w h a k a i t i a t e w h a k a w h i u i t e t a n g a t a

newsletter for the programme to counter stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness

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Like Minds

If you don’t like something, say you don’t like it, self-advocacy is so important.SAL FAID (PAGE 8)

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WHAT ’ S INS IDE

1 Reducing stigma in Pacific communities

4 Beauty queen speaks out

5 Blueprint II champions Like Minds

6 MHC established in HDC

7 Take Notice and the Big reTHiNK

8 Awareness changing perspectives

9 From workaholic to consumer advocate and writer

10 Dancing out of the dark

11 The space between words

Reducing stigma in Pacific communitiesCombining cognitive behaviour therapy with cultural traditions is a “little bit on the edge”, clinical psychologist Evangelene Daniela says, but it is helping to reduce stigma and discrimination experienced by Pacific people.

Evangelene initially studied law, and then completed a BA in religious studies before getting a BSc in psychology, psychology honours, participating in the postgraduate Clinical Psychology Programme and completing a PhD in psychology.

She runs a private practice with a Māori colleague that focuses on integrating cultural and clinical practices. She also works in forensic mental health services for Capital and Coast District Health Board. Her clients are mostly young people aged 12 to 18 who have been in trouble with the law.

“I have always had a strong sense of social justice and that comes directly into my work,” Evangelene says. “It is very much about perspective. The perspective you

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have shapes how you respond to a person.

“I have had my own challenges with low-level depression and anxiety but nothing clinical. There are other mental health issues in my family with my siblings and Mum has been a psychiatric nurse so that must have had some influence on me.”

Battling stigma and discriminationSome young people with whom Evangelene works are already experiencing discrimination from within their own family even before a mental health issue is identified.

For example, Evangelene says parents might believe their child is ‘evil’ or ‘possessed’ and changing such ingrained thinking is difficult. “If the narrative has been in the family since the child was born, it’s more challenging,” she says.

In other situations, self-stigma is an issue. “People say ‘I’m not crazy’ and I say ‘no you’re okay, you have just got things happening’. ”

She believes it is possible for people to hold multiple perspectives so her role

is to help them reframe and shift to a positive outlook.

A cultural approach to working with young peopleTo do this Evangelene has adopted a blended therapeutic approach incorporating cultural aspects alongside traditional cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) or other mainstream therapies such as narrative therapy.

Her approach takes the core principals of CBT and looks at it from cultural perspectives, such as ’akapapa (family lineage) or tumu kōrero (traditional stories), or working within traditional values.

“It’s a little bit on the edge and something we do quite slowly,” she says.

She is influenced by a variety of perspectives, from the theoretical work of Karlo Mila Schaff and indigenous psychology theorists such as Lisa Smith and Maui Hudson, through to clinical work such as the Ngā Mahi o Ngā Atua (developed by Lisa Cherrington) and Māori and Pacific models of mental health.

Working with families and their beliefsOften Evangelene meets a family on direction from the court. “Families come not because they want to but because they have to,” she says.

“I talk with them prior to meeting in their home. I always begin the process doing whakawhanaungatanga – them getting to know who I am while I get to know who they are and the problem we are here to discuss. It is important to take the time to do that. I don’t do one-hour sessions.

“We discuss spiritual aspects and if the family want to begin with karakia or prayer, that is how we begin.

“Often when talking about psychosis, issues of māte māori or māki tupapāku (traditional views of psychosis or culturally specific mental illness) come into it, or the Pacific Island ‘curse’.

“Because I am quite open to those ideas, I ask about it and people are forthcoming to tell me. I just say ‘what are your beliefs about? What is going on?’ They will go into a story about what happened when the child was younger, or to their parents, or family stories.

“In mainstream assessment, you go straight to the point and then go from there, so this is hugely different from the way many of my colleagues work.”

The new approach is designed to make an impact with NZ-born Pacific people who, according to research, Evangelene says, are at higher risk of mental illness and are reluctant to access services.

