Mary O’Hagan | Engage Aotearoa

Service User Leader Acknowledged in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Mary O’Hagan was made a Member of The New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Honours List on the 1st of June, for her “services to mental health”.

Mary has a long history of working to advocate for service-user perspectives in the delivery of mental-health services, former Mental health Commissioner, she was heavily involved in the Like Minds Like Mine programme, set-up Peer Zone and has written many articles and a book about her experiences, Madness Made Me.

This award is a much-deserved acknowledgement of Mary’s years of contribution and an acknowledgment of the value of the type of work Mary has been so tirelessly championing. Congratulations, Mary, and thank you!

Online NZ Peer Support Programme Launched

www.peerzone.co.nz

PeerZone is shared learning for wellbeing, designed and delivered by and for people with experience of mental distress. It is a series of three hour peer facilitated face-to-face sessions (learning packages) where participants engage in mutual support, deepen their understanding of their experience and develop tools for wellbeing in all the major life domains. The face-to-face groups are backed up by online resources and a chat facility.

PeerZone is aimed at working age people, particularly younger people with severe mental distress. Their vision is that by the end of this decade, everyone who uses mental health services will be offered some kind of peer led learning and support opportunity.

Mary O’Hagan and Sara McCook Weir developed PeerZone. The learning packages were developed in 2010-2011 and they were piloted in 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand. In 2012 they will organise the initial orientation for facilitators, launch the website, and work to establish PeerZone in New Zealand.

A Note to Visitors

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT RIGHT NOW:

Call or text 1737 for 24/7 phone counsellors
LifeLine: 0800 543 354
Tautoko Suicide Helpline 0508 TAUTOKO
Youthline: 0800376633 | Free text: 234

Your local crisis team is available 24 hours a day and their number is listed at the front of your phone book and in The Community Resources Directory here on the Engage Aotearoa website. In Auckland phone 0800 800 717 in the ADHB and WDHB regions or 0800 775 222 in the CMDHB area.

CALL 111 IN AN EMERGENCY.

Visit the Coping Kete to find self-help tips for Surviving a Crisis.

Please keep in mind the Engage Aotearoa website is a voluntary initiative and an information service only. The views on this website represent perspectives of recovery based on personal, lived experience of accessing services, and supporting loved ones combined with evidence from the field of psychology.

The information shared on this website should not replace advice from a clinician who is informed of your particular set of circumstances.

I aim to share evidence-based perspectives that are respectful of the many different approaches to recovery and to keep the information shared here up to date. I welcome feedback to help me do this. If you find yourself confused, distressed or excluded by anything on this website, please contact me to share your feedback and seek support. Keep in mind that it may take several days for me to respond to your email. If you need immediate support please reach out to family, friends, or one of the support lines above.

Tag Archives: Mary O’hagan

Service User Leader Acknowledged in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Online NZ Peer Support Programme Launched

A Note to Visitors