While most people were still enjoying the summer holiday
the Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust team was packing
up to transition into bigger premises at 63 Hanover Street
in Central Dunedin.
Increased demand for peer support
for people suffering mental distress and those in crisis put
pressure on the trust in its former premises, co-general
manager Corinda Taylor said.
We’ve seen a 62%
increase in demand for peer support in the last nine months.
Our former premises were unable to support this and by
moving to a bigger space means the Hope Centre will be able
to provide a service that can cope with even more
people.
For the last 12 months the Hope Centre has
provided a Crisis Café on Thursdays until 9pm for people
suffering from a mental health crisis.
“Our
objective is to open the Crisis Café more days a week into
the evenings to ensure people in crisis are well supported
in a non-clinical environment,” co-general manager Clare
Curran said.
“We know there is more demand for a
safe, supportive space as an alternative to the Emergency
Psychiatric Service (EPS) for people suffering a crisis. We
now have the space to provide more support. When our funding
allows, we would like to provide a crisis service on more
nights of the week.”
The public is warmly invited to
the opening of the new Hope Centre|Te Whare Tūmanako on
Wednesday 15 February at 11am to help us celebrate our new
and spacious premises. The premises will be open all day to
members of the public wishing to visit.
The new
premises will be blessed through a whakawātea conducted by
mana whenua, followed by the official opening conducted by
Mayor Jules Radich.
Life Matters Suicide Prevention
Trust and the subsequent setting up of the Hope Centre in
2018 was born out of tragedy when Ross Taylor, aged 20, took
his own life in 2013. This grass roots organisation turned a
tragedy into action to ensure good support for other young
people like Ross. It was set up and developed by people with
lived experience. These days the Hope Centre provides mental
health peer support, bereavement support and advocacy to
ensure that people do not have to struggle to navigate
clinical mental health services alone and
unsupported.
“It is the connections with others with
similar experiences that help us see the light again. When
you share about your own experiences others also open up,”
Corinda Taylor said.
The trust, which is completely
reliant for its existence on grants and donations, is
grateful for the donations provided by the public enabling
the move to bigger premises, she said.
Life Matters
asks people who are unable to attend and want to donate to
our cause to check out The Good Registry
link
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