Engage Aotearoa

Category Archives: Young People And Youth Issues

Community Resources Directory Updates

January 28, 2013 1:17 pm ⋅

The Community Resources Directory was updated on Christmas Eve and again on the 27th of January.

What’s new in the Community Resources Directory? 

  • Sub-sections for National, Upper North Island, Lower North Island and South Island services have been added where information is available. Future updates will continue to expand these regional sub-sections until the Directory becomes a nation-wide resource.
  • A new combined Child, Youth and Family/Whanau section
  • New psychotherapy, counselling and psychologist services added for Christchurch and Auckland

Coming Soon

  • Crisis Lines section
  • Anger Management section
  • Resources from the Gisborne region added to each section (thanks to pamphlets collected on a recent trip to the area).

Make the resource work for you and your people! 

  • Tell us about the mental-health resources in your region!
  • Tell us about your service and the resources you use!

Email Engage Aotearoa and we will include the info in our next update.

The Community Resources Directory makes it easy for people to find the recovery resources they need.

It is designed to be freely downloaded and shared.

If you are a service provider, you can help empower your service-users by making a printed copy of The Directory available in your waiting room.

Posted in: Community Participation, Engage Updates, Online Resources, People with Disabilities, Service-User Movement, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: ,

Excerpts from Stories of Recovery from Being Suicidal are Now Live Online

January 28, 2013 12:42 pm ⋅

The Butterfly Diaries creative book project is drawing close to completion. For nearly a year, six writers have been working to tell the stories of six Kiwis who survived the experience of being suicidal and found their way to a better place. The first three stories are now complete and excerpts are available for reading and sharing online. More samplers will be loaded as stories are finished.

Click here to read The Butterfly Diaries Samplers.

Read excerpts from…

Emerging from the Past Transformed: Raewyn Alexander’s creative essay about Mary’s Journey

Enough Angels: Owen Bullock’s haibun (a prose-poetry cross) about Sean’s journey

Breathe and Breathe and Breathe: Phoebe Wright’s short story about Brad’s journey.

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

Mangere Community Law Centre Says “This Is Relevant to YOU”

January 25, 2013 2:08 pm ⋅

A message from Mangere Community Law Centre:

The Family Court is under review. This IS relevant to you! The Family Court deals with a range of things that seriously affect our community, including: domestic violence, parenting, adoptions, wills and divorce. The proposed changes are significant and now is the time to speak out if you don’t agree with them – in part or full. Submissions close 13 February 2013 so don’t put it off.      

The 5 major changes that the Mangere Community Law Centre are concerned about are:

  1. Cost of $897 for mandatory dispute resolution will have to be paid for by the parties – this will be compulsory before a matter can go to Court.
  2. NO lawyers allowed unless the matter involves violence, urgency etc.
  3. Lawyer for child will rarely be appointed.
  4. Free Court counselling will be limited.
  5. No interim orders – parties won’t have a chance to trial arrangements to see if they can work.

Submissions can be in any format – even a simple letter. Click the link below to open the template from Mangere Community Law Centre that you can use to get started and get your thoughts heard!

Family Court Review Submission Template from Mangere Community Law Centre

You can also check out these websites for more information: http://childrenneedavoice.com/ and http://www.familylaw.org.nz/

You can read the Bill at: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Legislation/Bills/5/4/2/00DBHOH_BILL11914_1-Family-Court-Proceedings-Reform-Bill.htm 

 

Posted in: Community Participation, Families/Whanau, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Older People and Aging, Online Resources, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , ,

New community action stories on the It’s not OK website

January 23, 2013 3:09 pm ⋅

North Shore Family Violence Prevention Network & Safer Whanau Project have a great new page on their website that tells stories of community action projects from around the country.

You can read about what other networks and groups have done to change attitudes and behaviours towards family violence – everything from whole town campaigns, to working in sports clubs, universities and businesses, through to ideas for small projects/first steps.

An attempt has been made to write about what people did, the changes, challenges and learnings.

Have a look here: http://www.areyouok.org.nz/community_stories.php

 

Posted in: Families/Whanau, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Men, Online Resources, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Women, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Glenn Inquiry into Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Seeks Community Input

January 23, 2013 2:40 pm ⋅

In July last year Owen Glenn announced that he would fund an independent inquiry to establish why domestic violence and child abuse remains such a major problem in New Zealand and to identify what needs to be done to address this issue.

