Engage Aotearoa

Category Archives: Suicide Prevention/support

Mike King’s Korero Heads to Taupo and Reporoa | 20-21 February 2014

February 17, 2014 12:34 pm ⋅

Community Korero

This is a not-to-be-missed chance for communities to come together and explore how to support our youth and each other to survive and thrive. In the Community Korero, comedian Mike King gets straight up about his battle with depression, addiction and his ongoing journey back to recovery, including the mistakes he made along the way. Hear about the things he learnt from the hard times and how all those mistakes were blessings in disguise. Ask the questions you have always wanted to ask – Mike is joined by Tai Tupou for a Q & A session at the end of the talk. Connect with other community members who care. Plus heaps of useful resources to take away for later. Community Korero is open to all members of the community and is suitable for early teens to older adults. Mental-health workers, teachers, parents and town-planners are especially encouraged to attend this session.

Community Korero Dates

  • Thur 20 Feb 2014 | Venue: Taupo Nui a Tia College Hall, Taupo | Time: 7.00 pm
  • Fri 21 Feb 2014 | Venue: Reporoa Community Hall, Reporoa | Time 10.00 am – 12.00 pm
  • Fri 21 Feb 2014 | Venue: Te Toke Road Marae, Taupo | Time: 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm

Cool to Korero: School Sessions

Students get to spend some quality time with Kiwi comedian Mike King as he talks about how he survived growing up. Mike’s is the story of a kid who wanted to fit in. It is about wanting to be part of the cool group but being 4’11 with buck teeth and big ears and needing a miracle to make it happen. Then one day he discovered he had a gift to make people laugh and he went from being bullied, to being liked and then many years later becoming a bully himself. Mike shares tips on how to deal with bullies and also why bullies do what they do. Most of all, he speaks about why it is important to talk rather than have conversations with yourself.  Tai Tupou joins Mike for a Q&A session that gives students a chance to ask whatever they want of Mike and Tai. And anyone who needs support straight away will have the opportunity for some one-on-one time at the end. The main point is this… in life there will always be hurdles and heartbreak, but with perseverance, support and an attitude of hope, great things WILL happen.

Cool to Korero Dates

  • 20 February 2014 
    • Venue: Taupo Nui a Tia College, Taupo
    • Time: 9 am
  • 20 February 2014
    • Venue: Tauhara College, Taupo
    • Time: 1 pm
  • 21 February 2014 
    • Venue: Reporoa College, Reporoa
Posted in: Families/Whanau, Parents and Parenting, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Government Lobbying Lessons for Suicide Prevention from the States

December 19, 2013 2:14 pm ⋅

Suicide Prevention is an important issue across the globe. NZ may have one of the highest per-capita suicide rates in the OECD, but America isn’t far behind, and they may have a few lessons for us when it comes to influencing the people making the decisions.

In  2013, the American Psychological Association (APA) lobbied their senators to reauthorise and improve legislation that ensures prevention programmes can be established and extra funds  made available at university campuses to provide treatment and support to young people who are suicidal. The Campus Suicide Prevention Programme includes survey instruments to enhance identification of those who are suicidal and funds that allow people to be channelled towards effective treatment and support. While the legislation had been introduced in 2004, in 2013, 100 APA members made 150 visits to their congressional representatives to raise awareness of the reauthorisation of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (GLSMA) and succeeded in obtaining congressional support. Find out more about the APA’s efforts to influence government and the Campus Suicide Prevention Programme.

The NZ Psychological Society (NZPsS) and the NZ College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP) are the NZ equivalents to the APA. It is difficult to ascertain whether similar lobbying and advocacy initiatives have been undertaken by these professional bodies. However, in August 2013, the two groups did publish a media release in response to Ministry of Health and medical insurance provider decisions to limit funding and access to talking therapies. Last week, the NZ parliament published a list of all lobbyists with passes to parliament. The list included several lawyers, business people and professional lobbyists-for-hire, but no mental-health or general health professionals.

Service-users have made multiple attempts to be heard by the government in 2013, but they aren’t on the list of lobbyists either and their calls for improved access to therapy have found few tangible results. It is time that our professional bodies got behind them and one way to do that is to lobby parliament for those areas of change that professional and service-user groups agree are necessary.  The Petition for Better Mental Healthcare Choices in NZ was delivered to NZ parliament this year by Annie Chapman on behalf of over one thousand NZers. However, the Health Select Committee has yet to release comment. NZ’s professional bodies did not make any public statements to support the petition, even though their August 2013 media release shows that their aims matched all along. It is unknown whether they were informed or uninformed of the initiative. Perhaps we could also benefit from improved collaboration between service-user groups and national professional bodies: Aims do not always diverge and just occasionally these different groups are all saying the same things: the message will be stronger if we can send it in unison.   

