giving people what they need

A series of workshops were held over several weeks within the Birkenhead and Highbury communities in Auckland where various business owners were invited to partake in a course that would provide them with the skills to have “below the surface” conversations with those around them that are showing signs of mental instability. We are so happy to have been able to support this initiative!

Connection

To connect with fellow Birkenhead owners and community leaders

Support

To draw on their collective strengths to support their own and others’ wellbeing

Resilience

Strengthen their wellbeing tool kit to cope with everyday and unexpected stressors

Attendees of the course included the local butcher, baker, tattoo artist, hairdresser, amongst others. The feedback from the 3 workshops was amazing, some even saying that they were able to have these conversations immediately and how it has helped them mend relationships in their own lives! Here is some of the feedback -

Featured
Andre & Anne, Artero Tattoo Studio
Andre & Anne, Artero Tattoo Studio

“Very positive experience for our personal lives, as well as others going through hard stuff. It was great that it was delivered in stages, which gave us time to think in between the session. We wanted to stay longer at the end of each session”

Grant, Highbury Butchery
Grant, Highbury Butchery

“I had a situation recently, my sons wife had just given birth to their son and it was quite a traumatic birth. He called me one night having a panic attack. I wouldn’t have known what to do if I hadn’t done the workshop. I told him to take some slow deep breaths, get a glass of water and I just listened to him. That was the biggest thing, I just sat and listened. I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night but I was able to help my boy”

Tracey, Highbury Fisheries
Tracey, Highbury Fisheries

“Would be good for other businesses and people from other areas to do the workshops as well. Definitely encouraged me to feel confident about talking to other people”

Chris, Ott Bakery
Chris, Ott Bakery

“It was a great reminder of how to support staff, just like in a first aid course. Facilitators were great and the material was clear and easy to read and understand”

Shannon, Bliss Boutique
Shannon, Bliss Boutique

“A lot of clients are going through tough times, and it was good to have some knowledge around what to say to them when they open up. The whole thing was awesome. Everyone was sharing and that felt great, we felt really confident afterwards”

What did we do?

We paid for the community members to go through the course, helped fund a follow-up study that Lifeline has conducted and also helped Lifeline with some administration costs.

More in-depth details about how we contributed to this pilot can be supplied by contacting Nevil at nevil@evolving.co.nz