Mike King is en route to Whanganui with a fleet of 30 tractors to raise awareness for mental health in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Mike King is en route to Whanganui with a fleet of 30 tractors to raise awareness for mental health in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Mental health advocate and 2019 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Mike King will be at Whanganui's Cornmarket Reserve this weekend, with a fleet of tractors.
Joined by a team of 30 others, King is on a nationwide tour to promote societal, attitudinal and positive change towards mental health.
The tour will see the team travel 2000km on 30 tractors as part of the lead-up to Gumboot Friday on April 3.
They will stop at different cities and towns to host free community and school events.
The group will be at Cornmarket Reserve on Sunday, March 15.
King said the trek is about raising awareness and encouraging communities and individuals to drive the attitudinal and social change that is needed to reverse the incidence of anxiety, suicide and depression.
"Now more than ever, we need Kiwis to reach out to friends and whānau. We encourage everyone to ask those you're closest to if they're okay."
The Gumboot Friday initiative was launched last year and aims to raise $5 million for free counselling.
It brings to light the need for critical counselling sessions after the chief coroner released that in the year to June 30, 2019, 685 people took their own lives, 17 more than the previous year.
The 2019 Gumboot Friday raised $1.3m to provide 10,670 critical counselling session to more than 2500 New Zealanders.
"This year with the help of the highly experienced Tractor Trek team we are focused primarily on our rural communities who face high rates of poor mental health and suicide," King said.
Katie Milne, president and health spokeswoman of Federated Farmers NZ, said rural communities face physical and mental isolation, limited access to health services and economic instability, all factors that contribute to poor mental health.
"Too many rural folks are so busy looking after their families, their animals, their friends and workmates that they put themselves at the bottom of the list, and fail to reach out for help."
Mike King is en route to Whanganui with a fleet of 30 tractors to raise awareness for mental health in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
She said King is a champion for getting stuff out in the open and talking about depression and suicide and urges farming families to get in behind the initiative.
The Tractor Trek was initially a fundraising drive that was launched in 2016 by Phil Aish to raise support and awareness for Hospice.
An encounter between his daughter Cat Levine and King led to the Trek supporting Gumboot Friday.
Levine said as fourth-generation farmers, supporting and raising awareness for positive mental health within the farming community is something she and her family feel strongly connected to.
"With this trek, we are sending a message of hope to those in need. They are not alone and we support them wholeheartedly."
The tour is supported by Kiwibank, Hope Wines, Interislander, Farmlands, Fonterra, Skellerup, Skycity, Starbucks, The Warehouse, TR Group, Z Energy, among others.
On Monday the Tractor Trek will be at Farm Source in Inglewood at 11am for a free community talk and then at Farmlands Hawera at 3pm.