 

Posted in: Engage Updates, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Updated Online Resources Pack Now Available

December 1, 2013 1:48 pm ⋅

The Online Resources Pack was given an overhaul last week and the latest update is now available on the Info Packs page of the Engage Aotearoa website.

Direct link: www.engagenz.co.nz/?page_id=116

What is the Online Resources Pack? 

The Online Resources Pack is an information pack, full of links to web-based resources for mental-health recovery. This includes resources for distraction and entertainment as well as mental-health resources. Roughly 50% of websites sharing information about mental health are funded by pharmaceutical companies and present a bio-medical view of mental health. The Online Resources Pack brings together independent forms of web-based information that share psycho-social and/or lived experience perspectives and tools. The Online Resources Pack is updated on a regular basis. The team tries to check content prior to inclusion, but it is impossible to check every part of every website. If you find something stigmatising in one of the links included in the Online Resources Pack, please get in touch. To contribute content or suggest an edit to the Online Resources Pack, email EngageAotearoa@gmail.com

What’s New in the 29 November ’13 Update?

  • Content is now divided into sub-sections so it is easier to find what you are looking for. 
    • Distraction/Entertainment/Inspiration
    • Information and Reading
    • Online Self-Help
    • Online Support Groups and Networks
    • Recovery Stories
  • Two new pages of links to explore, including new…
    • CBT resources
    • DBT resources
    • ACT resources
    • Recovery blogs by people with Bipolar Disorder
    • Recovery blogs by people with Borderline Personality Disorder
    • Suicide prevention information
    • International service-user initiatives
    • and more…

The Online Resources Pack is designed to be shared

  • Print a copy and leave it in a public place or give it to someone you know
  • Email the link to your networks
  • Share it on Facebook
  • Share it on your website

How to Share the Online Resources Pack on your Website 

Use the URL below to link to the Online Resources Pack from your own website. < http://www.engagenz.co.nz/?page_id=116 >

Using this URL ensures your link will never go out of date. It also allows Engage Aotearoa to track wider community use of the resource and ensures appropriate acknowledgements for the resource.

Posted in: Community Participation, Engage Updates, Entertainment and Creativity, Families/Whanau, Older People and Aging, Online Resources, Parents and Parenting, Personal Development Tools, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Suicide Prevention/Support, Support, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Support for Parents of Suicidal Teens Facebook Page Started

December 1, 2013 12:04 pm ⋅

A new Facebook page was launched on the 7th of November 2013 to provide a non judgmental support group for parents supporting teens who struggle with suicidal thoughts. A place where parents can share ideas, vent or just get support. This page is about supporting those that are supporting suicidal teens…it is a very long, scary, frightening and lonely road and this group aims to ease that as much as possible.

Created by parents supporting NZ teens, for parents supporting NZ teens, Karen Prosser, one of the organisers says, “I have found that there are often people online during the night…and often that is the time I have felt so alone as well. When you are unable to sleep, the night is a very long time and that is where web based support can also fill a gap.”

Visit Support for Parents of Suicidal Teens NZ on Facebook to get involved.

Since it launched on the 7th of November, Support for Parents of Suicidal Teens NZ has over 390 ‘likes’ and a host of useful resources and discussions.

There is also a closed group called Hope For Our Teens, which offers the opportunity for more private discussion that is only visible to other members of the group.

 

Posted in: Online Resources, Parents and Parenting, Service-User Movement, Suicide Prevention/Support, Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Surviving Suicidal Urges: e-Resource Now Available

November 24, 2013 9:11 pm ⋅

Surviving Suicidal Urges is an e-Resource sharing tips for recovery from the storytellers in The Butterfly Diaries, Vol 1.

View, save and share Surviving Suicidal Urges.

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The Butterfly Diaries is a creative book project sharing true stories of hope and transformation from people who have made it through the experience of being suicidal.

Storytellers took part in an interview and writers used the interview notes to turn their stories into creative works of fiction. The interview notes were also used to summarise each of the storytellers’ recovery strategies. These have now been collected together in the e-Resource Surviving Suicidal Urges.

Order a copy of the free book online to get the full story behind each set of tips.

You can find permanent links to this e-Resource on the Information Resources and Butterfly Diaries sections of the Engage Aotearoa website at www.engagenz.co.nz.

