Engage Aotearoa and The Key to Life Charitable Trust have organised an opportunity for every high school student in and around Kaitaia to attend a special session with Mike King called Cool to Korero. The focus is on developing supportive school communities and a culture where it is okay to ask for help. The overall aim is to prevent further suicides in the Far North.
- Taipa Area School, 1pm – 3pm, Tuesday 5th of March
- Open to senior students and parents from surrounding schools by prior arrangement with Taipa Area School
- Kaitaia College, Wednesday 6th of March
- Open to year 9-13 students from surrounding schools by prior arrangement with Kaitaia College
- Morning Session: 9 am – 11 am (For all year 9 and 10 students)
- Afternoon Session: 11:25 am – 1:25 pm (For all year 11, 12 and 13 students)
Many thanks to Mental Health Commissioner Lynne Lane, who heard of the project and arranged funding to allow Skylight to send boxes of resources to gift to the community.
Lane says, “It is important that everyone has a better understanding of how to develop the resilience to cope with the challenges that life holds. We also need to learn how to recognise when someone is struggling to cope with life and to know what to do to support them on the path to recovery. It is important to know the early signs of when someone is developing problems, so that they can get help and avoid becoming seriously unwell. We are all much better informed about how to keep our hearts healthy and how to avoid having a “heart attack” (healthy eating and exercise etc) and now we need to learn how to keep ourselves mentally well and what to do if someone we care about is having problems.”
Mike King’s Community Korero will take place at Te Ahu on Tuesday March 5th from 6 to 8 pm and is open to the whole community.
Read The Northern Advocate’s February 28th newspaper article here: An Audience with the King
