Race day for mental health
After going through their own mental health issues, one young couple hosted an open track race day to raise awareness for the cause.
The event at Teretonga raceway yesterday, Drive4Life, combined motor racing with a message that it’s ok to ask for help.
Organisers Bree Nutsford, 18, and Sam Hole, 21, wanted to use their own experiences with mental health to help others speak out.
‘‘After leaving school, I went through a rough breakup. I didn’t get help as soon as I should have and ended up with depression,’’ Hole said.
‘‘After I finally sorted myself out, I thought there needed to be more people in the community talking about it and asking for help,’’ he said.
Both Hole and Nutsford have a passion for motorsport and combined their interests with the message they wanted to spread to their community.
‘‘It was a 3am decision. Sam said ‘lets do it’ and I said okay. It all got a bit crazy from there but now we are here today,’’ Nutsford said.
The main attraction was the open track day but the event also featured car displays, firefighter demonstrations, live bands and even a pop-up tattoo parlour.
All funds raised would go to mental health organisations, Pact, Lifeline and the Mental Health Foundation.
Mental health services also had stalls at the event including the youth organisation Number 10 which held a gumboot challenge inspired by Mike King’s viral Gumboot Friday initiative.
Number 10 director Candace Bangura said ‘‘mental health is still an issue, that some people have a hard time talking about, so I think its helpful to have an event like this where people can come together and talk about wellness and develop strategies to improve our own mental health.’’