Devastation as suicide prevention charity closes

A life-saving charity that works with men and their mental health in Tairawhiti has shut, a victim of funding strugglesThe government has put the gumboot into mental health in Gisborne with its failure to support a successful suicide prevention charity. Hear4U helped men in particular A vital suicide prevention charity which has saved countless lives in Gisborne has had its own desperate calls for help ignored. Hear4U has been forced to close its doors due to a lack of funding, five years after it was set up by Krissy Mackintosh and two girlfriends to save lives and raise awareness around mental health and suicide. At the time, Tairāwhiti had one of the highest suicide rates in the country. "When we closed, we had 3500 people on our database, mainly male, and we never lost one soul to suicide," says Mackintosh. "We used to be representative of one of the highest suicide stats in New Zealand, mostly male and younger male. When we shut our doors, we became one of the lowest in New Zealand." They needed about half a million dollars a year to keep operating, but the team couldn't secure that funding in spite of exhausting every avenue. The lack of support comes at a time when the government put $24 million over four years, unprompted, into Mike King's Gumboot Day for mental health awareness; and in the wake of an announcement of $10m fund to support new initiatives focussed on mental health support. Closing the doors of Hear4U was a heart-wrenching decision for the 38-year-old mother of two, who has overcome her own mental health struggles, including several suicide attempts. "It was my worst nightmare. I fought a pretty massive campaign, and I had an amazing waka of people behind me, even the legendary (All Blacks great) Ian Kirkpatrick. I felt devastated, I still am in a state of devastation and it's going to take a bit of healing. "We did everything that was asked of us in terms of policy, outcomes, deliveries and expectations, and the fact we never ever got anything back from Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is absolutely heartbreaking, but we have to be grateful and blessed that we made a difference in the time that we had." Her quest for financial stability took - at times - dark and nasty turns. "We were told our charity was never enough of something, or something else, or something else. And it got really ugly. I have seen and endured huge amounts of racism and sexism. I have had attacks on myself as a person to the point where we have asked the police to support my family. It's been a tough journey." …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details