2017 Campaign: Take the Load Off
Kai Xin Xing Dong is supporting the latest Like Minds, Like Mine campaign called Take the Load Off. For the one in five people living in New Zealand who experience mental illness each year, the sigma and discrimination is like a constant, heavy weight that makes life more challenging than it needs to be. It’s also one of the biggest barriers to help people recover.
The Mental Health Foundation is pleased to launch this new online campaign because, “Take the Load Off will focus on the simple things people can do to reduce the weight of stigma and discrimination for people living with mental illness”, Mental Health Foundation acting chief executive, Daemon Coyle says.
“It could be as small as asking someone how their day is going, inviting a friend to have lunch with you or offering to help someone out in the workplace.
“It’s not about trying to fix someone or being an expert around mental illness, it’s simply about being a good mate, colleague or family member, showing you care, and accepting and including people,” Mr Coyle says.
The campaign was developed after extensive consultation with people with lived experience and their family and friends, as well as with many of the people who have supported the Like Minds, Like Mine programme over the last 20 years. Take the Load Off is an online campaign to show people how to help family, friends and co-workers and show their support, kindness and help others when they need a bit of support.
“Take the Load Off will be driven by everyday New Zealanders who are willing to share moments when they’ve felt the weight of mental illness stigma and discrimination and what helped to lighten the load,” Mr Coyle says.
The shared stories will shape the campaign, and it will run from mid-July until the end of September this year. To contribute your experience, visit www.taketheloadoff.nz Keep up to date with the campaign by subscribing to the Like Minds, Like Mine newsletter and following the campaign on Facebook.
About Like Minds, Like Mine
Like Minds, Like Mine has been around for 20 years and is a public awareness programme to increase social inclusion and end discrimination towards people with experience of mental illness or distress. We do this through public awareness campaigns, community projects and research.
The Like Minds, Like Mine programme is funded by the New Zealand Government. The Health Promotion Agency is the lead operational agency for the programme, with strategic responsibility held by the Ministry of Health. National coordination and programme communications for the programme is led by the Mental Health Foundation.
2014 Campaign: Hearing Voices
This month, Kai Xin Xing Dong is releasing nine stories about people who hear voices.
The MHF has worked with Mind and Body to write the stories from interviews with people with lived experience of hearing voices and psychosis. The stories focus on recovery and debunking myths.
We interviewed people of different genders, ages and ethnicities, and their stories cover a range of experiences all highlighting different aspects of support.
The stories have been written in English and Chinese, and we will post three a week for the next three weeks.
