Record funding boost for Southern Lakes winter mental wellbeing initiatives
A record $87,000 will be injected into initiatives that improve mental wellbeing, social connection and resilience in communities across the Southern Lakes region over the next few months.
Te Hau Toka Southern Lakes Wellbeing Group has supported 92 groups in its latest Connecting Communities funding round, with each receiving up to $1,000 to help facilitate community-led activities.
Recipients included an Open Day and tribute benches at Arrowtown’s Bush Creek community ice rink, Curious Conversations guided art tours in Queenstown for communities with accessibility needs, Wānaka Community Workshop training events for men, a Latinos for NZ La Festa Junina event in Queenstown, and a range of Matariki activities across the region.
Adell Cox, Chair of the Te Hau Toka Southern Lakes Wellbeing Group, says the response to this funding round has been "phenomenal", particularly from Te Anau and Manapouri.
"We had a 35 percent increase in applications overall this time and we’ve funded as many initiatives as we could," she says.
"It’s been really inspiring and heart-warming to see how hard our Southern Lakes communities are working to improve their collective wellbeing, celebrate diversity and be inclusive."
First-time applicant Arrowtown RSA will put its funding towards an initiative to bring seniors and young people together.
PTA President Rosemary Chalmers says: "We want to connect our older and younger generations through conversation, a social gathering and working together to tidy up the gravesites of ex-personnel laid to rest in the Arrowtown Cemetery ahead of Armistice Day.
"It's a great opportunity for all ages to learn from each other and it will involve older service personnel and associated members, Arrowtown Scouts, St John Youth and, hopefully, Arrowtown school pupils."
Business initiatives funded include a Central Otago and Southern Lakes-wide campaign run by the Headlight Trust to encourage all businesses to get involved in Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24 Sept 2023) using the Five Ways to Wellbeing model.
Headlight CEO Anna Dorsey says that a digital kit of ideas, suggestions and evidence-informed strategies will be provided for businesses to sign up to.
"The kit will highlight ways businesses can contribute to supporting the mental health of their community, showcase local champions of mental health to help reduce stigma and discrimination, and highlight the value of workplaces investing in ongoing workplace wellbeing," Dorsey says.
Fiordland Community Kai runs regular community cook-ups in Te Anau and plans to host a Winter Warmer, Food for the Soul series with its funding.
Organiser Katherine Mitchell says: "We’re hosting three community-based cooking classes over winter which focus on teaching tasty, nutritious and affordable meals. Our aim is for the participants to come away with new connections, skills, ideas and the confidence to cook healthy nutritious kai."
Te Hau Toka introduced the Connecting Communities fund in November 2021 as part of its efforts to combat the ongoing mental health impacts of COVID-19. Since then, there have been six funding rounds, 329 recipients and nearly $320,000 injected across Queenstown, Wānaka, Cromwell, and Fiordland to help people improve mental wellbeing, social connection and resilience in their own communities.
The next Connecting Communities funding rounds dates are 6-16 November 2023 and 8-18 April 2024. Eligible not-for-profit groups can apply for up to $1,000 including GST to support community-focused mental wellbeing initiatives.
For more details, visit www.southernhealth.nz/tehautoka. A full list of the grants is available online.