She says people migrate from the islands for work and the hope of a better life but when they arrive, they get into communities where there is serious economic disadvantage and other acculturation issues. Subsequent generations find their protective factors are diluted.

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Pacific mental health resourcesThere are a number of resources available that are specifically prepared for Pacific Island communities.

One is Paolo, a bilingual Samoan/English publication that fills a gap in the information available to Pacific Island communities on suicide prevention. This resource is designed to help support the work of both communities and clinicians working with Samoan people who need help. The process of creating Paolo was uniquely Samoan, undertaken with national consultation and based on the values, beliefs and world view of the Samoan people in a context that was meaningful to them. The intention of Paolo is the minimisation of suicide among the Samoan population in New Zealand, but it also addresses the communication breakdown and culture gap between the generations too.

English version: www.spinz.org.nz/file/downloads/pdf/file_125.pdfSamoan version: www.spinz.org.nz/file/downloads/pdf/file_124.pdf

Another is the journey that Reverend Imoa Setefano shares about his experience of mental illness.

Reverend Imoa is junior pastor at the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa in Papatoetoe, Auckland. He tells his personal story and helps in the fight to counter the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.

English version: www.likeminds.org.nz/file/downloads/pdf/file_90.pdfSamoan version: www.likeminds.org.nz/file/downloads/pdf/file_95.pdf

There are also organisations that can provide information and /or support to Pacific communities:

1. Like Minds Pacific Island providers Vaka Tautua in Auckland and Wellington, and Pacific Trust in Christchurch. Contact details are available online: www.likeminds.org.nz/page/86-like-minds-providers+pacific-island-providers

2. Le Va, Pasifika within Te Pou, is New Zealand’s national coordination service and workforce development programme for Pacific mental health, addictions, disabilities and general health. It has developed a range of resources and information to improve services and support the workforce. www.leva.co.nz

3. The Mental Health Foundation offers a resource finder on its website to find information about Pacific mental health: www.mentalhealth.org.nz/resourcefinder/listings/search

Strong cultural roots can help support recoveryHaving a strong cultural identity is considered a protective factor, but for NZ-born Pacific people that identity is fluid. “There are multiple senses of identity depending on where you are, who you are with and what is going on,” Evangelene explains.

Evangelene suggests discrimination is rife in her profession. “You wouldn’t explicitly strike it, but it certainly is there,” she says.

“Because of stigma around mental illness, we don’t want to label people, but it is a double-edged sword. Labels can be helpful as long as you use them in a useful way,” Evangelene says.

For example, a mental illness label might help a family understand why a young person is acting out, she says.

Educating families and others who work with the young person helps them understand the mental illness is not necessarily permanent and recovery is possible. The DHB’s mental health 101 ‘clincial education’ workshops attract youth workers, community organisations, mental health support workers and more.

Mental health problems can be reduced if the young person can successfully navigate the multiple worlds they inhabit – from the family environment where the Pacific culture is strong, to New Zealand society and back.

By Helen Tatham

Beauty queen speaks out Fijian Torika Watters was just 12 years old when her father, Allan Watters, took his life after experiencing severe depression. She was 14 before her mother, Anne, felt she was ready to know the reason behind her dad’s death.

“I remember clearly being at my cousin’s place and my aunty got a call from my mum asking her to bring me home,” she says. “At the time they couldn’t tell me what had happened, they just said dad had passed. I was still very young and had no knowledge of depression, so I didn’t ask any more questions.”

When Torika’s mother eventually told her more about her dad’s state of mind at the time of his death, and how his depression had not gone away as they had thought, it not only led to her own experience of depression, but also sparked a desire in her to tell both their stories in the hope that it would help others.

“My dad became depressed because he had ‘work troubles’ and couldn’t provide for his family,” she says. “My mother was successful in her work and took over the role of provider and I think he took this to heart – his values were conflicted.

“We found out he was depressed and took him to the doctor, where he was prescribed medication. But no counselling was offered with the prescription, and my dad refused to take the medication.

“After a few months, we thought he’d moved on and was feeling better, but now we know that he must have been still depressed.”

