Engage Aotearoa

Category Archives: Social Change

United Nations World Happiness Report Calls on Policy Makers to Prioritise Happiness

March 27, 2014 5:29 pm ⋅

The United Nations World Happiness Report 2013 was released in September last year. The report calls on global policy makers to prioritise happiness as a key measure and target of development.

In Chapter 3, Mental Illness and Unhappiness, authors Richard Layard, Dan Chisholm, Vikram Patel and Shekhar Saxena, write: “For policy makers, the key issue is what affects happiness. Some studies show mental health to be the single most important determinant of whether a person is happy or not. Yet, even in rich countries, less than a third of mentally ill people are in treatment. Good, cost-effective treatments exist for depression, anxiety disorders and psychosis, and the happiness of the world would be greatly increased if they were more widely available.”

The Report shows the major beneficial side-effects of happiness. Happy people live longer, are more productive, earn more, and are also better citizens. Well-being should be developed both for its own sake and for its side-effects.

Read the full report here: http://www.globalmentalhealth.org/sites/default/files/WorldHappinessReport2013_online.pdf
Thanks to the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership for sharing this information.

Posted in: Human Rights and Legal Issues, Online Resources, Politics and Policy, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

Take It From Us: Challenging Schizophrenia Myths | 11 March 2014

March 10, 2014 7:06 pm ⋅

This week on Take It From Us the crew is promoting Schizophrenia Awareness Week (9-15 March 2014). Schizophrenia is potentially the mental illness diagnosis that holds the most stigma. The goal of Schizophrenia Awareness Week is to raise awareness, and to challenge the outdated myths around this condition. Join Take It From Us with guests Claire Cox of Supporting Families in Mental Illness and Philippa Coyle, Mind & Body Consultants on Tuesday the 11th of March 2014.

Listen live on 104.6FM at 12.30pm or online www.planetaudio.org.nz

OR if you missed the broadcast, listen for the next seven days @: www.planetaudio.org.nz/takeitfromus

And don’t forget the Take it From Us Facebook page @ Facebook.com and type ‘take it from us’ in the search box; email takeitfromus@mail.com for any feedback and comment/suggestions for shows.

Posted in: Online Resources, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Chinese Community Asked to Reconsider Disability

March 10, 2014 6:23 pm ⋅

Chinese Parents Support Service Trust (CPSST) is embarking a journey to ask the Chinese community to Think Differently about disability.

“The unlimited love” is the title of the campaign to change attitudes and behaviour that limit opportunities for disabled Chinese people in Auckland. The campaign is funded through the Ministry of Social Development, Social Campaigns Team Family and Community Services.

The campaign will utilise Chinese media, such as Chinese Voice Radio AM936, Skykiwi (most popular Chinese website in New Zealand) and Chinese Herald (newspaper) to introduce a series of local and national disability services. These include, Autism NZ Inc, Blind Foundation, Deaf Radio, Circability, Elevate Christian Disability Trust, Mental Health Foundation’s Kai Xin Xing Dong project, Independent Living Services and many more. Beside that, Philip Patston and Dr. Huhana Hickey also shared their inspiration about their work in the disability sector.

Eva the CEO of CPSST hopes by introducing disability services Chinese people can gain an understanding of the services available for them. “ We hope more dialogue among Chinese community about disability by introducing the disability services”.

According to The New Zealand Disability Strategy One in five people, in New Zealand report having a long-term impairment. This can be born, incidents, health issues or require later in life.

(The Unlimited Love has been running on every Saturday for 13 weeks on AM 936 from 10am to 11am).

http://cpsst.org.nz/

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

Highlights from the Engage Facebook Page

February 17, 2014 12:56 pm ⋅

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

Posted in: Cultural Considerations, Engage Updates, Entertainment and Creativity, Families/Whanau, News, Online Resources, Parents and Parenting, Personal Development Tools, Recovery Stories, Research, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Video Competition & Teaching Resource

February 17, 2014 12:55 pm ⋅

Panui for Media Studies Teachers

The Mental Health Foundation is running a video competition for teenagers.

This is open to all students, but could be the product of a formative exercise for media production standards 2.6 and 3.6, for which a teaching unit plan is provided.

They are looking for a 30 second youth-friendly YouTube video that encourages youth to stop and pause when they hear  words like “nutjob”, “slut”, “schizo”, “mental”, and “homo”, and reflect on language that is stigmatising or discriminatory (especially in relation to mental illnesses).

The objectives are:

  • to provide students with  a useful insight into health marketing
  • to get students to help curtail bullying and to participate in mental health promotion
  • to generate a high-quality, resource we can use in a viral marketing campaign
  • it will be youth friendly and accessible
  • it will help to change people’s attitudes,
  • it well provide tools and skills to challenge inappropriate and demeaning language

What the brief will be for the video:

Work produced by youths has the potential to attract real interest from their peers.

