New approach to mental health
When Marcelle Lunam’s brother went missing for two days, supposedly lost while in New Zealand’s mental health care system, she felt compelled to make a change.
Lunam is the woman behind Tu¯ manako Wellness Centre, a ‘‘tech savvy’’ holistic mental health care facility proposed for Christchurch.
It will be delivered by Ohu Development, the same group behind Collett’s Corner in Lyttelton.
The group is raising funds to complete a feasibility study and pay staff who have been ‘‘tirelessly working’’ on the project for more than a year.
A gig to launch its $200,000 PledgeMe campaign will be held at Blue Smoke tomorrow.
The group also hoped to use funds raised to help secure land for the project, potentially in Christchurch’s residential red zone.
‘‘We want to create an alternative in mental health, based on a psychiatric and clinical psychology care model, but not just that, we want to create a complete wraparound care model,’’ Lunam said.
Lunam said what she considered the ‘‘staggering’’ lack of care for some mentallyill Kiwis meant her brother, a chronic paranoid schizophrenic, was able to go missing from a public facility in Christchurch for two days in early 2017. He was found holed up in a nearby public park. She put the incident down to a communication breakdown.
Local teen suicides also ‘‘galvanised’’ Lunam into taking action.
‘‘Clearly [the service provided] isn’t reaching enough people, there is a massive need and we need to do something,’’ she said.
‘‘I mean, these things happen all the time, so if we can connect people up, all of the carers, the clinicians, and all of the wraparound care team so they are all in the loop, that’s a great thing.’’
Lunam said the project was still in its early days and was ‘‘nearly investor ready’’.
A ‘‘private/public’’ charitable trust was planned and Lunam said the group was in conversation with Regenerate Christchurch to secure land in the residential red zone for the development. ‘‘We need to get some funding together so we can do a rock solid feasibility study, which is the key to advance the design of the building and the project itself.’’
The PledgeMe campaign runs until August 8. Tickets to the fundraising gig are available through Under The Radar.
The gig will feature The Eastern, Holly Arrowsmith and Zion Tauamiti, the youth suicide prevention worker who recently recovered from a heart attack.