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Hosting Bodkin
A long wait to say I do PAGE 3
The Wanaka Gun Club team of Lex Jocelyn, Jeff Cray, Ray Anderson, Brian Swan, Denis Nyhon, Cameron Meikle and Aaron Radford were among the locals hosting last weekend’s annual Bodkin Shield Trophy match. Story page 12.
Swimmers vs ski lane PAGE 8
PHOTO: WANAKA.TV
Looking after each other Laura Williamson Wanaka Sun
Runner ready for nationals PAGE 10
sunviews PAGE 11
Snow Rake Ella PAGE 16
Suicide prevention and intervention will be the focus of a series of community evenings throughout Central Otago next week. Get-togethers will be held in Cromwell, Alexandra, Ranfurly, Queenstown and Wanaka, and will focus on suicide prevention centred on family and the community. As Janice Millis, one of the initiators of the evenings, explained, “We need to get back to good old-fashioned communities, where people know each other and look out for each other.” Each meeting would feature two guest speakers, Maria Bradshaw of Auckland and Julie Duffy of Alexandra. Both women lost their only sons when the young men took their own lives. Maria is the co-founder of CASPER (Community Action on Suicide Prevention Education and Research), a peer network that provides support to families bereaved by suicide and promotes social models of suicide prevention.
Janice said that representatives from social services would be on hand, as well as the police, to offer assistance to anyone who needed it. There would also be a drop box, where individuals could leave a question and a phone number so they could be contacted later.
after the Christchurch earthquakes, when neighbours checked on each other and volunteers went door to door offering support, Janice said. Janice said the suicide prevention and intervention meetings could be one starting point for Wanaka and other communities in working together to
We need to get back to good oldfashioned communities, where people know each other and look out for each other. She added the community had been highly supportive of the evenings, with all of the venues offering discounts and media outlets providing advertising at reduced rates. Central Lakes Trust had been a primary source of funding for the talks. “There has been a good community feel about it all,” she said. And while there was no “quick fix”, strong communities could be a positive factor in prevention, as evidenced by a fall in the suicide rate
address problem that was often seen as “taboo”. “Let’s start having a chat as a community about how we can help,” she said. Greg Dobson, manager of Supporting Families (SF) Central Otago, who has been working on suicide prevention in the region, said the evenings were a very positive step. “I’m really supportive of anything that can save a life,” he said. SF Central Otago was planning to run future workshops
in the area to continue promoting suicide awareness and to upskill community members in identifying suicide risk factors and in knowing what to do if they appeared. The Suicide Prevention and Intervention Community Evening in Wanaka will be held on Wednesday September 4 in the Armstrong Room at Lake Wanaka Centre. Entry is free.
For anyone needing help, support is currently available from Lifeline New Zealand (0800 543 354) and Youthline (0800 376 633). Both offer confidential telephone counselling. Locally, those in need can contact services such as Central Otago Mental Health on 03 440 4308, Upper Clutha Women’s Support on 443 1448 or Kahu Youth on 443 5880.