King’s two-wheel band of hope tour to tackle suicide in NZ
Instead of ambulances at the bottom of the mental health cliff, a campaigner wants to start with scooters at school gates.
Suicide prevention educator Mike King and friends are scooting around New Zealand spreading a message of hope.
Rain or shine King’s 50cc scooter I Am Hope Tour posse will ride from Cape Reinga to Bluff visiting more than 50 towns and dozens of schools.
‘‘What is I Am Hope? It’s a tour where we are changing the perception of mental health in New Zealand,’’ King told people gathered at the road trip’s launch yesterday.
The comedian’s message, which is backed by The Key to Life Charitable Trust, is that adults need to lead a ‘‘cultural change’’ making it ok for kids to talk about problems that left bottled-up can lead to suicide.
Speaking at Smales Farm on Auckland’s North Shore, King told year eight pupils from Northcote Intermediate School his generation was ‘‘screwing them up with our negative judgmental attitudes’’ toward problem-solving.
‘‘Kids have got covert ways of talking,’’ King later said.
They will gauge how their parents will react by putting their feelings out as a hypothetical third person.
‘‘And the parents will say, ‘oh
that kid needs to harden up a bit,’ and we don’t realise there is no other kid, their child is actually asking for something.
‘‘I had one young fella I spoke to who was suicidal, and I said to him ‘have you spoken to your parents?’ he said, ‘why would I talk to them?’’’
‘‘He goes ‘every time you talk to your parents they make it about them and they make you feel worse’.’’
‘‘I said ‘that’s a bit harsh, give me some examples’, and I thought ‘crikey, I do that and that and that . ..
‘‘I didn’t like what I saw, I decided I was going to spend more time listening, more time empowering my kids to find solutions to their own problems,’’ King, a 2018 New Zealander of the Year nominee, said.
‘‘We need to be more open and empathetic. Speaking to over 200,000 kids in the last five years we know kids want more than anything that their thoughts and opinions are valued by the significant adults in their life.’’
Statistics show 80 per cent of people in crisis ‘‘never, ever ask for help’’.
‘‘We also know 40 per cent of kids at school will have a major crisis in their life before they leave school and 80 per cent of them don’t talk, they’re afraid of other people’s judgement.’’
Nine ‘‘work of art’’ scooters donated by Suzuki and painted by famous Kiwi artists including Dean Buchanan and Dick and Otis Frizzell will carry the riders and the trust’s message more than 4000km.
I Am Hope wristbands will also be given out – wearing one signals to those struggling they can talk to the wearer without fear.
‘‘The wristband means ‘I will not judge, I will not shame, I will not anger or inflame, I will not gossip or react, I am hope I’ve got your back,’’’ King said.
Northcote Intermediate School principal Ben Kelsey said schools should look forward to their March I Am Hope tour visit.
Kelsey was initially ‘‘nervous’’ about letting forthright King speak to pupils but King proved an impassioned, captivating speaker who spread a ‘‘message of hope’’.