Empowering rural champions is the focus of a new initiative by mental health and wellbeing advocates Craig Wiggins and Slade McFarland.
The pair, through their Whatever with Wiggy Charitable Trust and Mates in Construction advocacy groups, have joined forces to get more trained people into communities to help ease pressures around mental health and wellbeing.
Wiggins said data from rural health New Zealand showed Mid Canterbury’s rural mental health per head of capita was low.
“Unfortunately Mid Canterbury has one of the highest issues with poor mental health and wellbeing, and suicidal tendencies, so we have come to the coalface, right off the bat.
“This is why we are here.
“It’s in our community so why shouldn’t we be dealing with it.”
Wiggins said the initiative had the backing already in the rural industry. He was keen to hear from more businesses, organisations, sports clubs, schools and groups.
McFarland said there were 615 suicide deaths nationally last year, which outweighed the national road toll, drownings and other deaths combined.
“Out of that number, we found out 411 were men, so they make up nearly 80 per cent of that number nationally and we’ve just got to find a way that we can change that.”
McFarland said training would help people have those conversations and ask the hard questions when people were “travelling poorly”.
“It’s very easy for me to say – I’ve been trained in this space – but for someone who hasn’t been trained it becomes quite a taboo subject; what to do, how to say and actually deal with it.
“We are trying to create communities where they can have good like-minded people that can be in that space and have the capacity to help.”
The pair had been working together for the past four years talking to rural New Zealand about mental health and wellbeing and more trained people were needed.
“What has always risen to the surface is more training and more ability for people – those in rural service industries, in rural New Zealand, general sports clubs, schools or wherever – to be able to connect with those that need help.
“We’ve had lots of guest speakers talk about their own mental health journey…but we actually need to know where to go next.
“So how do we empower those rural champions to take the step to safely connect with those in need, that is by offering training and continued support for those people.”
Training begins next month in Ashburton. It’s a four-hour session, with a small cost, but Braided Rivers Community Trust have allocated some funding for volunteer not-forprofit organisations.
“We are going to start the first trainings for Mid Canterbury and want as many people as possible scattered throughout the community to be connectors and eventually assist trained (suicide prevention).
“That really empowers a community,” he said.
“If we can get Mid Canterbury an accredited rural mental health supported community we will roll that out to other communities going forward.”
– Training sessions are planned at the Ashburton Club and MSA mid-October. Anyone interested can contact Craig Wiggins, email [email protected]
