This Suicide Prevention Day, we invite you to join us at Waimanako as a way of marking and sharing this day together. We are basing the day on the components of Te Whare Tapa Whā.

Just as each component supports the other, our physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing all work together to help us navigate life’s challenges.

Throughout the day you’ll find opportunities to explore each part of the health model through simple, practical activities.

Throughout the day (Thursday 10th September, 9am – 4pm) :

Taha Tinana – Physical Wellbeing – Our bodies are often the first to tell us when life feels overwhelming. Looking after our physical wellbeing helps create a foundation for emotional resilience and recovery. Options on the day include taking part in the above community walk, trying a herbal tea, a fruit smoothie, a hot chocolate or enjoying something nourishing from the menu at Waimanako, on the house – or enjoying a kai at the Waimanaaki Food Truck.

Taha Hinengaro – Mental and Emotional Wellbeing – Our thoughts and feelings affect how we experience the world. Giving ourselves permission to acknowledge them with curiosity and compassion can be an important step towards healing. Options on the day for this include attending one of the workshops on offer, taking some time to journal or do some writing to share.

Taha Wairua – Spiritual Wellbeing – Wairua is about meaning, purpose and connection. On the day, this might be about doing something creative, you may want to light a candle and offer karakia; bring a book or your own creative project and have some time to slow down.

Taha Whānau – Family and Social Wellbeing – Connection is one of the greatest protective factors for our mental health. We all need places where we feel seen, heard and valued. On the day this might include bringing a friend or colleague in for a cuppa, having a Listening Ear convo with a Kaimahi / Support Worker, writing a message of hope or encouragement, or taking part in conversation.

Taha Whenua – Connection to Place – Feeling connected to the places where we live, work and spend time can help us feel grounded and remind us that we belong. You may simply want to take time watching the waves, take in the view from Waimanako, or take some time outside through the community walk. It could be shoes off, and feet in the sand / beach.. or maybe share with a friend / one of our team – the story of where you grew up / your pepeha / your maunga and awa? (…and, if you like, ask them to do the same!)

As a way of marking the beginning of World Suicide Prevention Month, we would love you to join us around the table for a relaxed morning of good food, warm conversation and community on the 1st of September!

Our Long Table Dinners have been such a joy. The first two evenings have brought together members of our community, got to share stories, laugh and have those genuine moments of connection. Our 19th August dinner has already sold out, showing us just how much people are wanting spaces where they can simply come together and belong.

This special Long Table Brunch is another opportunity to weave that golden thread of connection through our community.

We know that connection is one of the greatest protective factors for our wellbeing, and sometimes something as simple as sharing a meal, hearing another person’s story or meeting someone new can remind us that we all belong.

There are no expectations – just delicious brunch, great coffee, great company and the opportunity to honour World Suicide Prevention Month by choosing connection, one conversation at a time.

Bring a colleague or friend, or why not take that step out of the comfort zone and come on your own. We’d love to share a seat at the table with you.

If you’ve been hearing about our Long Table Events and are curious about the concept, this is the perfect chance to experience the heart behind them. And if you’d like to join us at a future event be sure to add your name to the waiting list so you’re first to hear when new dates are released.

Together, one table, one conversation and one golden thread at a time, we can continue weaving a stronger, more connected Taranaki. You can book your place at the table here

Kia ora e te whānau

It is such a delight to bring you our July Newsletter – packed with all kinds of goodies.

You may be receiving this bundle of updates feeling anything other than hopeful, right now. If that’s the case, then – please – read on. If things are proving extra-challenging currently – be reassured that there is support for you and your whānau – we are passionate that tough-times are navigated together.

Take special note of our plans for September 10th – World Suicide Prevention Day.

As we have done previously, over the years, we’re included taha tinana aspects to the day – for those of us who find it helpful to do something active in remembrance and hope. 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 🫂

Remembering, of course, that it’s not necessary to wait until a specifically named day to swing by and talk things through! Listening Ears are here for you at Waimanako – surrounded by a safe korowai/cloak of confidentiality, and just as low-key as you need it to be. 

Every couple of weeks, we hold a Grief and Loss Support Workshop. If you’re tacking loss of any kind (and… that’s the key point – the workshop isn’t solely about bereavement. Loss comes in many shapes and sizes – and may be to do with relationships; health; diagnoses; whānau challenges; injustice and plenty more. At the Workshop (which held at our Waihāpai support space in Strandon), we share a resource which can be helpful in working through grief and understanding / dealing with the grief of others. It’s not a ‘sharing circle’ situation (where those attending talk about their situation – we do offer that – but at other times and places!) It’s a small group – and more like a tooling-up – you’re not called upon to share anything (even your name, if you’d prefer not to). It’s an emotional ‘safe place’ – confidential and supportive. If you’d like to know more – please do just drop us a reply to this message – we’d really love to hear from you.  

Ka nui te aroha, Jamie (Pou Hāpai)

Wow! The beautiful words received after June’s Long Table Dinner were enough to ensure we would do it again!

