Monday 16 March 2020 and Tuesday 17 March 2020, Christchurch Town Hall

I will be writing some longer articles soon, but just very quickly I did my presentation on Tuesday 17 March 2020 at 11:02 to 11:32 am. Fiona Green presenting at the Christchurch Town Hall.

Only two of us (me and friend/fellow campaigner Lisa Cowe (Christchurch) broke new ground by formally introducing our respective topics thus:

Fiona – The psychological impact of business loss – the disconnect and the human cost exposed.

Lisa – the impact of bankruptcy on mental health.

Lisa and I were the only ones at this conference whose topics aligned with the category ‘Social and Economic Determinants that influence Mental Health outcomes.

Our Session Chair was Julie Porter (Clinical Nurse Educator, Tasmanian Health Service). She was great!

The corona virus overseas lockdown by the Govt from midnight Sunday 15 March 2020, the day I arrived in Christchurch, meant that many presenters couldn’t make it to the conference.

We missed their presentation due to timing, but according to the Programme,  Katie Milne (National President Federation Farmers of NZ) was going to talk about: What’s missing in Mental Health for farmers by, and

Steven Howie’s topic was: Integrated ‘mental health care in a rural setting. Steve Howie is a Mental Health nurse Specialist, Kaikoura Healthcare.

Their respective topics were grouped in the ‘Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention,’ category. Huge insight into rural mental health.

The Conference was held in Christchurch because of the Community trauma factor brought about by the 2011 Earthquake and the Christchurch Mosque Massacre of 15 March 2019.

Much love and respect to the people of Christchurch and my friend and presenter Lisa Cowe (from Christchurch) who has shown absolute resilience. As an outsider coming into and staying in an area that was impacted by both the earthquake and massacre, I felt the pain, the hurt, the anguish which is still an imprint.

Thank you to the people in the hotel I was staying at including locals who came in for meals, who were there talking to me about their experiences in either one or both tragedies.

Didn’t get to see all the presentations because of programme scheduling – but we do get audio recordings of everyone’s presentations, etc.

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