Torika says that an opportunity to speak out about mental health issues in Fiji came up this year when, at 15, she was invited to compete for the Miss World Fiji title. She was given special dispensation to enter the pageant

underage, because “she had a powerful message to share” about mental health.

When she was crowned Miss World Fiji in April, she was stoked.

“I thought it was such a great platform to advocate about mental health,” she says. “A lot of Fijian teens experience depression, but support in our country is quite limited. There is no mental health facility in Nadi, only one in Suva. There are counsellors, but not enough to give people the help they need.”

Unfortunately, her plans were short-lived. Her win was the centre of controversy as not only was Torika younger than the Miss World rule book allowed, but her mixed Fijian/European heritage elicited comments that she was also “too blond” to represent Fiji internationally and should have a buiniga (the naturally fuzzy Fijian hairstyle).

“It really hurt me a lot that some people were saying I ‘wasn’t Fijian enough’,” Torika says. “I am proud of my identity as a Fijian and have never considered my people as racists.”

Although disappointed in the discrimination she’s been subject to, Torika has received a lot of support from her family and others who believe in her. “My family was always there and thought that what I was doing was correct,” she says.

And, in a flipside to the negative publicity, Torika has taken up speaking engagements in Fiji, which she is using to advocate on mental health issues. So far she has spoken at her old school, International School Nadi, and she’s the guest speaker at a tourism conference this month.

“I’m also trying to raise money for underprivileged Fijian children,” she says, “and do what I can to highlight mental illness in teenagers, so that they can get more support.”

This former pageant queen is battling stigma and discrimination by standing up and speaking out, and proving along the way that “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”.

By Helen Tatham

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I'm trying to do what I can to highlight mental illness in teenagers, so that they can get more support.TORIKA WATTERS

For more information, read

Blueprint I: How things need to be (1998) www.cimh.org/downloads/handouts/Resource4%20England%20NZ%20Blueprint1998.pdf

Blueprint II: (2012)Part one: How things need to be www.hdc.org.nz/media/207642/blueprint%20ii%20how%20things%20need%20to%20be.pdf

Part two: Making change happen www.hdc.org.nz/media/207639/bluepring%20ii%20making%20change%20happen.pdf

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5LIKE MINDS, LIKE MINE: AUGUST 2012

Blueprint II, released on 13 June 2012, is the Mental Health Commission’s vision for how New Zealand can improve the way it supports and helps people with mental health and addiction issues over the coming decade. It is also its final publication as, from 1 July, the Mental Health Commission merged with the Health and Disability Commission.

Blueprint II will be used to inform the Ministry of Health’s planning and service development and builds on the achievements of the original Blueprint document, published in 1998.

Where the first Blueprint provided a broad overview of the changes needed within the mental health and addiction area, Blueprint II gives more detailed information to make change happen in priority areas (listed below). There are two documents, How Things Need to Be and Making Change Happen, which aims to meet people’s needs wherever they are in their life journey.

Recognising Like Minds, Like Mine’s achievementsThis final MHC publication is highly supportive of the Like Minds, Like Mine

Blueprint II champions Like Minds, Like Mine programmeprogramme. “New Zealand already has an impressive track record in promoting mental health and wellbeing. An example is the Like Minds, Like Mine national public education programme, aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination faced by people who have experience of mental illness. It has received international recognition and many awards for the breadth, creativity and effectiveness of the campaign.”

Furthermore Blueprint II says: “the achievements to date provide a platform for further building a comprehensive approach to promoting mental health and reducing the stigma and discrimination faced by people who have experience of mental illness. Campaigns such as Like Minds, Like Mine must continue, to further reduce stigma and discrimination and to develop campaigns to support employers and reduce discrimination in the workplace.”

Praise for Blueprint IIBlueprint II has been praised in Like Minds Taranaki’s regional newsletter for “placing mental health promotion where it should be – underpinning all health services.

Health promotion and self-care is not an area where the mental health and addiction sector can take sole responsibility. It needs a broader support base including people, their families, communities and employers alongside the health and wider social sector.”