“It’s been so lovely to get out and meet new people, delicious food!” “Good food, good people, good vibes!”

“Loved the positivity, thanks to the cooks, they did an amazing job!” Anything else you would like to share with us? “I am full!”

“Such a beautiful warm feeling of connecting around the table with yummy kai. It felt like being out, but the relaxed vibes made it feel like you were just at a friend’s house! Such a great and unique combination!”

“Was such a great way to put myself out there a bit more, step out of my comfort zone and practice what I have been learning! I felt proud that I came and was able to have conversations.”

In this online world, I talk about the need to weave a golden thread of connection to our community again, to come face to face, to be offline and be in community once more. And at our first long table dinner that absolutely happened so beautifully that we are doing it again and what better way to do that, than round the table for kai and kōrero at our favourite cafe in town, while raising money for Taranaki Retreat!

Head here to book your spot at the next Long Table Dinner!

Kristine, host of the ‘Learn to Knit’ workshop at the Retreat, writes,

Good yarn is something New Zealand is known for – both for the massive amount of sheep and the classic kiwi term for a good chat. I learned the magic of good yarn when I started knitting 7 years ago. In the midst of a down-trending mental health crisis, I looked up into my bedroom closet and spotted an old box of yarn and knitting needles.

It was a relic from one of the many times my grandmother had tried to teach and inspire me years prior.

I didn’t know what to do with myself, my life, or the growing existential dread, but I decided I could probably learn how to knit. I pulled out a santa-red yarn and a set of needles, brought up an online tutorial, and I started.

The first thing I knit was just that: a thing I knit. It was full of holes and was wonky-shaped (a bookmark as many first projects have been lovingly called in the retreat workshops), but it unknowingly introduced me to a mental health tool that would slowly help heal and change my life.

Over the last year, introducing the Learn to Knit workshop at the retreat has led to countless wholesome yarns. I wasn’t anticipating how much knitting would be a thread through peoples’ lives, how many people connected to their families and ancestors through picking up some yarn and a pair of needles again. Other brave beginners encountered the often distressing act of learning a new skill as an adult, going through the journey of feeling like a failure to realising they’ve successfully knit their first row. Not everyone connected with it, some surrendering their needles with a smile on their face for having tried, others joking that their attempts contributed to rather than helped their mental health.

Every single guest’s journey was different, with some even being disappointed the better they got at it, preferring the individuality of their misshapen, hole-ridden original to their gradually improving copies.

At times I didn’t know how to help when people got triggered by struggling to learn a new skill, but I always tried to bring people back to three central knitting philosophies that has made it so transformational in my own life:

1. Knitting is a journey, not a destination
2. Every single project is created one stitch at a time
3. Unravelling is always an option

These philosophies transformed the workshop from an intimidating task that must be done in a certain way, to a process and space we could all enjoy.

It turns out, the workshops haven’t really been about the yarn, but how much the activity brings people together to hold space for something new to connect with. Much like the knitting journey, the rows we knit were simply a happy outcome to an otherwise much more important process.

Seven years on, I still knit almost every day and it’s my go to activity when I need to rest or find my centre again. I feel so lucky to have been able to share my love of knitting with so many guests that have come through our gates—sharing the magic of some good yarn and starting on a new knitting journey together, one stitch at a time.

Lately, I have been having a lot of conversations around connection and authentic, in-person, type connection, with the desire for belonging, togetherness, community, people to do life with often being voiced.

I think for many of us, there have been seasons of feeling lonely, disconnected, on the outside. I know I have had times of wondering where I fit, if I fit, how to fit and had a fair ol’ journey in search for belonging and for a long time wanted to feel a sense of community, to feel a part of something.

Thankfully I got to experience what a difference it makes when that begins to change.

When you find yourself in spaces where you can exhale and slow down, where you can take the masks off, where conversation flows easily, where people are open, warm and real, where you belong just as you are.

Belonging is such a beautiful feeling and I love it when people start finding it for themselves. It’s not just a nice-to-have, it is one of the most basic needs we have, to feel included, to feel seen, to matter.

In a world that can feel fast, disconnected and heavily lived online, I keep coming back to the gold in real-life gathering – to the simple nourishment of body, heart, soul, mind and spirit. Food, conversation, slowing down, sharing stories, fully listening, being present, laughing, finding commonalities, shared passions, interests. Togetherness.

To me, this is how community is nurtured, through the small, meaningful moments that stitch by stitch weave that golden thread. Gatherings like this can also help make communities stronger. When people know each other, when they have shared space, shared stories, shared meals, something shifts. Trust begins to grow. Familiarity grows. Care grows. Resilience grows. The fabric of community becomes stronger because people are no longer just living near one another, they are beginning to know one another.

That is the heart behind Long Table Dinners, an invitation back to conversation, to belonging to the sitting around a table and remembering what it feels like to be human together.

If you’ve been wanting more real-life connection in your world, this is for you! And if you’re in a position to give a little more, there’ll also be an option to pay a spot forward for someone else in the community.

Come join us as we share a meal and begin weaving a golden thread of connection through our community.

Get your ticket here