Mike King of The Key to Life Charitable Trust and The Nutters Club traveled to Kaitaia with Engage Aotearoa from the 4th to the 6th of March to throw solutions at suicide and help encourage people to talk more.
After a powhiri at Te Runanga o te Rarawa, major sponsors of the initiative, the pair visited Taipa Area School and presented Its Cool to Korero to 150 senior school students and community members.
That evening, over 90 members of the Far North community attended Mike King’s Community Korero, where Mike and Miriam fielded questions from the crowd and got everyone talking about how they can make a difference or get through themselves.
The next day, all 800+ students at Kaitaia College and 60 students from neighbouring Aniwaniwa College took part in the Cool to Korero talk, split across two, packed-to-capacity 2-hour sessions in the school hall. Mike’s presentation had participants laughing their way into this sensitive subject and inspired to do more.
At each seminar, the audience was asked to stand if they ‘would do anything they could to stop one person from committing suicide.’ Picture entire rooms of hundreds standing to show their support.
Each school session provided an opportunity for students to have one-on-one time with Mike and/or Miriam and over 20 students were able to come forward to seek support. Take-away resources were available on Bullying, Heartbreak, Depression, Alcohol and Drugs, Suicide, Mental-Health Problems, Recovery, Community Resources and more.
Each school was left with a stack of Skylight teacher resources and library books including It Happened to Me: A Teen’s Guide to Overcoming Sexual Abuse; The Anger Toolbox; Something Has Happened Activity Book for Children; The Tough Stuff Activity Book for Children; A Terrible Thing Happened storybook for Children; Creative Coping Skills for Children; Bully Blocking and Emotional Support through Arts and Crafts Activities.
After the last Kaitaia College session on the 6th of March, before they began the long drive back to Auckland, Miriam and Mike made a special after-school visit to Pamapuria Primary (pictured here) with a box of Skylight books for the kids who have experienced trauma there recently .
So that’s 2 days and over 1 000 people who are ready to lead the changes needed to reach the zero suicide rate that is Key to Life Charitable Trust’s goal and make recovery easier, just like Engage Aotearoa is trying to do.
Discussions are underway to bring the talk to other towns in the Far North in the coming months. Engage Aotearoa has provided schools with follow-up activities for their classrooms and evaluations are currently underway.
Many thanks to Mike King of The Key to Life Charitable Trust, Kevin, BJ, Paulette, Ellen and everybody at Te Runanga o Te Rarawa, Mental Health Commissioner Lynne Lane, Bice and co at Skylight, Ivan at the Mental Health Foundation of NZ, The Beachcomber, Fathers Against Suicide, Kaitaia College, Taipa Area School and all the other people who helped us to pull this together so quickly and so well.
More photo’s coming soon.
