These days, Chantelle lives in Jamerson’s house. “I’m warm, I’m safe, I’m living in my son’s home, and I got to be his mother,” she says. Her daughter Jewell lives next door with her partner Shane and their two young daughters, Emerson, named for her uncle Jamerson, and Marlowe, named in memory of Shane’s brother Mark, who died as a teenager. “There are no coincidences,” Chantelle says of the way their two families’ losses became intertwined.
Recognised as the Mornington Peninsula’s 2026 Citizen of the Year, Chantelle is quick to redirect the credit. “It reflects every volunteer, facilitator, supporter, donor and participant who has helped build Projex J into what it is today,” she says. “Community built Projex J, and this award belongs to our whole village.”
Her hopes for the next five years are, characteristically, about others rather than herself. “Our vision is for no one on the Mornington Peninsula to feel they have to navigate grief, trauma or isolation alone.
“Success won’t be measured by the size of our organisation. It will be measured by the stories of people who tell us, ‘I felt seen,’ ‘I found my community.’”
For anyone reading this who is grieving and can’t yet picture surviving it, Chantelle wants them to know something simple. “Don’t think about next month or next year. Just focus on today. And don’t try to carry it alone. Even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, there is hope.”
Find out more about Chantelle’s work online.
IG @projextj
W projexj.org