The Auckland RETHiNK Grants are unable to financially support more than a few projects, but during our travels we have found some wonderful, interesting and valuable Mental Health initiatives that we think are worth checking out.

Here are some valuable projects and ideas that made the shortlist and deserve your support, please get in touch with them for information on how you can help, or be involved.

If you have a great Mental Health project or site that you would like linked here – please get in touch.

***NB: Mind and Body Consultants Ltd, Like Minds, Like Mine and RETHiNK are not responsible for the content of these external links.

2011 Honourable Mentions

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Anna Jackson for Moodhood

The team at Virtuo (www.virtuo.co.nz) applied for a RETHiNK Grant to fund the development and promotion of Moodhood, an iPhone application and website that allows people to log the moods they experience in different locations and discuss ways to improve the vibe there.  With some further development and additional sponsors we hope to be able to support this project at a later date. Watch this space.

Robert Mokaraka for Shot Bro: Confessions of a Depressed Bullet

Robert Mokaraka applied for a RETHiNK Grant to fund the development of his theatre script – a play exploring his unique personal experience, which captured the media’s attention in 2009. The script was to be workshopped with public focus groups towards preparing it for a full season. The judges thought this was an incredibly strong project and encouraged Robert to carry on with developing his script so he can reapply next year with plans to put the final show on. Robert can be contacted through the Like Minds team by emailing likeminds@mindandbody.co.nz

Janette Searle for Reflections Series

The Playground CPM’s Reflections Series was a series of six short documentary pieces, each exploring a person’s experience with mental illness, including Mike Chunn talking about his experience with agoraphobia.  Public contact details:www.drift.com, www.theplaygroundcpm.com, info@theplaygroundcpm.com

Luke Munn for In Mind

Luke Munn from Werkhaus (http://werkha.us) was interested in exploring the question, ‘what is a ‘normal’ mind?‘ The In Mind project taps the collective consciousness, allowing users to submit their thoughts to a sprawling online mind-map, exploring the complexity and absurdity of our minds together. Visitors can pan through hundreds of ideas, word-images, thoughts, and moments, ranging from the poetic to the banal, the bizarre to the provocative.

Sarah McCook-Weir for Inside Out

Sarah Delahunty’s play was a hit when it ran in Wellington last year. Director Sara McCook Weir applied for a RETHiNK Grant to bring the cast and play to Auckland. Inside Out explores the issue of youth self-harm and reviews reveal it to be highly destigmatising, promoting understanding about distress and providing great inspiration for dialogue.  Contact:  Sara McCook Weir PO Box 6627 Marion Square, Wellington.  Ph: 04 385 4277 | Mob: 021 121 5957

2010 Honourable Mentions

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“Caught Between Sunshine and Shadow”

Living with and Managing Bipolar Affective Disorder

“Caught Between Sunshine and Shadow” – is a book of peoples’ stories of how they’ve managed and bounced back from a diagnosis of bipolar that turned their world upside down.

Bipolar Affective Disorder (formerly know as Manic Depression) affects more than 40,000 New Zealanders.

When I was diagnosed with bipolar, I was dismayed at the lack of publications with (non-medical) accounts from ordinary kiwis, in various walks of life, who were managing and living fulfilled lives despite their diagnosis.

So far I have had more than 40 people willing to share their experiences in the hope that their story might be the one that pulls another back from the depths of despair.

I am seeking funding that will help cover the cost of self-publishing and marketing this book throughout New Zealand in October this year.

If you can help in any way please contact Georgie:

Georgie Tutt  on 07 548 0948  or tuttenbelt@xtra.co.nz

Check this link for more info (Georgie’s  interview starts 16:30 minutes into the program)

Georgie’s book website is: www.cbsas.co.nz

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Unique Sense and DIVINQ (Diversity Inquiry) are two interlinked projects that encourage creative thinking and acceptance in students, educators and young people. The projects facilitate student-led exploration of values, beliefs and assumptions about diversity, including mental health and distress..

Unique Sense aims to build a collection of short films to add diversity to common sense. The films capture images, words and ideas about diversity and human rights in a creative multi-media mix of still images, moving images and sound.

DIVINQ is an online and offline process designed for young adults that creates space for a light-hearted and fun – yet meaningful and exploratory – conversation about values, beliefs, assumptions, diversity and human rights.

Together, DIVINQ and Unique Sense create a powerful means to manifest diversity as the natural synergy of similarity and difference, uniqueness and commonality. They help young people understand that diversity exists in all people, in all places, at all times.

For more visit www.uniquesense.net

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Father and Child Trust – Male PND resource

We are seeking funding to develop a resource for support providers and fathers, focusing on male post-natal distress (PND), based on a more partner-inclusive approach and using information from our ‘Dads and Babies’ resource. We suspect that, as we have found in Christchurch, Auckland counsellors are likely to completely miss the “dad-angle” in their dealings with clients and write-off problems as sleeplessness or relationship issues.

The transition to fatherhood is a substantial change in a man’s life, which fundamentally changes his role in the family. Some men struggle with these changes, which can impact their mental health.

A new father may find himself unable to relate properly to his baby (even if he had children before), be negligent about work commitments, be irritable, seek more solitude than usual, feel guilty about his small contribution, feel superfluous within the mother-baby harmony or stop socialising – any of these symptoms can indicate that adjustment problems have developed into depression.

Through this project fathers will be better addressed in existing support programs, and be able to access resources, phone and personal support, or drop in to our Auckland office.

This fits within our mission which is to:

bring a male perspective into child-raising, and to address the lack of support for New Zealand fathers.

give fathers any information or support they need, form networks of dads with kids, and make fathers feel good about the most important job in their lives.

educate service providers about whole-family approaches and father inclusion.

For further information or to discuss this opportunity to help fathers please contact Peter on 09 525 1690 peterb@fatherandchild.org.nz or see our website www.fatherandchild.org.nz

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