Engage Aotearoa

Category Archives: Social Change

New Song Challenges Binge Drinking

April 23, 2012 7:07 am ⋅

An amazing musical project has just been launched by a bunch of Top 40 New Zealand musicians around binge drinking and young people.

The band is called All My Brothers and includes Francis of Kora, Marcus Powell of Blacklist and Ben Campbell of Zed (among others).

The track, ‘Find A Way’ also features Sid Diamond (formerly Young Sid of Smashproof) and Adeaze.

The track looks at the effects of alcohol in young people and encourages young people to “find a way to make a change”. It’s a great resource for the community sector, so jump on board. Share it with your young people and friends and vote with your dollar to let our country know that meaningful messages have a place on the radio.

The project is put together by Zeal Voice, who you can check out at zealvoice.co.nz

Posted in: Addiction/Substance Abuse, Entertainment and Creativity, Families/Whanau, News, Parents and Parenting, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Resources for Youth Week activities

April 19, 2012 12:11 pm ⋅

YOUTH WEEK – Everything you need to run your own youth week activities!

Support the young people you work with to LOVE THE SKIN THEY’RE IN!

Eden, specialists in eating issues and body image since 1990, has resources and training which will help you deliver workshops and programmes for youth week, relating to the theme ‘Love the skin you’re in’, and enough content to continue all year long!

For more information visit www.eden.org.nz

Posted in: Community Participation, Online Resources, Personal Development Tools, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

reTHiNK Possible Worlds Encore 20-21 April 2012

April 16, 2012 4:08 am ⋅

The Literatti and partners present an encore performance of reTHiNK Possible Worlds with the addition of new poets with new worlds and The Time Machine, an interactive moving-image performance installation that you need to see to believe.

“It offers constant glimmers of hope, escape routes and pathways to human dignity.” – Theatre View

reTHiNK Possible Worlds is a multimedia theatre show that weaves together dance, poetry, film, visual art and music to tell the story of several characters as they navigate their way out of madness and rethink their possible worlds.

  • The Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland Central
  • Friday 20 April 8 pm and Saturday 21 April 6 pm.
  • Tickets $10 on the door.

After their sell-out shows in 2011, Theatre review called it “well-padded and full. It was like eating a good meal: not so much that we are sore, not so little that we are still hungry”.

Who are you in the maze of life?

Performance Poetry:

  • A Fighter – Marina Alefosio
  • A Rogue – Sali Namwinga
  • An Adventurer – Michelle Bolton
  • A Maverick – Chris McMurray
  • A Searcher – Miriam Barr
  • A Thinker – Daniel Larsen
  • A Survivor – Simone Kaho
  • A Visionary – Shane Hollands
  • A Seer – Christian Jensen
  • A Rebel – Jai MacDonald
  • A Translator – Maddy King.

The Time Machine by Dan Breton

The Inventors:

Musicians 
John McNab: saxophone, guitar;
Paul Williams: cello, guitar, percussion.

Etched Dance Productions: 
Jess Quaid
Georgia JM Giesen.

www.eventfinder.co.nz/2012/rethink-possible-worlds-encore/auckland

Posted in: Entertainment and Creativity, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Crown Entities Reform – HPA

April 9, 2012 9:39 pm ⋅

Health Promotion Agency (HPA) – Crown Entities Reform Bill

The Government has introduced legislation to establish a new Health Promotion Agency (HPA) with the intention that it will be up and running by the middle of 2012. The Crown Entities Reform Bill covers the Health Promotion Agency and reforms some other crown organisations, including bringing together the Health Sponsorship Council, ALAC and some functions of the Ministry of Health into the HPA. The Bill is being considered by the Government Administration Select Committee (not the Health Select Committee).

Submissions are now being accepted. To keep reading, visit www.hauora.co.nz/health-promotion-agency-hpa-crown-entities-reform-bill.html

Click below for the latest newsletter from the Public Health Association, who summarise the results of their submission on the HPA.

www.pha.org.nz/onlinenews/PHANews1203web.pdf

Posted in: News, Politics and Policy, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Men & LGBT People Needed to Share Stories of Hope

January 30, 2012 2:23 am ⋅

The Butterfly Diaries is a creative book project that will share true stories of recovery from suicide, as told by established New Zealand writers.

Engage Aotearoa have teamed up with poet Michelle Bolton to gather ten personal stories of recovery and ten writers to tell their stories in creative ways.