Timeline:

Friday, 4th of April             Thehe unit plan will be sent to interested teachers

Friday, 20th of June          Entries close

Thursday, 17th of July      Awards ceremony

What the students will gain:

This will offer a meaningful learning opportunity based on the opportunity to produce a ‘real world’ product which will be used in a media campaign.

Research has indicated that teenagers care about the discriminatory language that they and their peers use, and would appreciate the opportunity to make clear statements about what is appropriate and what is not.

There will be prizes, and an award ceremony.

Perhaps more significantly, the winning students will achieve internet fame through a viral marketing campaign based on the winning videos; this will involve promotion through social media platforms and celebrity endorsements.

Teaching Resource.

This programme offers a high-quality teaching and summative assessment unit, including a lesson plans and assessment criteria, for media studies achievement standards 2.6 and 3.6 (media production), giving students practice in the skill of video production. This resource will be ready for the beginning of term 2.

If you are interested, please contact ivan@mentalhealth.org.nz, or on 027 2808972.

Posted in: Documentary, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

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

February 17, 2014 12:34 pm ⋅

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
Posted in: Families/Whanau, Parents and Parenting, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support, Young People and Youth Issues ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

National Depression Initiative Seeks Rural Men to Share Stories of Recovery from Depression

December 19, 2013 2:34 pm ⋅

The National Depression Initiative (NDI) is undertaking a new project around rural mental health.

They want to make a new series of videos for depression.org.nz, and are looking for farmers who have come through a depression journey and are prepared to tell their story.

If you (or someone you know) are male, aged 24 to 65, a farmer of any kind, and would be willing to share, please contact Belinda Moss

  • b.moss@hpa.org.nz
  • 04 9170513 (office hours)
Posted in: Community Participation, Men, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

Government Lobbying Lessons for Suicide Prevention from the States

December 19, 2013 2:14 pm ⋅

Suicide Prevention is an important issue across the globe. NZ may have one of the highest per-capita suicide rates in the OECD, but America isn’t far behind, and they may have a few lessons for us when it comes to influencing the people making the decisions.

In  2013, the American Psychological Association (APA) lobbied their senators to reauthorise and improve legislation that ensures prevention programmes can be established and extra funds  made available at university campuses to provide treatment and support to young people who are suicidal. The Campus Suicide Prevention Programme includes survey instruments to enhance identification of those who are suicidal and funds that allow people to be channelled towards effective treatment and support. While the legislation had been introduced in 2004, in 2013, 100 APA members made 150 visits to their congressional representatives to raise awareness of the reauthorisation of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (GLSMA) and succeeded in obtaining congressional support. Find out more about the APA’s efforts to influence government and the Campus Suicide Prevention Programme.

The NZ Psychological Society (NZPsS) and the NZ College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP) are the NZ equivalents to the APA. It is difficult to ascertain whether similar lobbying and advocacy initiatives have been undertaken by these professional bodies. However, in August 2013, the two groups did publish a media release in response to Ministry of Health and medical insurance provider decisions to limit funding and access to talking therapies. Last week, the NZ parliament published a list of all lobbyists with passes to parliament. The list included several lawyers, business people and professional lobbyists-for-hire, but no mental-health or general health professionals.

Service-users have made multiple attempts to be heard by the government in 2013, but they aren’t on the list of lobbyists either and their calls for improved access to therapy have found few tangible results. It is time that our professional bodies got behind them and one way to do that is to lobby parliament for those areas of change that professional and service-user groups agree are necessary.  The Petition for Better Mental Healthcare Choices in NZ was delivered to NZ parliament this year by Annie Chapman on behalf of over one thousand NZers. However, the Health Select Committee has yet to release comment. NZ’s professional bodies did not make any public statements to support the petition, even though their August 2013 media release shows that their aims matched all along. It is unknown whether they were informed or uninformed of the initiative. Perhaps we could also benefit from improved collaboration between service-user groups and national professional bodies: Aims do not always diverge and just occasionally these different groups are all saying the same things: the message will be stronger if we can send it in unison.   

 

Posted in: Engage Updates, Politics and Policy, Service-User Movement, Social Change, Suicide Prevention/Support ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

American Psychological Association Releases Report on Preventing Gun Violence

December 19, 2013 12:25 pm ⋅

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

Posted in: Online Resources, Research, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

The Nutters Club episode on Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse | Maori TV | Mon 2 Dec 2013

December 1, 2013 12:33 pm ⋅

The subject of male sexual abuse is the topic of a very frank episode of The Nutters Club on Monday December 2nd at 9:30pm on Maori Television. Mike King and David Codyre speak to Ken Clearwater and Rewi Smith about their experiences as survivors of sexual abuse.

Watch the trailer here on Vimeo. 

If you miss the episode when it airs on TV, you can watch all episodes online here.

Listen to The Nutters Club live on radio Newstalk ZB, every Sunday at 11pm.

Posted in: Families/Whanau, Men, Parents and Parenting, Professional Development, Recovery Stories, Service-User Movement, Social Change ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,