It’s Mental Health Awareness Week so your Facebook feed is awash with encouragement to “reach out”. It’s important people know they can reach out if they need help – but what happens next, asks Emily Writes. Like many, many, many other people, I have quite bad anxiety. It has been described by various clever doctor … Read more
Kate Aschoff began university with high hopes for her future. A year later she had dropped out, unable to cope with the stresses of university study while navigating her mental illness. I started studying at Victoria University of Wellington in March 2017. I was planning to complete a BA majoring in Sociology with a minor … Read more
The New Zealand head of accounting success story Xero talks to Maria Slade about battling his demons, and helping Kiwi businesses through their own dark days. Many people would think Craig Hudson has it all – sporting talent, good looks, a lovely wife and four children, and a great job as New Zealand managing director … Read more
Hot take: video games are fun. Hotter take: even super fun things can bring out the very worst in you. Brian McDonald examines the effect that gaming had on his anxiety – and vice versa. There’s a point at which any game, for all narrative and enjoyment purposes, is over and done with. You’ve completed … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Stark stats show youth mental health service crisis, US China trade war could hurt NZ, and Netsafe dismisses complaint over negative media coverage. Mental health services for young people are at crisis point, as some stark new statistics show. More than a thousand people under the age of … Read more
The death of newsreader Greg Boyed has prompted many of us to consider whether we’re doing enough to look out for friends and family who may be struggling with depression. It’s up to all of us to start the conversation – and keep talking, writes Aaron Hendry. When I was 8 years old, I considered … Read more
Dietary Requirements is our new monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms and Fine Wine Delivery Company. On Dietary Requirements this month, Rebecca Smidt and Dariush Lolaiy from Auckland restaurant Cazador join Alice and Simon in the studio to talk about (and eat) sausages, offal, Beervana, their … Read more
For many in the restaurant industry, Anthony Bourdain’s death hit close to home, so a group of hospo friends decided to build something positive out of the sadness. When Dariush Lolaiy got home after work at his Auckland restaurant Cazador late one night in June, he saw a text from his head chef Brendan Kyle … Read more
We think we are protecting children from failure because we don’t want them to get upset, but in effect we’re harming their ability to cope when things don’t go to plan, argues Derek Wright, interim executive director of the Waikato District Health Board After making some comments around the impact of modern life on young … Read more
It may sound like a sweet gig, but halls of residence can be incubators of stress, anxiety and awful mental health problems. This article was first published in April 2018 in the Otago University student magazine Critic Te Arohi. My parents may not be legally obligated to look after my drunk ass after age 18, … Read more
If our adult mental health system needs to be restructured, our youth mental health system needs to be completely obliterated and rebuilt from the ground up. This content discusses suicide and may be triggering for some people, if you need help please see a list of helplines at the bottom of this article I’ve been … Read more
New Zealand Geographic editor Rebekah White examines the public spaces that connect us. Our towns and cities are lacking something important, and I was reminded of this during a recent visit to Hong Kong. There, senior citizens fill the social niche that teenagers do in Auckland. They loiter in the local square with their mates, … Read more
The government’s inquiry into mental health and addiction, announced in January, travels to Whanganui this week, home of the mental health worker who changed Jason Renes’ life. Content warning: suicide, self-harm, depression. After the third time I self-harmed I told my mother I was hurting myself and I needed help to stop. She set up … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to pop artist Matthew Young about his new EP and re-evaluating success after mental illness. “I’m very obsessive,” Auckland-based pop artist Matthew Young tells me near the end of the almost two hours we spent talking over juice and chocolate tart at a bakery in Pt Chev. Every night since the first week … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Harry Ricketts. Grief Limericks i I once had a stepson called Max. As a child, he could rarely relax. The other kids kicked him; he was a natural victim. I once had a stepson called Max. ii I once had a stepson called Max, liked Gunn and … Read more
‘Mental disorders’ rank as the third-leading cause of health loss for New Zealanders. Kyle MacDonald makes the case for universal, free counselling for all. What if I told you that one of the biggest and most expensive health problems in New Zealand was not only being ignored, but although we had the technology to treat … Read more
Our well-being and our bank accounts are intricately linked. Simplicity’s Amanda Morrall says the relationship between your financial health and your mental health is inseparable. Juggling the worlds of yoga and finance as I do is a mind bend for some folks. They can’t seem to square the rational with the esoteric. On the surface it … Read more
A review of CCTV use across inpatient units has returned alarming results. Now the case for change is overwhelming, writes patient advocate Karyn Black. Last year I became aware that closed circuit television was being used in adult mental health inpatient units in New Zealand. The reasons for this video surveillance ranged from property damage … Read more
For too long mental health has had awareness campaigns sprinkled out while government action remained pretty much non-existent. Will the mental health and addictions inquiry be another plaster? We need to talk about suicide: this is the phrase you’ll routinely hear in discussions about New Zealand’s mental health crisis. Often it comes alongside well-meaning campaigns … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Vodafone Xone. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to Nick Shewring, co-founder of BizDojo, a company leasing … Read more
The intricacies of social media were exacerbating her anxiety, eventually culminating in the loss of a close friendship. So she decided to go on a social media detox. I needed to detox from social media long before I had the willpower to do it. I thought: no need to self-flagellate about my social media habit. … Read more
Jack Stack describes his battle with depression and why he decided to write a book with the least-marketable name possible. When depression first hit, I was unprepared. I had never experienced anything remotely close to the isolation, joylessness, lack of motivation, and the sense of worthlessness that it brought. Over two long years it slowly … Read more
Louisa Woods is a high school teacher and counsellor and a mother of three. She knows teenagers. Here she shares her advice on getting your teenage child to open up. A very wise 15 year old once said ‘We’re just worried about being judged and sometimes don’t know what to say or how to say … Read more
Getting Your Shit Together is a monthly column on everyday mental health from Auckland mindfulness educator Kristina Cavit. In her final column of the series she’s talking to Sheryn Gieck about how to find clarity in a world full of stress and anxiety. I’ve just returned from teaching yoga and mindfulness at the NPH orphanage in … Read more
Whakapapa is about relationships, not just relations, and can help us understand our all-round wellbeing, explains columnist Te Miri Rangi. Whakapapa describes a person’s genealogy, lineage or descent. It helps identify the relationships we share with others in to an organised system. Intimate knowledge of whakapapa was integral in traditional Māori society for not only … Read more
A personal memoir of mental health, by Paula Harris. Content warning: this essay discusses severe mental health issues, including suicidal ideation. On Tuesdays I go to the pharmacy. That’s the day when I pick up that week’s worth of antidepressants. Someone somewhere thought it’d be fine to manufacture an antidepressant that people can overdose on. … Read more
Rongoā Māori medicine is about more than lotions and potions, explains Donna Kerridge – it’s also about connection. Traditional Māori medicine (rongoā Māori) requires a special understanding of the world that acknowledges the interconnectedness of all things and that everything we think, say or do has a corresponding effect on the world around us. It … Read more
Mental Health Week tells us is ‘it’s OK to be not OK’. A noble idea, but there’s a catch, writes Graham Panther. So we’re coming to the end of Mental Health Week , our yearly reminder that some of us are doing it tough. The thing is, as a sensitive soul, I often end up feeling … Read more
At the Spinoff Parents we talk a lot about mental illness among parents. Today editor Emily Writes shares a group post that outlines the many ways perinatal anxiety, depression, and psychosis have affected New Zealand parents. We hope that anyone who sees themselves or their loved ones in these stories will seek help. Content warning: … Read more