Mental illness prevention programme hits Northland schools

Multimedia Journalist·Northern Advocate·

3 Mar, 2023 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Rotary Tai Tokerau Tamariki Mental Health and Wellbeing launch at Manaia View School. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Northland tamariki will be taught the skills to cope with mental illnesses under a mental health project that has just been launched.

Manaia View School in Whangārei hosted the launch of the Rotary Te Tai Tokerau Tamariki Mental Wellbeing Project on yesterday, the first of its kind in New Zealand

A whopping $600,000 “global grant” has been provided to the project which is sponsored by The Rotary Foundation.

The project’s purpose is to support teachers and provide them with the necessary resources and training to address the rise of mental illness in children.

Twenty per cent of the Northland population under the age of 15 have had a mood or anxiety disorder diagnosed as of 2021, according to Northland District Health Board.

Chief executive of Think and Be Me, Cat Levine, created the organisation in response to the growing rate of mental health issues among youth.

“They call it this youth mental health pandemic, but what are we doing? We’re obviously not doing something right,” Levine said.

Levine was working for free in the mental health space with children when Rotary came along and sponsored her to do a two-year well-being project.

“My actual deep passion comes from the statistics of mental health, which actually relate to me personally,” Levine said.

One in four Kiwi kids will experience mental health issues before the age of 18 and 50 per cent of mental health conditions start before the age of 12, Levine said.

She and her team of experts and volunteers will train 450 teachers in more than 60 Northland primary schools over two years and will visit each school three times delivering educational mental health presentations, resources and fun activities for the children.

“I’m really keen on being that preventative space because rather than having the counsellors, that’s great, but what are we doing to prevent children needing it?” Levine said.

“Every child should be given the skill and knowledge and the strategies to take care of their mental health just like they do with physical health.”

Levine’s ultimate goal is to provide children with the means to manage anxiety early in their early years. The programme uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy principles which help individuals develop resilience and coping skills.

CEO of Think and Be Me Cat Levine created the organisation in response to the growing rate of mental health issues among youth. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Rotary Tai Tokerau Tamariki Mental Health chairman Peter Smith said the project had been brewing in the background after a conference looking at why Northland is behind in its health and education.

“Kids, there’s no real support for them in primary school, so when they’re angry or sad, they know they are, but they don’t know why.

“This is this program here, tells them sort of take a breath and understand why I am sad, why am I angry, what can I do,” said Smith.

Smith said the project started off very small and it’s now grown to even tackle the truancy issues Northland schools face.

“When we were talking to the principals, they said, well, you’re going to be talking to the converted. These are kids who come to school every day, we need to be talking to the truants.

“So, we then got into the fun day activities... it’s some reason for the kids to come to school, whether it’s connecting four or wheels on the bus.

“If you do nothing, nothing changes, so we’re doing our best,” Smith said.