Already six female and two male personal story-tellers have signed up for the project and begun their interviews to gather information for their writers. Personal story-tellers range in age from 28 – 62 years old and each one of them is a true example of how human beings can bring themselves out of a place of hopelessness, into a place of hope. Each person has their own strategies to share and The Butterfly Diaries team can already tell that they have a rich resource for the diverse needs of the community waiting to come out.

With so many personal story-tellers already signed up and in the interests of creating a balanced resource, the team has decided to reserve the last two personal story-teller spots for men or LGBT people who have recovered from feeling suicidal. Suicide is really common among these two groups and it would be really useful to have a variety of stories for them in this resource.

If that sounds like you or someone you know, visit The Butterfly Diaries webpage and get in touch with the team. 

The hunt is still on for NZ writers to help tell these stories in creative, entertaining ways – more information for writers can also be found online here!

Posted in: Community Participation, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

An Open Letter to the Mental-Health & Disability Sector

October 27, 2011 8:52 am ⋅

27/10/2011

Dear colleagues and networks

A global revolution of the people is taking place right now and with our sectors’ input, it could create just the kind of social conditions our community needs to empower all people to live flourishing lives. For this reason, we are actively supporting this movement in Auckland and we urge you to take part too.

As a key stakeholder in the Auckland mental-health and disabilities sector, you probably already know that we have the highest rate of youth suicide in the developed world and that our youth are more likely to die from suicide than any other cause. Almost 50% of our community faces mental health problems in their life-times and only 16.9% of us have access to specialised treatment. Despite this, our government has removed mental health from the nation’s health priorities and cut funding to core mental health services across the country and we have all been feeling the effects. The Occupy movement is a revolution against this governmental shift away from the wellbeing of our communities and onto the wellbeing of big business. The movement’s impact depends entirely on the people who take part and it makes sense for the mental-health and disability sector to take part.

You probably won’t have heard about Occupy in the media, but information is widespread on social media networks. The movement has spread across the globe since thousands of Americans occupied Wall Street in New York on September 17th to collaborate in peaceful protest. In multitudes of cities across the world, communities have occupied their public spaces to peacefully demand that their governments take care of the interests of ordinary people (the 99%), over the interests of big business (the 1%). Each Occupation has set up a daily General Assembly that practices consensus decision-making that allows everyone present to be part of deciding what the local issues are and how they should be resolved. Absolutely everyone in the community is invited to participate in the daily General Assembly and have their perspective represented in the process.

In Auckland on October 15th two thousand people from all walks of life marched down Queen Street and occupied Aotea Square. Many are still there and they need our support if they are to achieve a meaningful result.

There are three ways that you or your organisation can join the Occupy movement to bring mental-health and disability issues into the picture and stand up for the human rights of the 99%.

  1. Outreach: Help the movement reach the public by visiting the occupation and adding yourself to the count. You don’t have to camp, though you are welcome to. A lot of people have jobs and family commitments and can only make it down for a few hours every couple of days. Every single body counts and there are so many things to be done that you or your organisation can help with. Anyone can join a working group or put a proposal to the General Assembly. The more diverse the occupiers are the better – every voice needs to be represented so that the consensus reached is a meaningful one with numbers behind it.
  2. Education:  Share your knowledge with the occupiers by presenting a Learn Session on-site in the occupation. Not only is this an excellent way for you to spread your message amongst an incredibly diverse group of people, it is also an excellent way to help equip the occupiers with the knowledge they need to inspire positive change in New Zealand.
  3. Public Support: Show that you support the movement by publishing a Statement of Solidarity with the local Occupy movement, like this one. If you don’t have time to make your own Statement of Solidarity, simply forward this letter amongst your own networks. You might also like to publish witness accounts of what is happening at the camp and how the lives of the extremely diverse occupiers have changed for the better since participating in their communities through the Occupy movement.

This movement is about more than politics – it is about people uniting for a better world – and in the camps, a model of that better world is being played out. I have seen firsthand people meeting people they would not otherwise meet – and they are learning from each other. I have seen all people feeling included, people volunteering and participating, people finding comfort in each other, building a safe space and finding value in work and rediscovering their own skill-sets, people healing each other, all at Occupy Auckland.

Come to Aotea Square and experience it for yourself. General Assemblies are daily at 6pm. Learn Session days and times vary and are posted on the information board. A welcome tent holds all of the information you need and a friendly person to fill you in.

Sincerely in solidarity with Occupy Auckland

Miriam Larsen-Barr

Engage Aotearoa

This letter and the perspectives contained therein were unanimously approved by the Occupy Auckland General Assembly on 27 October 2011 at Aotea Square.

 

Posted in: Community Participation, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,