An organiser says a symposium on mental health and suicide in the GLBT community has shown there is obviously a hunger to get our communities together to discuss serious issues, just as much as there is for parties and parades. People from all walks of life, and all areas of the mental health sector, attending the day-long event in Auckland this week. "The day was very successful, with a positive feeling to the meeting," says one of the organisers, Affinity Services' Rainbow Liaison Michael Stevens. "There were people from a wide range of NGOs, individual practioners, concerned community members and senior ADHB staff present," he says. "The chance to network, to connect up with other people working in these areas and introduce others and share ideas was one of the highlights. "The fact the crowd was not entirely Rainbow in composition, but included a wide range of allies and interested parties speaks to how seriously the issues we were talking about are. It is worth remembering the focus was not just on suicide but on mental wellness as well, and the things we need to do as a community to change." Stevens says there were calls throughout the day for some sort of a peak body to be formed, perhaps similar to the National LGBTI Health Alliance in Australia. "But how that would happen or be funded is of course unclear," he says. "There will be another symposium, in either one or two years, the need is clear, people valued the chance to connect to others and talk about a wide range of issues." There will be a report based on the work done in the afternoon workshops it is anticipated will come out by the end of March or beginning of April.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 2nd March 2013 - 5:24pm