By Ruth Jackson

Eight priorities identified in Blueprint IIThe following priority actions have been identified for the next 10 years:

1. Providing a good start

2. Positively influencing high-risk pathways

3. Supporting people with episodic needs

4. Supporting people with severe needs

5. Supporting people with complex needs

6. Promoting wellbeing, reducing stigma and discrimination

7. Providing a positive experience of care

8. Improving system performance

The first five priority actions relate to specific populations across the life course. The last three are overarching and apply across the entire life course. (From Blueprint II: How things need to be)

Responsibility for the Mental Health Commission’s core functions transferred to the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) from 1 July. The role of Mental Health Commissioner was also established within HDC to commence at the same time as its new functions.

The HDC will take over some key roles formerly held by the MHC including:

• Systemic monitoring and advocacy

• Providing advice to the Minister of Health

• Championing the implementation of policy to improve mental health addictions services, and

• Continuing to monitor service quality delivered by District Health Boards through the sector visits process established by the MHC.

The former chair of the Mental Health Commission, Dr Lynne Lane, has been appointed as a Mental Health Commissioner under the Health and Disability Commissioner, and has relocated from Wellington to Auckland to take up her new role. She says it will be different from her previous role at the MHC.

“The HDC is recruiting staff and developing a new work programme focused on initiatives that will have the greatest impact for tangata whaiora and their families and whānau, while at the same time reflecting our reduced resources,” Lynne says.

“The independent monitoring and advocacy role of the Mental Health Commissioner is considered important by Government and will continue even though the Commission itself has been disestablished.

Mental Health Commissioner established in the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner

Lynne believes that working in a bigger organisation will have its advantages, however she acknowledges there will also be some challenges. “It’s important we ensure the momentum established around Blueprint II continues and we build on gains that were achieved in the past,” she says.

“Fortunately, those who work at the HDC are passionate about consumer rights and have a lot of expertise. They look forward to working with me, as we continue to address issues that face tangata whaiora and their family and whānau and see services develop to more effectively support their recovery.

“I need to ensure my new colleagues within the HDC become familiar with the particular work I am doing to support Blueprint II – and at this stage, there is every sign that they will continue to support it.”

Lynne explains that the national Health and Disability Consumer Advocacy Service employs more than 50 staff, who support consumers, their families and whānau with any concerns they have about the services they are receiving.

“These HDC advocates have expressed an interest in exploring how to improve the services they provide,” Lynne says. “There is also an opportunity to review the HDC findings on mental health and addiction complaints, so that we can identify any common issues and ensure they are being addressed in the sector’s plans for service improvement.”

Lynne will be working with the Ministry of Health to complete – and help implement – the National Service Development Plan for Mental Health and Addiction Services, due for release in October 2012.

By Ruth Jackson

Please refer to the mental health section of the Health and Disability Commissioner’s website www.hdc.org.nz/about-us/mental-health-and-addictions and to the Health and Disability Commissioner’s Statement of Intent www.hdc.org.nz/media/ 211899/statement%20of%20intent%202012-2015.pdf

We will continue to provide advocacy and to give a voice to the perspectives of mental health consumers and their family and whānau.DR LYNNE LANE

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MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK: 2012

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is from 8 to 14 October, so schedule it in your diary and get involved.

The awareness week website www.mentalhealth.org.nz/page/995-home has a fun tool to encourage people to take notice of the world around them every day. It asks “What did you notice today?” Comments posted on the website are sent to #takenoticenz on Twitter as well so people can share about the theme more there.

In addition there are colourful postcards available in packs of eight. Each one has a hole that, if you look through, cuts out distractions and offers a fresh perspective.

This year’s bold posters emphasise key phrases connected to the theme – take time, take a breath, take notice.

The website has books to read, activities to try, other sites of interest and information to dig deeper into the theme.

The Mind and Body team are gearing up for The Like Minds Big reTHiNK. The team received 71 script submissions from around the world.

