This year, Mental Health Awareness Week runs from September 26 to October 2, and the theme is ‘Reconnect – with the people and places that lift you up’. Over the course of the week, Farmers Weekly will be sharing a series of articles to align with this theme, to enhance your wellbeing – hei pikinga waiora.
Thousands of UC and wider Canterbury students have spent the past two and a half days collectively running over 8000 laps of campus in a non-stop 72-hour relay to spread awareness of the shocking fact that 72% of New Zealand suicides are men and boys.
Participants in “Running 72” complete a 1.8km circuit, with people of all capabilities encouraged to take part, whether for only one lap or, for more experienced runners, a marathon.
The event is in its second year, with this year’s participants already smashing last year’s lap count of 6454 out of the park, with about two hours still to go.
Though it was originally set out for students, the challenge has been taken up by members of the NZ Army and police too, and even lecturers are rallying to the cause and taking to the circuit.
It has been organised by Lads without Labels, a student-run organisation that aims to bring positive systematic change to the way men’s mental health is approached, particularly in tertiary education.
The head of sponsorship and one of the key organisers of Running 72, Olivia Murphy, said that as well as spreading awareness, the event is raising funds via a givealittle page, with proceeds going towards subsidising counselling services for Canterbury students, and helping the organisation carry on its work.
“Basically 20% of what we raise off of givealittle goes towards keeping what we are doing running next year. Everything we do is free because we believe good mental health should not have a price,” Murphy said.
“The remaining 80% goes towards a pilot programme with Benestar [a counselling service] to subsidise counselling with all students, Lincoln and UC. They can just ring a line and we’ll pay, and they can be sitting in front of a counsellor within 24 hours.
The Lads Without Labels organisation was started to provide tangible solutions to the mental health issues male tertiary students around the region are dealing with. Murphy said the group has grown beyond expectations.
“Our mission is to make positive systematic change to men’s mental health, but particularly at the tertiary level just because we believe it is a market that we can target.”
“What we are looking to do here is right across Canterbury. Most people know someone, or know of someone, who has committed suicide, and that is why everyone is so passionate about what we are about and this event.”
Olivia Murphy
The organisation runs initiatives such as Flatchat, which encourages male students to get together and chat about their day and their own mental health.
Another offering, Skills for Lads, teaches boys basic competencies like changing a tyre, changing the oil of a car and financial literacy, because, as Murphy said, “competence builds confidence”.
She said that through her own rural upbringing she was able to learn these basic skills from her father – but a lot of young boys don’t have a father figure to teach them.
She said her rural upbringing as well as her own father’s experiences as a rural policeman also helped her to understand men and boys a lot better, and show more empathy when approaching their problems.
“I grew up in Te Anau. My dad was the rural policeman down there, and did a lot of search and rescue.
“Being the local cop he attended a lot of suicides, and he would come home in specific moods, but would never really talk to me about it.
“But it’s probably only been the last few years that I’ve started to see him open up, like when he’s had a good day and when he’s had a shocking day he will tell me, but he certainly didn’t use to.”
Murphy said that because of this she became quite stoic, a “she’ll be right” person, but that all changed once her father began talking more and she was able to also open up. “Vulnerability breeds vulnerability,” she said – noting that this is a serious issue in rural NZ.
“This situation is something that is emphasised in rural areas, because I think a lot of the expectation of what a man should be has come from those rural communities being so stoic and tight-lipped and just dealing with it by themselves.
“What we are looking to do here is right across Canterbury. Most people know someone, or know of someone, who has committed suicide, and that is why everyone is so passionate about what we are about and this event.”
People are encouraged to donate what they can on Runnin 72’s givealittle page and to spread awareness about opening up and seeking out resources if you, or anyone you know, is going through a rough patch, especially in isolated rural areas.
Where to get help:
RURAL SUPPORT TRUST: 0800 RURAL HELP
DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757
LIFELINE: 0800 543 354
NEED TO TALK? Call or text 1737
SAMARITANS: 0800 726 666
YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633 or text 234
