An innovative mental health programme with an upcoming session in Wānaka has proven to be a successful model for improving mental health knowledge and skills, a new report says.

The GoodYarn programme helps people talk openly about mental health and wellbeing, learn how to recognise common signs and symptoms of mental illness, and support people experiencing mental distress with ways to access help.

Its model is different to other mental health programmes in that it trains non-clinical people to deliver the programme to their colleagues or peers, which means the knowledge and support offered is more easily accessible to the audience and stays in the community in which it is delivered.      

GoodYarn has been running in Queenstown Lakes since April 2021 and almost 300 people have participated so far.

Research consultant Anna Williams said the GoodYarn programme highlights the value of upskilling local, non-clinical, ethnically diverse community members to deliver mental health education to their peers.

 “[The GoodYarn] approach to delivering mental health education training will have a substantial impact on the mental wellbeing of the Queenstown [Lakes] community over time as the information begins to positively impact relationships and interactions with priority community groups, and their family and whānau.”

Of the participants, 97 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop increased their knowledge of mental health and wellbeing. 

There is an upcoming GoodYarn workshop in Wānaka. 

The workshop next Wednesday (February 22), will focus on small and medium size business owners and staff, providing skills for talking about mental health in the workplace and delivering practical skills for staff and clients’ mental wellbeing.

It will be the fifth time GoodYarn workshops have taken place in the Upper Clutha.

Headlight chief executive Anna Dorsey told the Wānaka App the GoodYarn programme will be rolled out more widely in 2023 and that will include more Upper Clutha workshops.

Find more information about the upcoming workshop, and more about the GoodYarn programme, here.