The top 12 scripts are to be professionally produced at Q Theatre from 2–6 October and the top 30 make up a pool of scripts that are now available for anyone to stage in their own regions.

A host of amazing celebrity comedians have signed on for The Big reTHiNK launch at Q Theatre including: Rob Callaghan (the MC), Mike King, Irene Pink, Justine Smith, Tarun Mohanbhai, John Carr, Chris Brain, Penny Ashton, Tevita Manukia, Mark Scott and Mike Loader.

The theatre itself is set for a major makeover. From the moment you enter the foyer, your Like Minds Big reTHiNK experience will begin, with pre-show music from Sam RB and a multi-media exhibition to visit as you make your way to your seat in the theatre. When you take your seat, you can expect some surprises.

The entire interior of the theatre is to be shrink-wrapped to create an audience experience of entering inside a mind to watch the show.

If you missed the open auditions for the Q Theatre show on the 26 August, email Taimi@mindandbody.co.nz to find out what roles are still available or sign up as crew. Just go to www.rethink.org.nz for more information or email Taimi and let the team know how you can help.

You might also be interested in signing on as a regional reTHiNK event organiser in time for Mental Health Awareness Week. The regional script pool includes ideas for exhibitions, plays, comedy skits and music events – allowing you add a creative, entertaining event with a Like Minds message to your activities this year.

The Like Minds Big reTHiNK had a photo shoot at the end of July, so don’t forget to grab your issue of MINDFOOD magazine hitting news stands in early September to see the glossy spread!

THE LIKE MINDS BIG RETHINK SHIFTS UP A GEAR

FREE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SOCIAL CHANGE WORKSHOP

The use of social media platforms has exploded over recent years and now free applications such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are used by vast numbers of people. They provide a huge potential for networking, health promotion and for sharing our Like Minds, Like Mine messages of social change. Yet there is still a lot to learn about how to use these tools effectively.

Which platforms should we use? How do we work across multiple media? How do we tailor our messages to give them maximum impact in the digital environment? Is social networking even suitable for my organisation? The Mental Health Foundation invites you to an interactive training workshop designed to answer all these questions and more.

AUCKLAND: Thursday 13 September, 10am – 3pm

WELLINGTON: Thursday 20 September, 10am – 3pm

CHRISTCHURCH: Thursday 27 September, 10am – 3pm

Register now by emailing keshlar@mentalhealth.org.nz or phoning on 09 300 7010.

Awareness Chair, Sal Faid

If you are in the Canterbury region and you would like to get involved with Awareness, Sal can be contacted on email awareness.pctrust@xtra.co.nz

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do their bit the next time they go to the doctor or psychiatrist. If you don’t like something, say you don’t like it, self-advocacy is so important.”

The group is also keen to expand the cultural and socioeconomic profile of its membership. “We need to talk to more consumers so we get a broader perspective,” Sal says.

She believes members have a lot to offer. “Members of Awareness bring a range of experience to the group and many are expanding their education at polytechnic, university and in peer support agencies.

“We’d like to see members get involved with non-government organisations (NGOs) at board level, as well as getting involved with policy development and assisting with staff selection, so that services will become more consumer focused.”

By Helen Tatham

Awareness changing perspectivesAwareness, a consumer-led organisation based in Christchurch, has been working to change the attitudes of health professionals towards people with experiences of mental illness.

The group, which has a membership of 82, started about 10 years ago with the name Canterbury Mental Health Consumer Network before being rebranded as Awareness four years ago.

The name is apt because Awareness focuses on increasing people’s understanding of the issues mental health consumers face and keeping their needs at the forefront when considering policy matters.

Chair, Sal Faid, says the group’s strength is its members, 30 per cent of whom regularly attend meetings, participate on email or get involved in practical ways.

In particular, Awareness has focused on building relationships with service providers and clinicians so consumers’ needs are put first, and believes compassion is one of the most effective qualities in health services.

Sal says, "Compassion involves being there for the person and supporting them to make meaning of their situation and regain their sense of connection." She has first hand knowledge after being diagnosed with bipolar 10 years ago.

