• Who should attend? Government Departments and Agencies, policy makers, community groups and not for profit organisations, mental health workers, service providers, Iwi and Commissioning Agencies

• Key learning outcome: What is happening in terms of innovation across other jurisdictions, the lessons learnt, the successes and failures, where to from here.

Suicide and mental health in New Zealand is a significant challenge. With rates on the increase and many communities struggling to understand both what is happening and how to address it Ngangaru has developed a one-day forum for mental health professionals, policy makers, community workers, not for profit organisations and service providers. The forum is broken into two sections, morning and afternoon. The morning session has been designed to provide a briefing on what is happening in other jurisdictions, how services and policies are being re-engineered and what this all means in the context of both suicide prevention and mental health.

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The afternoon session has been designed to show case specific examples of organisations, community led movements and campaigns that are running, their effectiveness, successes and fail points to enable attendees to have a well-rounded learning experience. Included in both sessions will be coverage of key demographic groups where suicide and mental health loom large such as middle-aged males, Maori, the increasing trend of women in their latter years and young people. In addition will be separation between what is mental health and what is suicide prevention.

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Forum Leader: The forum will be led and facilitated by Matthew Tukaki who is the Chairman of the Board of Suicide Prevention Australia and also formerly the Chair of that countries National Coalition for Suicide Prevention. Matthew has been involved at the community, State and Federal level of policy design and development for the last six years. Matthew has also been involved in the design and development of suicide prevention networks such as the Babana Aboriginal Peer2Peer Suicide Prevention program and the growing design framework around “Communities Matter.” Matthew is the former head of the world’s oldest and largest employment company, Drake, is currently a national broadcaster and presenter across the Macquarie Radio Networks “Talking Lifestyle” show and is the Executive Chairman of the Global News Network, EntreHub and NewsNow. Matthew is originally from Upper Hutt, north of Wellington, and is of Ngai Te Rangi descent.

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