 

Posted in: Online Resources, Personal Development Tools, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Supporting Someone Who Is Suicidal: An e-Resource from The Butterfly Diaries

November 24, 2013 8:44 pm ⋅

Due to popular demand, the team at Engage Aotearoa has created an e-resource that shares the Storyteller Tips for Supporters from The Butterfly Diaries, Volume 1.

BDETipsSupportersCover

The Butterfly Diaries is a creative book project sharing stories of hope and transformation from people who have made it through the experience of being suicidal.

True, Kiwi stories of recovery are told by established writers in a variety of different forms. Storytellers were interviewed by the editors and writers used the interview notes to turn their stories into creative works of fiction. The editors used the interview notes to summarise the storytellers’ comments about what supporters did or could have done to help them. These have now been collected together in the e-Resource Supporting Someone Who Is Suicidal.

Visit The Butterfly Diaries to order a copy of the full book, learn more about the project or connect with other suicide prevention resources.

Click here to view, save and share Supporting Someone who is Suicidal.

You can find permanent links to this e-Resource on the Information Resources and Butterfly Diaries sections of the Engage Aotearoa website at www.engagenz.co.nz.

Posted in: Engage Updates, Families/Whanau, Online Resources, Parents and Parenting, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Care Kits for People Bereaved by Suicide | You Can Help Make it Happen

November 24, 2013 6:49 pm ⋅

Earlier this year, Gemma Claire lost a friend to suicide. To cope, she did lots of reading about suicide and discovered that for every suicide, at least six people are affected by the death. As about ten people die by suicide per week in NZ, that is a minimum of 60 people bereaved through suicide (known as “suicide survivors”) per week. At least 3000 per year.

Gemma wants to create care kits to distribute to suicide survivors in NZ. She would do this through survivor support group, agencies and so on. She surveyed survivors in an online suicide survivor forum and collected ideas about what to include: Journal, pen, candle, matches, stress ball, drawing paper, felt tip pens, meditation CD, a book about suicide grief, a resource about supporting children through suicide grief, a list of places to go for support, information about dealing with the practicalities, a cosy blanket, tissues, energy drinks, and so on.

Gemma has a fundraising page called “Care Kits for People Bereaved by Suicide”
https://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/carekits4suicidebereaved

Gemma will give updates via the Givealittle page through posts and photos about exactly how funds are used and how the care kits are assembled and distributed. Thank you for your generosity. Please spread the word about this project!

To contact Gemma, text / phone 021 0275 4738. 

Posted in: Community Participation, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Butterfly Diaries Launched: Order Online

October 20, 2013 11:00 pm ⋅

The Butterfly Diaries Volume 1 was launched on the 13th of October at Fiesta in the Park – a free book of four true stories of recovery from the experience of being suicidal.

Engage Aotearoa set up a tent and invited people to take a book, decorate a butterfly with a coping tip and leave it on the tent to share with others. Sixty free books were handed out on the day and The Butterfly Diaries tent finished up covered in colourful butterflies and heaps of helpful tips people wanted to share.

Online orders flew in thick and fast since the release was first announced and another 2 00 books were posted out to across the country in the days following the launch. Books have been sent to Kaitaia, Kohukohu, Kerikeri, Whangarei, all across Auckland, Hamilton, Raglan, Thames, Tauranga, Timaru, Wellington, Lower Hutt, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill and a range of towns the team had never heard of before. Orders even came in from as far afield as Glasgow and The Netherlands in the first few days. There are now only 20 copies of the first print run left and the team at Engage Aotearoa are in the process of ordering more.

As soon as the books flew out into the world, the first comments started flying in…

“I’ve read my copy of the Butterfly Diaries and think it’s excellent – you must be really pleased with the end result, as I imagine the participants are. I’d be keen to get a box of them so we can take them with us when we present around the country.” 

Order Online

The Butterfly Diaries is free for individuals in the community. A small donation is requested to cover the cost of postage and handling ($2.50 p/bk). If you cannot donate, simply email Engage Aotearoa with your address and you’ll be sent a copy anyway. 

Organisations can order copies online by making a donation to cover the cost of printing and posting the copies ordered ($5 p/bk). This allows Engage Aotearoa to keep free copies available for individuals in the community who may not use services.

Share the poster with the people you know and help make recovery stories easy for Kiwis to find.

ButterflyDairiesPosterOrderOnline_small

Posted in: Engage Updates, Families/Whanau, Men, News, Parents and Parenting, Personal Development Tools, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support, Women, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Mental Health and Addictions Services Serious Adverse Event Report

October 5, 2013 11:29 pm ⋅

The Health Quality and Safety Commission have released the first report setting out the serious adverse events (SAEs) that New Zealand’s 20 district health boards (DHBs) have reported in the previous year.