Partnerships and good relationships“There needs to be partnership. It’s all about changing attitudes and changing the service. When they say they are consumer-focused or that the consumer is at the centre of service delivery, what does that actually mean? It means consumers should

come first…there is a definite need to change perspective.”

It is easy to get frustrated when service providers put out a document listing stakeholders and consumers are listed last. Sal says asking questions is a good way to be heard. “I don’t know how many times I have been in meetings and asked questions and thought ‘that is a really dumb question’, but people say ‘that is a really good question’.

“If you ask a question and it raises an issue, you get different people’s perspectives of it. But if you don’t start with a question, you are not going to get anywhere. I have had lots of good discussions starting with questions,” Sal says.

Building a good relationship works both ways. Just as consumers expect to be treated well, Sal encourages consumers not to treat clinicians as their enemies. “You have to work with them and form a partnership. If you treat them as the enemy, there is going to be hostility and you are not going to get anywhere,” she says.

Challenging discriminatory languageHowever, Sal thinks that good relationships should not mean that you don’t challenge and question people, especially around discriminatory language.

“The other day I was in a meeting and a service provider referred to ‘our treatment plan’ I said ‘in actual fact it is not your treatment plan, it is the consumer’s treatment plan’. It is just subtle but it makes you think.

“Awareness aims to encourage systemic change in mental health service provision, but individuals can

If you are interested in being interviewed for Susie’s book, please email her on reelcrook@xtra.co.nz

Mike Crooks, Susie’s father (left) and Andrew Crooks, Susie’s brother (right) are both writers

with books published and are helping Susie proof and edit her book.

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From workaholic to consumer advocate and writerSusie Crooks was a self-confessed ‘workaholic’ with her own fashion design label in the Hawkes Bay when her world came crashing down around her. “I completely lost the plot and became disconnected from reality.”

This was in 1992 when Susie was in her early 30s. Looking back, Susie can see that she was under a lot of stress and something had to give. “I had a failed pregnancy which I found very distressing and I was involved in a very nasty copyright case between two warring fashion designers. I was an expert witness and I had to travel down to Christchurch to give evidence.”

Susie was admitted to Sunnyside, a mental health unit in Christchurch which is now called Hillmorton. She was put straight into seclusion and heavily sedated. “I found the whole experience very traumatic and unhelpful. I couldn’t relate it to healing or recovery.“

Susie was then transferred to the mental health inpatient unit in Hawkes Bay which she also found traumatic.

What followed was the difficult process of putting her life back together. “I was a broken person. I found the whole hospital treatment soul destroying – the trauma of solitary confinement and the bullying and coercion,” she says.

Susie closed down her business and was unable to work for two years. Then, a chance meeting set the course for her recovery.

“I went along to a women’s group where I met another person who had a mental illness. She had experienced the same disempowerment and humiliation and

trauma. We had so much in common and became great friends. That was my first experience of peer support.”

Susie became involved with a group of people who had used mental health services in Hawkes Bay and together they set up The Lighthouse – a mental health peer support organisation which has since closed.

From there, Susie started to make contact with other people who’d experienced mental health issues from all around New Zealand. “It was quite serendipitous – like a domino effect where suddenly I was connected with a network of people from around the country who thought the same way and had the same anger, and wanted to change the way services were delivered.”

Now, years later, Susie is writing a book which she describes as an autobiography interwoven with the story of the mental health consumer movement both in New Zealand and internationally. Susie has been

interviewing key leaders in the mental health consumer movement and people who have experienced New Zealand’s mental health inpatient units.

Despite the gains made, Susie says if she could achieve anything in her lifetime it would be to make listening to people experiencing services the key driver of service development.

When asked whether she thinks stigma and discrimination around mental health issues has decreased, Susie says unless we have a way of regarding people with experience of mental illness with dignity and respect, then there is going to be fear around it. "There is a marriage between madness and inhuman treatment and we need a divorce!"

