‘I became a monster before I got help’

A young Kiwi man is taking his story of a failed mental health system right to the top, writes Helen Harvey. Wellington’s foodies are faced with 123 burgers competing to be the best in the capital. Miri Schroeter gets stuck in.

A convicted knife attacker with a long history of mental illness wants the Government to implement mental health checkups in high schools.

Keegan Jones, 23, was sentenced to three years in prison back in 2014 after he held a knife to a taxi driver’s throat and stole his cab.

He has spent the past 10 years in the mental health system, including the criminal forensic unit at the Henry Bennett Centre in Waikato, where he received the help he needed.

Jones has now come up with a proposal that so impressed Taranaki King CountryMP Barbara Kuriger that she used her Airpoints to fly him to Wellington to talk to Health Minister Jonathan Coleman. When he first went to Kuriger, he was concerned he wouldn’t have any credibility because of what he had done and the stereotype around being a beneficiary with a mental illness, Jones said.

‘‘The mental health system in New Zealand is at a crisis point,’’ Jones said. ‘‘It’s the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We focus and put money into the acute stages, and by then it’s too late. By then people have gotten to the point where they are in a crisis state themselves.’’

So, Jones proposed high schools had annual mental health checkups using a survey or questionnaire to identify and treat at risk youth. The screening would help catch people earlier and might also highlight family violence or bullying, he said. ‘‘With this testing, it could go to a counsellor, and the counsellor could see red flags and the counsellor could then refer to the appropriate agencies to help this young person who is struggling to get the help they need.’’

Jones was first hospitalised when he was 13 – his teenage years were a blur – but he didn’t get the help he needed until he went to prison, he said.

‘‘It’s disgusting that it took me to get that unwell and to be that, I don’t know what the words are, that much of an unwell monster ... it took me to go into criminal forensics, criminal psychiatry, to actually get me the help I needed. It’s wrong that you have to commit a crime to get better help.’’ The mental health system let him down, he said. ‘‘I’m very remorseful about what happened. I did fall through the cracks, but that doesn’t take away from what I did.’’

Kuriger, who is deputy chairwoman of the health select committee, said she took her hat off to Jones for coming forward.

‘‘He is really passionate about doing some work with his peers. He wants to make it better. He’s been in a place where he’s really been in a struggle, and now he’s coming up with ideas.’’

The Government put aside $100m in the budget for a social investment fund to look at new proposals to tackle mental health issues, she said.

‘‘Keegan had a good session with Minister Coleman, and he has taken the ideas away to have a look at.’’

New Zealand’s representative on the International Association for Suicide Prevention, Sylvia Huitson, said the screening idea was good but had to be done correctly.

‘‘The screening has to have a robust way of follow up and how you are going to deal with what you find.’’

But it might pick up contributing factors to suicide —anxiety, depression and childhood trauma, she said.

‘‘Hopefully, you can can do an intervention early on, so people don’t carry that stuff to a point where it gets too much. I hope Jonathan listens.’’ AS I prepared to eat my weight in burgers on the first day of Wellington’s most talked about food festival, I took all the right steps: I wore loose clothing, skipped out on breakfast and walked half-an-hour to the first burger joint.

I chose restaurants within a 1km radius to save time, left drinks to a minimum to save room, and I even arranged to halve each burger with a Wellington on a Plate fanatic so that I could try more.

Heading into Plum on Cuba St with a rumbling tummy, I relentlessly chowed down on a creole chicken burger with bourbon chilli pineapple.

One down, 122 to go.

Next came meatballs in a bun from Scopa, then a crayfish and chorizo patty from Counter Culture, a lamb and haggis burger, angus beef burger, crispy pork burger, beef short rib burger, beef cheek burger, lemongrass chicken burger, chocolate brioche burger . . . burger, burger, buggered!

Ten halves with sides of fries and I was absolutely stonkered.

So, do burger fans have strategies to avoid missing out during the 17-day festival?

Festival fan and helping hand Megan Penno uses a spreadsheet which allows her to make choices based on the type of patty, location and price.

Penno, who tries about 15 burgers and events every year, draws up a must-try list before the festival begins.

She’s also a chip connoisseur so she adds a section for burgers that come with fries.

The mysterious spreadsheet is one of several aids that makes the rounds during the festival. It’s passed from computer to computer to help festival-goers cope with the ever-increasing range of choices.

While 123 burgers would be impossible, Wellingtonian Richard Neill manages one a day.

Out of pure appreciation of the bunned creation, Neill photographs and reviews each one – leaving friends from as far afield as Germany with their mouths watering.

Known as the ‘‘burger-man’’ among friends, he’s there as soon as the festival starts.

One burger daily was realistic, affordable and meant he didn’t get

It’s the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We focus and put money into the acute stages, and by then it’s too late.’ KEEGAN JONES, ABOVE