Will you pay for a ride-share taxi so a former refugee can get to her mental health appointment?

Please donate today and help vulnerable people from refugee backgrounds access mental health support, right here in Auckland!

Mima* is 68 years’ old. While Mima was in her home country, she was tortured, an experience that's left her with pain in her legs and nightmares that wake her up most nights. Her body aches and she’s constantly exhausted from stress and lack of sleep.

A few months ago, Mima started to visit a RASNZ Psychiatrist, who prescribed medication to help her sleep and manage her pain. She also receives Body Therapy to improve her physical mobility. Mima tells us treatment has changed her life, giving her more energy to focus on her elderly husband and her beloved veggie garden.

RASNZ doesn't usually provide transport for clients. Wherever possible, our clinicians visit people in the community – either in their own homes or at nearby community spaces. For Body Therapy and Psychiatry appointments, which must take place at our Onehunga clinic, clients generally drive themselves, take the train, or ask family members to transport them.

However, for a very small number of clients – like Mima – these options aren’t viable. So to make sure that this simple barrier doesn't stop people from accessing the support they so desperately need, we book ride-share taxis to collect clients and take them home again after their appointments. But we're running out of residual funds.

That's why we’re asking YOU to donate today and help us raise the $7,000 it will likely cost us over the next 12 months to provide ride-share taxis for high-needs clients. This equates to around 2-3 people each week; people like Mima.

Clients who rely on ride-share taxis can be:

• Elderly;

• Physically disabled;

• Visually impaired; and/or

• Very low-income and living far from Onehunga

RASNZ provides mental health and wellbeing support to former refugees living in Auckland. Our clients are people who have experienced humanity at its worst - they've survived war, violence and sometimes even torture over the course of their journey to New Zealand. As a charity, we've been paying for ride-share taxis for high-needs clients out of our residual funds...but these funds are running out.

Sadly, this could mean that clients like Mima* won’t be able to access our clinic.

The average cost of a single round-trip ride is $50, but anything you can give will be hugely appreciated!

*Mima's name has been changed in order to protect her privacy.