If you have personal experience of child abuse or domestic violence or work with those who do the Glenn Inquiry team would like to hear from you!

Visit their newly launched website for more information at www.glenninquiry.org.nz

Follow the link below to check out the first newsletter from the Glenn Inquiry https://glenninquiry.org.nz/uploads/files/TheGlennInquiry_Newsletter.pdf

 

 

Posted in: Community Participation, Families/Whanau, Human Rights and Legal Issues, News, Older People and Aging, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Curious.org.nz Website Relaunched by Rainbow Youth

December 20, 2012 12:27 pm ⋅

PRESS RELEASE: 15 December 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Rainbow Youth

Have you been wondering what happened to the website curious.org.nz? Well ponder no more as the cat’s out of the bag: Aotearoa New Zealand’s premier hub of information, resources and cool stories for queer and trans* youth, curious.org.nz, is completely revamped and back online.

Rainbow Youth website committee and staff have spend the past six months restructuring the website – which was taken down due to technical issues – into a forward thinking site which is accessible to young people across the country.

Rainbow Youth Board Chair Duncan Matthews says over the last few years curious.org.nz has established itself as an important resource for queer and trans* youth. “The relaunched hub retains this original purpose but is now completely designed around regional management by youth for youth. I hope everyone enjoys using curious.org.nz as much as I’ve enjoyed being part of its creation.”

Curious.org.nz has a new visual layout and is fully integrated with social media for better engagement. Features include a search bar and a map of Aotearoa New Zealand which clicks through to blog rolls in each region of the country. These are to be facilitated by groups in each area and will include info on local meet ups, resources, events and news.

Rainbow Youth Executive Director Thomas Hamilton says it’s exciting to see curious.org.nz running again. “It’s important that the website is sustainable and manageable for our small organisation, and that the information, resource and content comes from a youth perspective.

“We fully intend to incorporate the health and well being promotion that was included in the previous version of curious.org.nz, but this platform will grant more national collaboration from youth organisations and be more sustainable economically.”

And the best part? Keeping with Rainbow Youth’s youth run, youth led model, curious.org.nz will continued to be developed and shaped by the people who use and engage with it. “Our volunteers have started the project,” says Hamilton, “And more work will be needed to successfully integrate the regions nationally. This will be fun!”

So what are you curious about? Rainbow Youth urges you to check out the site, share the information with friends and family, and if you’ve got a suggestion or would like to add information to a region, then email info@curious.org.nz to put your request forward.

Rainbow Youth thanks @clintyminty for his effort and experience designing the website, Webwise for turning the design into a website, and 247hosting.co.nz for hosting the website free of charge. Curious is funded thanks to the generous donations received through wtf.org.nz.

Ends

For interviews or more information, contact:
Thomas Hamilton – thomas.hamilton@rainbowyouth.org.nz – 021529778
Duncan Matthews – duncan@rainbowyouth.org.nz

Posted in: News, Online Resources, Rainbow / LGBTQI+ Community, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , ,

Hikoi Seeks National Big reTHiNK about Mental-Health Services

December 16, 2012 1:18 pm ⋅

Media Release: 11/Dec/2012.


Annie Chapman, a former support worker for a mental-health trust in Porirua, is on a mission to reduce reliance on “medical mental healthcare” which she says can result in dependence and disempowerment, in a bid to promote healthier mental healthcare.

This summer, Chapman will spend five months walking the length of the North Island to advocate “change and choice in mental-health care“.

Annie Chapman’s One Woman Walking: Hikoi for a Big reTHiNK of Mental Healthcare Choices begins in Cape Reinga on December 12th and finishes five months later in Wellington. From December to May Annie will be stopping at towns along the Te Araroa Trail for community meetings to screen short stigma-busting films, discuss what a truly empowering mental-health system would look like and support the Petition for Better Mental-Healthcare Choices, which Annie will present at The Beehive in Wellington in May. Donations to cover costs are gratefully received. Any additional funds raised will be donated to Hearing Voices Network Aotearoa NZ, which provides information and support for people who experience voice hearing.