By Ruth Jackson

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Dancing out of the dark When Kapiti dancer Tamihana Paurini experienced depression, he would not accept stigma and discrimination from people to whom he told his story. Instead he struggled with self-stigma .

“I had stigma about having mental illness. I told myself ‘you are nuts’. There was a period there I thought I was going to end up on the side of the road and that was my life. I had images of a hobo sitting on the street. I didn’t want it to go that way but all these ideas were going through my head,” Tamihana says.

“I felt so guilty about it; I was really hard on myself. I felt for my family with the pressure I was putting on them but they made me feel okay about it so I started slowly realising I was putting more pressure on myself and I had to let it go a little bit to recover,” he says.

Tamihana trained as a dancer after leaving high school, then moved to Auckland where he joined Black Grace, a contemporary dance company which tours nationally and internationally. The depression started after he left Black Grace.

“I tried to work initially but just couldn’t cope with dancing. I tried being a postie instead because I thought that was really simple physical work, but I just couldn’t do it. There was just too much anxiety and I couldn’t focus,” Tamihana says.

He moved to Kapiti and went straight to a GP. “I said ‘I am here and I need a counsellor’. ”

The GP referred Tamihana to Martin Sloman from Compass Health. “He was hard core into the Welsh team because he is Welsh, and it was World Cup time. We talked about rugby and

he asked what was going on. He is really practical and brought it back to the moment.

“I used to live a lot in the past and in the future but I just started being in the moment. If my mind was racing, I would find something that made me feel good in that particular moment like a nice glass of coffee; I would just have a moment and enjoy that.

“One morning when I was in bed, the curtains were open and the sun was shining. I sat up and the sun shone on my feet and gave me an amazing feeling through my body. It was a moment for me. Every moment I found, I would put my feet in the sun and it made me feel good.”

Tamihana’s brother (“a very blokey bloke who has been in the army for 25 years”) and sister-in-law were very supportive during his recovery. “They didn’t put any pressure on me. They just put their head around the [bedroom] door and checked up on me, cooked me meals and would come and sit with me. They would ask if I would like to go for a walk and they kept me in contact with the real world,” he says.

Accepting the depression was another big step for Tamihana. He read Sir John Kirwan’s book All Blacks Don’t Cry and got involved with Whirlwind Stories, a Wellington organisation supporting men with depression.

“As I started coming out, I was really open with it. I was like ‘this is the case, I am recovering from depression, deal with it.’ I am just that kind of person and people around me appreciate that,” Tamihana says.

“When I first started getting out in the world again, most people I told were people at the gym [where Tamihana works teaching pilates and yoga]. Their response was ‘that is cool, I have had depression myself’. It made me realise what I was doing was being open about it because there are people out there who are not open.”

A connection at Whirlwind Stories gave Tamihana a music CD and one of the songs inspired him to start dancing again. When Whirlwind Stories had a concert to celebrate its first year recently, Tamihana danced to the song on the album. It was his first time performing in public for three years.

“It was a really successful night. We got a full house there and the response we got was wonderful,” Tamihana says.

By Helen Tatham

The Space Between Words will be at the Central Library Tuam, Christchurch from 8–28 October. Guy Frederick is an established Christchurch-based photographer and writer (www.guyfrederick.co.nz).

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The space between wordsGuy Frederick believes that Canterbury residents (especially those living in Christchurch) are in the unprecedented situation of living with ongoing mental distress.

“The earthquakes have been incomparable in New Zealand’s history – and more to the point they haven’t stopped,” he says. “Post-traumatic stress is generally associated with a one off event so, as the aftershocks continue, so too do the compounding nature of their impact on mental distress. They run deep.”

After the February 2011 quake Guy wondered how people in Christchurch were dealing with the earthquakes and their new environment. He wanted to get out into the community and “find out what people had done in their lives to help them process the events and move along the long path of recovery”.

His interest developed into a photojournalism project that was funded by a 2011 NZ Mental Health Media Grant, supported by the Frozen Funds Charitable Trust, the Like Minds, Like Mine Programme and the Mental Health Foundation (www.mediagrants.org.nz).

