Newsletter for the Like Minds, Like Mine programme
November 2019 | Whiringa-ā-rangi
Our Like Minds, Like Mine collective at our national hui earlier this month
Mihi nui ki a koe
In this edition, we share:
- Why Justine King-Hudson is #RadNotBad
- What happens when 72 Tall Trees grow into a forest
- Māori experiences within Aotearoa's mental health system
- No Worries' wins with DHL Christchurch
- The power of comment moderation online
- An ode to our rangatira and change-maker, Te Wera Te Kōtua
- A message from our new Programme Lead, Mary O'Hagan!
Nāku iti nei,
The Like Minds, Like Mine team
Media stories that paint people with lived experience as violent, dangerous and unpredictable are false, harmful - and boring!
The reality is that our tangata with mental distress are #RadNotBad - and that's a record the Mental Health Foundation is setting straight.
Their #RadNotBad series has released just over half of its eight stories on Kiwis' real experiences within Aotearoa's mental health system. Their stories cover everything from seeing a GP or psychiatrist, to experiencing seclusion and hospital facilities and coming out the other end again.
Tall Tree Justine King-Hudson (pictured) was the very first person to share her story.
As a pansexual Māori wahine, she found others discriminated against her experiences by saying she'd "chosen her mental health issues by deciding to be queer" or her depression was just an excuse "because Māori are lazy."
Find out why Justine is a superhero without a cape in her #RadNotBad!
Celebrating our upstanders
On 6 November, 72 graduates from our Rākau Roroa programme gathered at Auckland's Whoa Studios to kōrero about how they could use their lived experience as a force for change in Aotearoa.
Along with workshops and media training (from broadcasters Greg Ward and Mary Lambie) which boosted their confidence in safe storytelling, our Tall Trees enjoyed connecting and celebrating each others' achievements at a special red carpet event in the evening. For many, it was the first time they had met face-to-face.
One of the most magical outcomes was seeing how tangibly joyful and inspired everyone was. Ideas for new projects were sparked and although so many don't feel that what they are doing is important, their stories and the work they are doing in their communities is simply incredible.
The next day at the Like Minds, Like Mine national hui an inspiring Tall Trees panel shared their proudest moments since joining Rākau Roroa.
Watch our video of the day to immerse yourself in the awe-inspiring event.
Turning to mātauranga Māori
Photo credit: The Hui
Tui Taurua-Peihopa was on 18-20 medications a day for her mental distress, but nothing was changing.
"Every time something went not good for me, all they did was just add another pill, and that wasn't okay."
She found solace in Te Whare Tapa Whā.
"[I realised that] as a Māori, I have a right to hear voices and it's okay to hear voices, there's nothing wrong with me."
In late September, our 2018 Media Grants winner John Boynton put out a powerful exposé on Māori experiences of the mental health system.
Launched on The Hui, it showed how mātauranga Māori - or Maori knowledge - could help Māori to find wellness in way that was relevant and helpful to them.
Watch and read John Boynton's video and exposé here.
No more worries for DHL Christchurch
No Worries is a programme that helps workplaces to better understand, and respond to, colleagues with mental distress.
Designed and delivered by people with lived experience, their free workshops across the country change workplaces' minds and processes by factoring mental distress into the equation.
One of their most recent successes has been with shipping company DHL.
Find out how DHL Christchurch has made changes to their workplace after No Worries' workshops with them in August and September.
Why comment moderation matters
Are you worried about the impact of harmful comments online?
Ever wonder what a company's responsibilities are when hosting comments that discriminate against someone's lived experience or identity?
Netsafe is an independent, not-for-profit online safety organisation that receives about 60 harmful digital communications reports a week. Many of these cases involve discriminatory comments or threads on social media, blogs or news sites.
We sat down with their CEO, Martin Cocker (pictured), to find out how we can better fight discriminatory comments online.
Te Wera Te Kōtua - Ode to a change-maker
Kua hinga te tōtara haemata o te waonui a Tāne. Nō reira e kara e Te Wera, te uri nō Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kuri, Ngāti Koata, haere atu rā. Haere ki o mātua tūpuna, ki te huihuinga o ngā kahurangi, kia au te moe, moe mai rā e kara.
We acknowledge and mourn Te Wera Te Kōtua (pictured), a champion for Māori with lived experience of mental distress and a key influence in our Like Minds, Like Mine kaupapa who passed away earlier this year.
Te Wera worked with Like Minds, Like Mine between 2003 and 2006, and left behind him an incredible legacy of action and change-making, both before and after our time with him.
Read more about Te Wera's influential mahi and character here.
Moe mai rā e te Rangatira.
The Health Promotion Agency/Te Hiringa Hauora hosted the annual Like Minds, Like Mine hui this past 7 and 8 November.
It was a great chance to get the funded partners together, celebrate our successes and update the team (pictured) on the programme's new direction (see Mary O'Hagan's update below).
Marlon Drake, past president of Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association, gave an inspiring keynote talk on leading The Wait is Over, a campaign which demanded better student mental health support in 2018.
The hui was attended by all of our providers, including:
- the University of Otago (who work with medical students and the Police)
- Mind and Body (who work with social housing providers and schools)
- PeerZone (who work with workplaces)
- The Mental Health Foundation (who manage our Grants programmes, media engagement, workplace initiatives and provide national communications support), and
- Changing Minds, whose Rākau Roroa programme is growing a network of people who use their lived experience of mental distress and recovery to create change across Aotearoa.
Read more about our collective's community projects here.
Mary O'Hagan (pictured), a well-known advocate and voice of lived experience, has taken up our new Programme Lead role with the HPA!
"Like Minds, Like Mine hasn't had a national leadership role since 2011, and I'm looking forward to working with all of our partners and supporters to keep improving the programme," she says.
"Our upcoming National Plan (2020-2025) signals some new priorities for us, which include developing a kaupapa Māori approach, working at a systems level to change discriminatory policy and legislation, ensuring better co-ordination and consistency across the different parts of the programme, and building a social movement of supporters to further our cause.
"Everyone who wants to uphold the mana and human rights of people with mental distress can have a place in Like Minds, Like Mine.
"Watch this space - you will be hearing from us!"
We're always interested in sharing media coverage that helps to break down prejudice and discrimination.
Here are our top stories for this issue:
If you have any stories you'd like us to know about, please reach out to us at likeminds@mentalhealth.org.nz
Love reading research? These links hold this quarter's most interesting findings around reducing prejudice and discrimination, and increasing social inclusion.
For diagnosis, treatment and medication, you should consult a health practitioner. We do not assume responsibility for any errors or omissions in published sources, and cannot guarantee the accuracy of these sources. Not all practices/treatments described in the literature will be available in New Zealand.
Copyright © 2019 Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, All rights reserved.
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