Wellbeing Aotearoa

15/12/2023

If anyone needs a place to stay over the next 6 weeks... please keep us in mind. All family members welcome, including the fury ones.

Beautiful summer vibes

20/07/2023

https://shoutout.wix.com/so/a5OZc5jrI?languageTag=en

Join us for a free healing event in Napier this August.

05/07/2023

Proud as punch!

At our Beyond Brave summit, St John Ambulance EMT Michelle McKenzie shared her story ‘Journey to balance’. She also read a letter penned to herself, acknowledging her capability, reaffirming her commitment to the job but with new insights.

03/07/2023

Public service announcement: TS-PTSD.

A few clients have reported significant distress because they are unable to get Taylor Swift tickets (TS-PTSD). They have experienced further distress (secondary stress) from the responses of others:
- “You didn’t stand a chance of getting the tickets anyways, don’t be too disappointed.”
- "I don’t know why you care so much, she’s not that good".
- "Just listen to her on Spotify".
- "Play her music really loudly and just pretend you are at her concert".
- "Shake it off".

One client gave her permission for me to share her journey with Taylor Swift.

My client was r***d from a young age. She grew up in a family where she didn’t feel understood, heard, validated, or seen. She started listening to Taylor Swift from a young age as she found comfort in knowing that other people also felt the same pain as she did. She experienced significant depression which nearly killed her. She used Taylor Swift to stay alive. My client has attended Taylor Swift concerts since 2008 with her biological father. Even when she couldn’t speak to her father, she listened to Taylor Swift to feel connected to her father. The ritual of listening to Taylor Swift gave her some sense of control and belonging.

Music is incredibly powerful for coping with stress and trauma! https://www.musictherapy.org.nz/. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5744879/

My client tried in all possible ways to get Taylor Swift tickets. She asked for help, she had multiple devices operating to get tickets, and she saved for even the most expensive ticket. Even though she does so much for other people, when she asked for help with getting tickets, peoples said no, I don’t like Taylor Swift anyways. But it wasn’t about Taylor Swift, it was about her feeling heard, validated, seen, and supported.

The whole process of not being able to get Taylor Swift tickets bought up huge trauma for my client and the feeling of rejection, lack of voice, choice, being seen and heard resurfaced Humans are complicated and not logical. They are emotional creatures and this is exactly how trauma is experienced.

Please don’t dismiss people’s trauma because it doesn’t make sense to you. If they are upset, then they are UPSET. It is better to validate their feelings (e.g., “I am so sorry you didn’t get the tickets, it seems really important to you, is there anything I can do to make you feel better”) than try and cheer them up or invalidate them.

COMPASSION ALL THE WAY!!

Music therapy has been employed as a therapeutic intervention to facilitate healing across a variety of clinical populations. There is theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that individuals with trauma exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ...

30/06/2023

We won!!

Hugely rewarding to be working with seriously amazing people at Countdown for the past five years. They won the Safeguard Award for Wellbeing last week.

Some of our achievements:

1. Increase mental health literacy.

2. Implement trauma-informed practices and policies.

3. Changing "take a concrete pill" attitude to "I didn't know how trauma and mental health challenges affect performance, how can I help you".

4. Getting at risk people to high quality care via ACC Sensitive Claims, private psychologists, or community mental health and addiction services.

5. Recognising neurodiversity and wanting to understand how to job craft to support people with things like ADHD, dyslexia, ASD.

BEST JOB EVER!

10/04/2023

FORTEM is a passionate and beautiful organisation dedicated to supporting first responders and their whanāu. The conference titled 'Beyond Brave' is held virtually on 4 May 2023.

I will be interviewing Michelle McKenzie, and her husband, to explore the concept of 'bravery' as a first responder.

I will explore with Michelle and husband Derek the powerful writings of MIchelle (Journey to Balance and A Letter to my Future Ambo Self).

Michelle's dedication and passion to first responder wellbeing won her the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Influence of the Year award in 2022. She has recently been nominated for the Mental Health Champion for Safeguard The New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2023.

Michelle is as humble as they come. She's done an incredible amount of work on herself and is one of the 'bravest' people I know.

Please join us if you can 🙂

Beyond Brave Virtual Summit 2023 Join us for our third online summit for leaders, staff, volunteers, families, organisations and communities connected to first responder and national security agencies. The theme of this year's summit is Beyond Brave. Register here Thursday, 4 May 20239.00am - 4.30pm...

08/03/2023

Community help needed in the Manawatu.

I have a client who is the most creative, lovely, and amazing person ever, but is struggling with her mental health big time. She’s been close to su***de a few times and we don’t that to happen again.

We know that nature is hugely important to mental health and the values of my client are strong in sustainability and environmental protection. I have challenged my client to see if she can build a vegetable garden (so she has access to healthy food in her back yard) for $30. I gifted the $30 and I asked that she not spend that money until she has resourced every other option of finding resources free or low cost.

So far, she has found pallets from a relative, very cheap seedlings on Facebook marketplace but she can’t find soil. She is thinking she’ll have to spend the money on soil, but I am hoping someone might gift her soil.

If you can help, please reach out to me and I will direct you to my client. She lives in Palmerston North, but if anyone in Whanganui wants to gift soil then I am sure we can get it to her in Palmy.

31/01/2023

25/11/2022

Love this 🐰

07/06/2022