Engage Aotearoa

Tag Archives: Suicide

Highlights from Engage Aotearoa’s Facebook Page

Here are some recent highlights from Engage Aotearoa’s Facebook page

ManKind is the UK’s leading charity for supporting male victims of abuse. There are some great info resources and stories up here.
They had a secret so hard to cope with that suicide seemed like the only way out.
Lots of good stuff on this Grief Toolbox website.
Bullied teen Jimin Hwang ran away from home, dropped out of school, was assaulted and attempted suicide twice.
This group has been established to help people on benefits gain all of their rightful entitlements from Work and Income NZ.

Updates from the Engage Facebook Page

Stay: The Social Contagion of Suicide and How to Preempt It. “We are indebted to one another and the debt is a kind of faith — a beautiful, difficult, strange faith. We believe each other into being.”
Suicide: Facts and Myths – Square.  Suicide is a major public health problem in Australia. About 2300 Australians take their own lives each year. This website has some great info.
http://www.planetaudio.org.nz/ Take It From Us, PlanetFM 104.6 Tuesday @ 12.30pm.
Navigating the Mental Health Wilderness: Steven Morgan’s Journey – Mad In America. Steven Morgan discusses his transformative journey from chronic “patient” to leading mental health advocate.
Addiction is not an Illness. I don’t see addiction as an illness. But some of the things we choose as an addiction are far more physically and emotionally destructive than others.
Have You Ever Taken Antipsychotic Medication? If this sounds like you or someone you know pop along to www.teamstudy.co.nz for more info – you’ll find everything you need there.
10 Ways to Show Love to Someone With Depression. I have struggled with clinical depression since I was a child. It has been a constant companion I have learned to manage and while I am better now than I have ever been, every so often I feel it returning.

Highlights from the Engage Facebook Page

Here are a few of the posts shared on the Engage Aotearoa Facebook Page in the last few weeks.

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

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

American Psychological Association Releases Report on Preventing Gun Violence

In February 2013 the American Psychological Association commissioned this report by a panel of experts to convey research-based conclusions and recommendations (and to identify gaps in such knowledge) on how to reduce the incidence of gun violence in the USA, whether by homicide, suicide, or mass shootings.

The eventuating report from the APA (released 16 Dec. 2013), “Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy,” consolidates psychological research findings on precursors to shootings and highlights prevention strategies. The report identifies the need for both primary and secondary prevention programs.

Direct link to overview and full report here: http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/gun-violence-prevention.aspx

Surviving Suicidal Urges: e-Resource Now Available

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.

 

The Butterfly Diaries Volume 1: Launch & Order Details

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. 

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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. 

Mike King Korero Goes to Kawakawa 7 May 2013

Engage Aotearoa and Key to Life Charitable Trust will be taking the Mike King Korero to Kawakawa on the 7th of May for two sessions at Bay of Islands College. In the morning, students at Bay of Islands College will get the chance to take part in the Cool to Korero seminar that aims to encourage students to talk about their problems with people they trust before things get on top of them. In the evening, community members will be able to take part in the Community Korero to discuss how to help prevent suicide in their town.

Click here to read about the Whangarei Community Korero that took place on the 9th of April and made the front page of the Northern Advocate.

Click here to check out photos and feedback from the Whangarei Korero.

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