With homelessness and suicide rates continuing to be on the increase there’s no doubt that New Zealand needs more help to target the big issues surrounding the condition of our overall mental health. In response to these issues non-profit organisation ‘Kiwis for Good‘ has partnered with the world’s largest online counselling provider to offer free online counselling services to NZ’s most vulnerable age group, those aged 13-25 years old. This initiative aims to reduce the wait times for support, as well as provide increased access to counsellors for those that live in isolated areas throughout NZ.
Read on to find out what else Kiwis for Good are doing to help New Zealanders. There’s also details on how to apply for free online counselling (it’s super easy), or for those wanting to support this fantastic initiative there’s information on how to donate.
From Kiwis for Good …
We have opened this service to teenagers and young people 13-25 years old, this age group are most in need.
Kiwis For Good is a non profit organisation created as an online and print publication to raise awareness of a wide variety of social issues. They act as an online support platform where people can connect and learn as well as find help.
Kiwis For Good have formed a new partnership with Betterhelp – the world’s largest online counselling provider.
What this means is; thanks to new technologies like Zoom and Skype we are now able to connect counsellors around the world to young Kiwis in need. There are currently 27,500 counsellors available on Betterhelp and this could prove to be a real solution to the long wait times we are seeing around the country.
In addition, this initiative solves the problem of reaching people who live in isolated areas of New Zealand where there may be a real shortage of counsellors.
The mental health professionals at BetterHelp are licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists (PhD / PsyD), licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT), licensed clinical social workers (LCSW / LMSW), or licensed professional counsellors (LPC). All of them have a Master’s Degree or a Doctorate in their field. They have been qualified and certified by professional boards after successfully completing the necessary education, exams, training and practice. While their experience, expertise, and background vary, they all possess at least 3 years and 1,000 hours of hands-on experience.
Applying is simple, just fill in the form on our website here https://kiwisforgood.co.nz/about/free-counselling or call 0508 FOR KIWIS and we will set you up.
If you want to see this initiative grow and change more people’s lives for the better, please consider donating by going here https://kiwisforgood.co.nz/about/free-counselling and clicking on the DONATE tab at the bottom of the page.
Homelessness and the state of mental health are ever-increasing problems in New Zealand.
A Yale University study of OECD data found that New Zealand had the highest rate of homelessness among member nations, with almost 1 percent of its population living without a permanent shelter in 2015. To add to this, New Zealanders are taking their own lives more this year than at any other time in our nations history with suicides up a staggering twenty nine percent over the last decade.
Our stories and media platforms act as a safe place for people to openly discuss their tribulations and triumphs with regard to poverty, mental health and addiction and many other subjects we hear of in day to day life.
With your support we can continue to give New Zealanders a platform to discuss and work through their problems as well as provide those people living in poverty with the tools to escape their situation and create real and lasting change for future generations of New Zealanders.
How are we helping? The 3 ways in which we are helping New Zealanders…
We have launched an ongoing campaign though our website and print publications to raise awareness of issues we feel are not spoken about enough in the mainstream media such as suicide, homelessness, addiction, and mental health. We’re openly inviting a public discussion through the website and social media platforms for anyone to share their stories. This method has worked with therapy groups including AA and NA successfully throughout the world for over 100 years to genuinely help people to work through their addiction and mental health problems.
We are actively recruiting and training people who are in real need of support, whether or not they have mental health or addiction problems or have found themselves unemployed or homeless. These people are given the paid duty of distributing our literature which will provide them with the tools they need to work their way towards a strong and independent future whilst being in control of their opportunity to earn an honest living.
Our profits are to be used to fund charitable community projects through the Kiwis for Good Foundation. These projects will be focused on reducing and working toward the reduction the ever increasing suicide rates, homelessness and the huge issue surrounding the condition of New Zealand’s overall mental health.
About The Author: Katie Brooks
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