  • Between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013, 177 SAEs affecting patients of mental health and addictions services were reported by DHBs.
  • SAEs by Type:
    • 134: death by suspected suicide
    • 17: serious self-harm
    • 17: serious adverse behaviour
    • 5: going missing from inpatient facility (no harm)
    • 4: other event resulting in patient harm.

The Commission has agreed in principle to a two-year working partnership with the Ministry of Health to develop a trial of a suicide mortality review function to improve knowledge of contributing factors and patterns of suicidal behaviour, and to better identify key intervention points for suicide prevention.

The SAEs were reported in accordance with the process set out in the national reportable events policy, whereby health and disability providers identify, review and report events which have caused, or could have caused, serious harm to the patient.

Click here to read a copy of the full report. 

Posted in: Human Rights and Legal Issues, News, Research, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

The Butterfly Diaries Volume 1: Launch & Order Details

September 28, 2013 1:54 am ⋅

The Butterfly Diaries Volume 1 is a FREE book of inspiring stories and personal tips from four people who have recovered from the experience of being suicidal.

Launch Details:

NOTE: Event Moved to Sunday 13th of October due to rain forecast for Saturday the 12th. 

BDiariesLaunchFlyerV1

Engage Aotearoa will be launching The Butterfly Diaries Volume 1 at Fiesta in the Park on the 13th of October for Mental Health Awareness Week. Come along to the free public concert and pop into The Butterfly Diaries Tent – a quiet corner covered in white paper butterflies where you can stop by to decorate a butterfly with a survival tip of your own, pick up a copy of the book, relax with a copy in the reading corner or listen to the authors and editors read from the book.

  • Where: Fiesta in the Park, Western Park, Ponsonby, Auckland
  • When: From midday Sunday 13 October 2012
    Reading Times:
    12:30 – 1:00 pm Michelle Bolton reads from Breathe and Breathe and Breathe by Phoebe Wright
    1:30 – 2:00 pm Owen Bullock reads from Enough Angels
    2:30 – 3:00 pm Miriam Larsen-Barr reads from Welcome to Today by Henrietta Bollinger
  • 3:30 – 4:00 pm Raewyn Alexander reads from Emerging from the Past, Transformed

The Butterfly Diaries, Volume 1
Four true stories of transformation told by four New Zealand writers.

  • Stories by Raewyn Alexander, Henrietta Bollinger, Owen Bullock and Phoebe Wright.
  • Foreword by Mike King
  • Edited by Miriam Larsen-Barr and Michelle Bolton

In Aotearoa, New Zealand, 1 in 6 people have suicidal thoughts each year. It is a normal human response to feel hopeless sometimes. It takes a great deal of distress tolerance, brute determination, skill development, support and understanding to survive the urge to act on those thoughts and feelings when they arise. But hardly anyone ever talks about suicidal thoughts and feelings, making it even harder for people to find out how to get through. The Butterfly Diaries gives voice to the stories of those who have been there and made it out alive. Sean, Jane, Mary and Brad have all been suicidal, survived their own suicide attempts and found their way to a place where they are glad to be living their lives. In The Butterfly Diaries they share how they strengthened their wings and learned to fly.

The first edition of The Butterfly Diaries Volume 1 will be placed in high-schools and GP waiting rooms across the NZ, to make recovery stories easy to find. Suicide rates peak among youth and most people who are suicidal visit a GP in the months leading up to making an attempt, even if they do not talk about how they are really feeling.

How to Order Copies

You can nominate a service or person to receive a copy of The Butterfly Diaries or order a copy for yourself by making a donation on the Engage Aotearoa website to cover the cost of posting your book. Just fill in your details and give the delivery address in the space provided. The minimum donation is set at NZ$2.50 (the cost of NZ postage and handling). A donation of $5 will get a copy posted for you and cover the costs of printing a copy for someone else.

Click here to order a copy of The Butterfly Diaries

Contact Engage Aotearoa for more information

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Want to help prevent suicide in NZ?

You can help get more copies of The Butterfly Diaries out there for people to read. Sponsor a print run by making a donation on the Engage Aotearoa website.  Every donation over $5 is tax deductible. A $20 donation pays for eight more books. A $500 donation prints enough books for a small school. 

Posted in: Asian Communities, Community Participation, Engage Updates, Entertainment and Creativity, Families/Whanau, Maori Communities, Men, News, Older People and Aging, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Personal Development Tools, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support, Women, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,