Ngawha Springs moving Forward
Kaikohe
Ngawha Springs is a small village comprising 80 houses with about 250 people – 20-30 babies and toddlers, 60 children between the age of, 5-18, 60 or so adults between 20 – 60 and kaumatua and kuia members of whanau who have lived in the village for several generations. There is also a mix of new settlers to the village seeking refuge from the expense and chaos of city life in retired years.
Ngawha Springs Forward is a small trust in the village, with expertise in the health, social and financial arena, with relevant skills in mental health and suicide prevention. The Trust aims to build and strengthen the community through various activities. Essentially to retain hope, to maintain connections to community and support networks, so that all village members can make valued contributions to restore mauri, build confidence in making healthy decisions and promote the flourishing of the community to impact positively on whanau wellbeing.
One activity will be to discover wider skills in the community and by sharing skills and working together, to develop leadership and participation to build the resilience. There is a focus to build whanau vision and awareness of the community supports available, to assist the achievement of whānau milestones. For example: Build confidence in parenting and problem solving; reduce alcohol or drug dependencies & strengthen self-reliance and resilience in the community;
Organisation: Ngawha Springs Forward Charitable Trust & Mahi Tahi Hauora
*This Community Initiative was Funded by the Māori Suicide Prevention Community Fund 2020-2021
Rutu Aperira
Rutu’s dreams and aspirations come from lived experience following the tragic suicide of her 18year old brother, and she determined to do something to honour his memory and help raise awareness about suicide causations and risks.