World Suicide Prevention Day
Thursday the 10th of SeptemberJoin us for day of continuous Ping-Pong play as we honour World Suicide Prevention Day and fundraise for our new addiction support kaupapa.
As part of our kotahitanga / working together to honour World Suicide Prevention Day (Thursday 10th Sept) we’re having an ‘all day pongathon tournament’ – putting it simply, we’re playing ping-pong all day!
We’ll have a ping-pong table set up at Waimanako (35 Octavius Place) from 9am till 4pm and our team members are hoping that YOU / your team will show us your mettle. Please seriously consider doing so, because our co-founders, Jamie and Suzy, have pledged to battle it out all day long – only taking a break when someone else is there to step in – and we’re a little worried their arms might drop off otherwise!
Why ping-pong? Good question. We’re taking this opportunity to fundraise for our new addictions support kaupapa (you can read more about this further down the page). We often hear that, when seeking support for addictions, it’s a common experience to end up ping-ponging between services. Through our new peer-support programme, we will be hoping to be a gap-filler which will reduce that experience for our community.
In the spirit of this, YOU / your team / your whānau can book yourself a 10 minute slot to showcase your skills and play against a member of our team (and, maybe, score a real cool spot prize)! For each 10 minute slot we suggest a koha of $25 and these can be booked through an online donation at the bottom of this webpage, or at Waimanako on the day (cash or EFTPOS).
Alongside our ping-pong tournament, we’ll have a host of other activities to acknowledge the day.
Including:
Tree of Remembrance
A tree of remembrance where messages to loved ones can be written and placed on the tree, with candles to light beside.
A Walk Alongside
With the concept of kotahitanga and ‘nobody walks alone’ , there will be opportunity to collect a ribbon from Waimanako, and then walk the Coastal Walkway as a group or with a Kaimahi alongside – either to the Wind Wand or to the Henui Bridge – and tie the ribbon, with the others, there. Whānau may, of course, wish to carry a photo with them on the hikoi/walk.
We’ll depart Waimanako at 12:30pm to begin our walk.
Workshops
We’ll be hosting a range of workshops on the day! There will be a craft workshop at Waimanako and a variety of workshops at Waihāpai!
Click on the links to learn more and sign up for our Waihāpai based workshops:
Living from The Inside-Out
9:30am – 10:30am
Mindfulness for Wellbeing
11am – 12pm
Intro to Havening
1pm – 2pm
Our Team held a co-design workshop during July 2026 with participants from Taranaki Retreat,
Families Overcoming Addiction, Salvation Army, AOD Services and people with personal lived experience of
addiction and recovery. The workshop explored opportunities for the development of a community-based
addiction support service, located within Waimanako/Waihapai, that would operate as a walk-in service with
no referral needed.
The group identified the challenges and barriers in current addiction services in Taranaki and then worked
together to develop a potential design for a new service that would be safe, welcoming and inclusive.
Here’s how we’re planning for this to look:
To begin mahi, we are fundraising to support the appointment of a part-time clinician role, to guide and mentor our peer team.
If you or a loved-one have experienced the distress of trying to break free from addictions, and struggled to find the support needed at the right time – we would love you to get behind this kaupapa and – do so in a highly original and entertaining way – taking on Jamie, Suzy, Izaac, Liz, Jacqui, Andrew (or, pick your best-match) at a 10 minuter on the bats (previous experience not required!)
Also – who will be King or Queen of Pong for the year? Jamie or Suzy? Swing by Waimanako, drop a koha in the spectactor bucket, and cheer on your pick (or, whoever may need a bit of a boost. Both of them reckon they’re “pretty average” – but we shall see!)
We’ll also have some fun spot prizes throughout the day, like:
- The most PONGFUL match (the craziest game)
- PONGTASTIC of the day (highest score in 10 minutes)
- Retreat Team PONGER of the Day
- Business Community Champ – just imagine how that certificate would look on the wall in your reception!