Update from Tom in Dunedin

One of my big goals as the Dunedin Regional Co-Ordinator is to support any and all teams who are passionate about the LIFEHACK goals of creating innovative tools to help young people suffering from mental illness.

With that in mind on a recent Thursday we welcomed back all of the teams to catch up on where their ideas are at.

We were also lucky enough to be joined by Shyamala Nada-Raja‎, Jessica Young, and Paul Garbett from the Injury Prevention Unit of the Department of Preventive & Social Medicine at The University of Otago. They were able to critique and offer advice to all of the teams. We hope that by working with Dr Nada-Raja and her team we will be able to develop resources that will have a significant impact on the lives of young people.

We were also joined by Katie Officer, a 3rd year nursing student at Otago Polytechnic who has worked with the Otago Youth Wellness Trust to develop a pamphlet and website for supporting young people who are addicted to the synthetic drugs which are about to be banned. The name of Katie’s resource comes from the zombie-like catatonia that takes over those who are addicted to these drugs.

By supporting the team and welcoming people like Katie and Dr Nada-Raja‎ into our Dunedin LIFEHACK community we will hopefully be able to share resources and work together to the betterment of all teams and their ideas.

Next week I, and a representative from all teams, will travel to Wellington for the Social Enterprise Conference and LIFEHACK lunch, which should be a great opportunity to gain connections and share ideas. In the coming weeks expect many more group and individual meeting to help all LIFEHACKers on the road to getting their ideas out into the world!

Tom

Dunedin Regional Co-Ordinator