15 Comments
9 hrs agoLiked by Mountain Tui

Another thing I found disturbing with Gumboot /I am Hope is that people only get 1 counselling session. Very very really do they get 2. Also a large percentage of their counsellors are not qualified or even working towards being qualified. Which is a huge red flag.

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So it gets worse and worse, That is beyond frustrating.

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I've said it before, but I will repeat myself until hell freezes over Mike King as a depressive deserves all the expertise and qualified help he can get in his journey to wellness, but he is completely THE WRONG PERSON to be a spokesperson for anything regarding mental well being. And this government along with the last have massaged his ego into believing he has anything to say that is worth listening to. To put it bluntly the man is a grifter.

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And it begs the question of why the government would break multiple procurement and contract processes to give it to someone like this.

I assume he's good at getting publicity and National ALWAYS rewards their donors with taxpayer funds?

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6 hrs agoLiked by Mountain Tui

Sounds like Mike King is the Gumboot

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With money and donations to National, you too can get $24mn of limited mental health funding and pay only half to counsellors.

Also no second appointments - that's too hard.

And make sure the counsellors aren't qualified.

I'm disgusted.

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7 hrs agoLiked by Mountain Tui

Maybe instead of drugs and alcohol we as a society gave them some love and affection

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That magic trick works every time John. It's everything. Too bad a mental health supposed leader doesn't understand the keys of listening, support and love.

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Thanks for writing this Tui. Mike certainly has been invested in trying to make a difference, but to me it appears he has developed a clay heart from taking on all of the anguish of the people left behind. He needs to step aside from this role as it is too much weight to bare. The name I am hope should be instructive, it is us in the community that needs to step up, not an individual. As for hope;

“In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits

More love now, less hoping for love later.

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Sometimes I’m floored by the good people I see. Thank you for your comment Dave. It’s beautiful.

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8 hrs agoLiked by Mountain Tui

This guy. This government. Archaic cronyism. Lining their own pockets. Zero evidence based. Zero understanding of the problem. He did some great highlighting the problem but should not be let anywhere near actual programmes and public money..

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And after what I learned in the comments - you are spot on. It makes it so much worse. Nothing they do shows any genuine care for anything other than .. their interests.

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Never mind the 'dubious' funding, what about the value of services they deliver with that funding (not talking about their self-reporting).

https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/1cyixyz/why_the_24m_handout_to_gumboot_fridayi_am_hope/

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WOW That is quite disgusting Robin. Luxon only cares about outcomes for his opponents

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