I’m very pleased to announce that I’ll be in Nelson on Saturday the 18th of August to give a charity talk on behalf of Life Linc.
Life Linc is a fantastic charity that provides very low cost professional counselling within Nelson & Tasman.
Mental health support is a cause that is particularly close to home for me. A few years ago I struggled with a period of extremely severe depression. At the time, I had very little disposable income. Heavily discounted counselling through a charity helped me to cope with the depression, to identify what was triggering it, and eventually to find a way move out of it. I’m incredibly lucky to have been able to keep a reasonably even keel since, but it’s because of the tools I was given in counselling: I’m aware of what my triggers are, what I need to be happy and balanced, and know how to re-set myself if my emotions start going pear shaped.
Because of my own experience, I know how incredibly valuable counselling can be, and I’m honoured to be able to give back to a charity that does such amazing work.
In Ramsay to Renoir I’ll be exploring intersection between art & fashion in my usual way: with models in historical dress that will help a series of famous artworks out of the frame, and into life. I’m very excited about the talk: it’s such a fun topic, and I’m going to use it as an excuse to debut a new dress. If you’re in the Nelson area I do hope you can make it!
Ramsay to Renoir:
Art steps out of the frame and into life in a charity talk in support of LifeLinc
August 18
2pm
Richmond Town Hall
Cambridge Street, Richmond
$26 plus service fee
Tickets from Theatre Royal and TicketDirectph. 03 548 3840.
Ph. 03 548340
tickets@theatreroyalnelson.co.nz
If you’re in New Zealand and can’t attend the talk, but would still like to donate to Life Linc, you can do it by direct deposit or cheque.
Unfortunately Life Linc Nelson is not set up to process donations from overseas at the moment.
Thank you for supporting such an important cause! I’m sorry to hear of your experience and glad that you’ve come through it.
mentalhealth.org.nzI am so glad that you received the help that you needed! And thank you so much for ‘paying it forward’ and helping others. It is a brave thing to disclose mental health issues, but it is important to show others that it is A-OK to acknowledge them and get help.
Question about NZ: is there not universal healthcare? And if so, is mental health included?
This is a topic also close to my heart: my C-PTSD will continue to affect me for the rest of my life. I do my own work to ‘pay it forward’ in the US, and I am sure that many of the intelligent, thoughtful, and community-minded people in the site do their own work.
And the requisite:
In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. In NZ, the Lifeline crisis support service can be reached: 0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP)
There is a super-cool government site here: https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/in-crisis/helplines/
Thank you! I think most adults have experienced some form of depression – it’s pretty weird and terrible that we don’t talk about it. Mine was a little more serious, but I’ve thought about it a lot, and realised that it wouldn’t be healthy for me to make it a big part of this blog. It happened, but I really don’t want it to define my life. However, with something so relevant and close to home it did seem important to include it.
NZ does have more universal healthcare, but it’s much more complicated than just ‘go to the doctor’ any time you feel like it’. (tbh, I still don’t totally understand how the healthcare system works, which is probably true of almost everyone in NZ :-/ ).
And Life Linc also does relationship counselling, etc. 🙂
Is there a link or a website or anything where we can give donations? Maybe some of your loyal readers who can’t make the talk would like to kick some money their way.
There is, but it crashed literally as I was writing this post 🙁 I’m in touch with Life Linc and will let you know as soon as its back up. Thank you so much for the lovely offer!
How great that you got help and are able to give back!