The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is a great fit with Southland’s support services, who have already been connecting with each other to help members of the community.
To mark the week, Able Minds Peer Groups, Healthy Families Invercargill, the Loss and Grief Centre, and Mind and Body peer group, along with Future Directions, will be coming together to connect, care and celebrate the milestone with a range of community events next week.
Future Directions and Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora family adviser Sally-Jane Kirk said mental health was a subject people should be aware of, but the week was a great opportunity to bring exposure for the services available.
"At some point in our lives, mental distress will attach to every single person in our community.
"Future Directions is about primary, secondary services and NGOs all coming together to basically show what's out there in the community, but also just to understand that it touches every single person in the community and that we're not alone."
Healthy Families general manager Wendy Findlay agreed.
"There's also that support of each other's service.
"We can all ... understand what each other does, but [also] where we can intersect and support each other in our services.
"We come from a strength-based approach. Southland as a community, it's so resilient and it's so giving."
Loss and Grief Centre director Caroline Loo highlighted the importance of connections — whether through work, social groups or family.
She said statistics showed social connection was one of the best suicide preventers.
"We are taught to be independent, but there's not one independent person in this world — otherwise, they're living in the field, in the bush.
"So we're interdependent and we need to work on that."
The centre will have a stand in Invercargill Central next week to raise awareness of all the resources available, as well at the Southern Institute of Technology’s Wellbeing Expo.
They will have raffles, a therapeutic art activity on Monday and on Thursday they are inviting everyone to come to centre to connect.
"We will be trying to reach out to the general public about the importance of connecting, collaboration, and just ... being mindful that mental health is a bit of a stigma, but emotional health is something we've all got to look after."
Able Minds and Mind and Body peer groups have also created a full week of events. These include a games afternoon on Monday at Mind and Body, a walker group at the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome on Tuesday and a free community barbecue at the Intercultural Church.
There will be also a mindfulness art event on Thursday and an open day for peers on Friday.
Able Minds facilitator and Future Directions chairwoman Rachael Roberts said the events were to celebrate and encourage the links between the community.
"It is all about to bring people together and find ways to celebrate our wellbeing, our mental wellbeing by working together."