“I have witnessed life long dependence, drug withdrawal problems and the limited effectiveness of some psychiatric medications,” Ms Chapman says. “Research suggests positive and empowering alternatives exist for better long term outcomes,” she continues.

Chapman advocates a reduced systemic reliance on medications as the first-line treatment for mental-health problems. Ms Chapman wants to see funded access to psycho-social interventions and treatment options for people with mental-health problems to reduce long-term dependence on pharmaceutical interventions and compulsory models of treatment. “We need personal advocacy and psychotherapeutic help promoted and more tailored advice about diet and exercise provided,” says Chapman, “Walking can be one of the most effective anti-depressants there is,” she adds.

Miriam Larsen-Barr, from the Like Minds team at Mind and Body Consultants who coordinate the ongoing Like Minds Big reTHiNK Festival, comments, “We are proud to include One Woman Walking as part of the official Big reTHiNK calendar of events. The message that people with mental-health problems need whole-person approaches to empower their recovery is an important one.”

“It is time our society did some serious analysis. Let’s use our legendary Kiwi kindness and ingenuity to create mental-health services that offer hope of real recovery,” comments Chapman.

Find out when One Woman Walking is visiting a town near you

www.rethink.org.nz/?page_id=1692

> KAITAIA KICK OFF MEETING
>>>Wednesday 20th December
>>>11am to 1pm
>>>at Te Ahu Community Centre

www.facebook.com/events/317503728358665/

For more information contact: Annie Chapman | 0221739954 | anniechapman@actrix.co.nz

One Woman Walking Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hikoi-for-healthy-choices-in-Mental-Health/150792058391076?ref=ts

One Woman Walking Blog:
http://hikoiforhealthychoices.wordpress.com/

Follow this link to find out more about The Hearing Voices Network Aotearoa NZ  www.hearingvoices.org.nz 

Posted in: Community Participation, Families/Whanau, Human Rights and Legal Issues, News, Older People and Aging, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Report Highlights Bullying Faced By Kiwis Living with Disabilities

December 10, 2012 8:48 pm ⋅

A report, released this week, highlights major issues facing New Zealanders living with disabilities.

Bullying, violence and harassment of disabled students in schools was highlighted in the annual report on the Disability Convention.

… Kea Street Specialist School principal Sherie Collins said some mainstream schools were more accepting or more supportive of children with disabilities.

An accepting culture could help mainstream schools address student bullying problems, she suggested.

Link to The NZ Herald: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10851945

Posted in: Disability Issues, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

Medical Council Reviewing its Standards of Clinical Competence and Ethical Conduct

November 27, 2012 4:30 pm ⋅

GOOD MEDICAL PRACTICE

The Medical Council of New Zealand is reviewing its standards of clinical competence, cultural competence and ethical conduct for doctors.

Have your say about ‘good medical practice’ in Aotearoa.

To find out more go to http://consumercollaboration.org.nz/news/good-medical-practice

Posted in: Asian Communities, Community Participation, Maori Communities, Men, Older People and Aging, Parents and Parenting, Pasifika Communities, People with Disabilities, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Women, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Consumer Collaboration of Aotearoa Strengthens Input to Health and Disability Sector

November 27, 2012 4:24 pm ⋅

The Consumer Collaboration of Aotearoa is a fairly new group set up and supported by the Health and Quality Safety Commission to provide consumer input to services and any other interested parties. It is a collaboration of consumer groups from the whole health and disability sector, not only mental health.

If you are not already, your organisation is strongly encouraged (provided it fits the definition of ‘consumer’ organisation) to join up. Individuals can join as ‘associate’ members if they are not with an organisation as such.

What do organisations get for their free membership of the CCA?

  • An information centre for information about consumer organisations
  • ‘Go to’ group/website for consumer reps and other stakeholders
  • Opportunity to retain your organisations own identity but act collaboratively
  • You can profile your organisation on the CCA website Invite organisations to upload their profiles to CCA website

They had an AGM at the end of October and have produced a newsletter outlining the details.

To find out more

  • Visit the website

 http://consumercollaboration.org.nz

  • Email Darcey Jane, Project Manager, Consumer Collaboration of Aotearoa

Darcey@kites.org.nz

Posted in: Addiction/Substance Abuse, Community Participation, Disability Issues, News, Older People and Aging, Parents and Parenting, People with Disabilities, Physical Health, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , ,