Suicide Prevention Awareness

Hi, my name is Georgia Manera and I am running the Auckland Half Marathon in order to raise awareness and break the negative stigma surrounding suicide in New Zealand.

I was first exposed to the issue of suicide as a child when my Mother’s cousin took his own life. I was too young to understand what it meant.

Fast forward a few years to age 18 when I was next affected by suicide, this time it was a close friend of my brother.

A couple years later and it was again my family that lost a beautiful soul, Kodi. Kodi was our handsome, outgoing, sporty and intelligent cousin at the tender age of 14 when he lost his life to suicide last July. Not so long after, this year in April, I lost a mate to suicide, he was only 22. And just this week, another family member has sadly passed due to suicide.

I have felt first hand what it is like to lose someone to suicide, and I have seen the effects it has on whanau and entire communities.

We need to break this negative stigma, we need to be able to speak up and know that we aren’t alone.

I have chosen Life Matters Prevention Suicide Trust to donate my funds to.

They offer safeTALK suicide prevention workshops, provide bereavement support in the form of online private groups (nationwide and international) and also a group that meets monthly in Dunedin. The Trust also organises many events such as the HopeWalk and others during International Suicide Prevention Day, all promoting that WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER! They recently delivered a petition to Parliament to ask for an inquiry into mental health services and are strong advocates for people who struggle to access help.

All of their work is done free of charge to our communities and they do this along side working full daytime jobs! But more funding is always required to be able to continue to provide these incredible services and expand into more communities.

So please any donation, little or big will make a huge difference in helping spread the awareness.

606 people died by suicide in New Zealand in the 2016/17 year according to provisional annual figures from the Office of the Chief Coroner. One death is too many.

Love your mates, speak up, reach out and lets break this cycle.

Thank you in advance,

Georgia