He says the biggest challenge was finding people who were willing to share their stories. However once he had, what Guy enjoyed most was immersing himself in the project, sitting down one-on-one with people and telling the stories that are never heard.

“These stories are not controversial or sensational,” he says. “They are about the unspoken stuff – the thoughts and feelings of the shared responses we have all lived through and are continuing to live through in Christchurch. It is historic, current and ongoing, all at the same time.”

Guy says those involved could see the

value in their stories helping other people and the benefit of thinking about their journey in new ways. “Some of the conversations I had with people may have been part of their healing process,” he says. “The questions I posed tended to focus their thinking, which may have helped get things off their chest or think about their journey in different ways.”

He interviewed many people and is exhibiting a cross-section of thirteen personal experiences that reflect a range of responses to the earthquakes, including vulnerability, grief and mental distress. (See page 12)

“There are inspiring lessons for all of us in these stories,” he says. “My hope is that sharing them will promote wellbeing and empower the recovery of the Christchurch community.”

Guy also hopes those leaving the exhibition will take with them the simple messages in these stories and to consider the power of:

• Connection and peer support

• Doing the little things for yourself and others that make a difference

• Learning to receive

• Being kind and compassionate towards yourself and others

• Knowing that it is okay to feel overwhelmed

• Giving yourself time to heal and process without judgement

• Asking for help (potentially the hardest act of all)

In many ways Guy’s messages echo the messages of the Like Minds, Like Mine programme – to be there and stay involved, to show empathy and

understanding and to ensure that no one is discriminated against or excluded because of their experiences.

“The stress and anxiety we all feel is a normal human response to an ongoing situation,” Guy says. “This project was an opportunity to explore people’s responses in more detail.”

Guy has learnt that the loss of homes, city, community and normality “as we know it” is a big thing. “We don’t know what is going to happen next and that loss of certainty makes people feel very fragile in the face of Mother Nature,” he says.

“What we have been through is massive and we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for feeling bad – healing takes time”.

“What is clear is that relationships and connections are important. It is the people in your life that get you through at the end of the day and everyone who has at least one person in their life that they can talk to and love, gets through just that little bit easier.”

By Cate Hennessy

a r t i c l e

LIKE MINDS, LIKE MINE: AUGUST 201212

Edited by The Mental Health Foundation. Like Minds, Like Mine and Kites Trust. Contributors Miriam Barr, Guy Frederick, Cate Hennessy, Ruth Jackson, Katrina Mathers, Helen Tatham. Design Rose @ Kraftwork. Print Lithoprint. Distribution Maxi Marketing. All correspondence and editorial contributions should be sent to Like Minds, Like Mine, Mental Health Foundation, PO Box 10051, Dominion Rd, Auckland 1446.

Like Minds, Like Mine is the programme to counter stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness and is an initiative of the Ministry of Health.

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“The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament – or the Basilica as it was often called. I always thought of it as being the finest building I knew of in New Zealand. My great grandparents were married in the Basilica in 1906. I was an altar boy there and used to get changed in a stonewalled chamber. I was by myself when I walked down Barbados St about 36 hours after the quake and saw the state of the Basilica for the first time. I was overcome with emotion and it felt like I was letting my breath out for the first time in hours. The Basilica had been so familiar in my early life. The largest, strongest building I knew, and now it was down.” Gerard Smythe

“Margaret Jeffries of Project Lyttelton and Psychotherapist Annie Currie have been instrumental in nurturing my leadership role and just as importantly the need to look after myself. I do have moments of exhaustion. My garden is where I find peace. It is in the space of the garden that I don’t have to think – I can just be. It is all me. It is important for me to remain positive for my daughter and hang in there. This situation will not last forever.” Marnie Kent

Marnie Kent and Gerard Smythe are two of the people that Guy Frederick interviewed as part of his media grant project, The Space Between Words (read article page 11).

The 2012 NZ Mental Health Media Grants are open for applications soon. Go to www.mediagrants.org.nz for more information.