Latest news with #IAmHope
Scoop
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Fleetwood Mac Tribute Tour Hits The Right Note For Youth Mental Health
Australian singer-songwriter Bloom, one of the country's most powerful vocalists, is bringing her acclaimed show Seventh Wonder Performs Fleetwood Mac to New Zealand this September — and this time, it's for a cause close to home. Teaming up with mental health charity I Am Hope, the tour will raise funds and awareness for Gumboot Friday, the charity's free youth counselling programme. Donation points will be available at all shows, with fundraising also happening online via Givealittle. "We're proud to be backing this tour — and even prouder of the heart behind it," says Mike King, founder of I Am Hope. 'Bloom isn't just one of the best voices you'll hear live — she's someone who truly understands the power of using your platform for good. She's showing up for our young people in a way that's real, generous, and community-led. We hope Kiwis support her the same way she's supporting us.' Best known for her powerhouse tributes to Adele, Stevie Nicks and Amy Winehouse, Bloom has sold out theatres across Australia and earned the praise of Mick Fleetwood himself, who called her performance 'spooky good.' Behind the music, Bloom uses her platform for good — having raised more than $30,000 for Parkinson's disease and shining a light on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 'As an artist, I've seen how music can heal—and teaming up with I Am Hope lets us turn that connection into real support for young people who need it most.' Bloom, front woman of Seventh Wonder. Managed by Dennis Dunstan, former co-manager of Fleetwood Mac, Bloom will perform a six-stop NZ tour with her band, Seventh Wonder, from 12–20 September. A special guest appearance from Mike King is also on the cards, with final show details to be announced soon. Tickets are available now at: Givealittle page: NZ Tour Dates:
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Risks identified with Gumboot Friday's 'fee-for-service' model
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says the programme is meeting expectations. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Gumboot Friday's youth counselling initiative has had its $6m annual contract renewed , despite health officials identifying ongoing risks that practitioners could bill for services of poor quality or not delivered. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the programme was meeting expectations, with more than 10,000 young people receiving free counselling in its first year, and the government was "backing Gumboot Friday to deliver more". A partially-redacted briefing to the Minister dated 30 May, released by the Health Ministry on Wednesday - along with [ other documents - noted "ongoing risk through this arrangement that practitioners invoice I Am Hope for services and do not deliver them". Some sections of the document were blanked out, citing the need to preserve "confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers and officials". The briefing - which recommended the contract be renewed with some changes - noted the risk of non-delivery was no different to other "fee for service" arrangements. It said the charity had "significantly improved and streamlined some of its processes since the contract was developed". These included spot checking, auditing, client surveys and an electronic system to pick up "any unusual invoicing". "To date, I Am Hope [the parent charity of Gumboot Friday] has identified two practitioners that have departed from the agreed procedures and has removed them from the platform." In total there were more than 700 qualified counsellors registered on the platform. In the same section, entitled "Delivery Risks", Health Ministry officials wrote there was also a risk that Gumboot Friday's practitioners could "act unprofessionally" or fail to deliver quality service. A Ministry of Health weekly report said I Am Hope had "enhanced" its vetting process to include mandatory police checks for all practitioners registered before October 2024, and updated its Practitioner (Policies) Handbook in March. The charity now used CV Checker to speed up its verification process, but had limited ability to "scrutinise practice" since client and practitioner sessions had to remain private and confidential. All practitioners were members of professional associations, and the Ministry had not been advised of any complaints to date. Gumboot Friday and I Am Hope were working on evaluations of service delivery and the experiences of young people, while the Ministry was preparing an evaluation framework. In a preface to the documents, the Health Ministry said demographic information from I Am Hope's platform may have produced "potential double counting" of clients, as individuals reappeared across months. "It nevertheless provides additional information about the groups that are engaged in Gumboot Friday." The 30 May briefing said the Gumboot Friday service was "operationally different" to the original design. It recommended some changes to the contract, including increasing the number of sessions and clients, and removing some performance measures "which divert resources and create barriers to maximum performance". The officials advocated for scrapping the monthly limit of $500,000 (to allow for higher demand in some months) and current measures of reporting on wait times, which were not being consistently recorded as some young people contacted counsellors directly rather than going through the website. The original contract required Gumboot Friday to ensure most people could receive services "within 24 to 48 hours of seeking support with 3 to 5 days as a maximum wait time for the first meeting with the person" and provide monthly reporting of wait times. The latest report showed the average wait time for young people across January and February this year was 9.04 days, with 186 young people waiting more than five days. That was up from 5.78 days in November and December. "This increase was in part due to the holiday period in January 2025, however, the longer wait times persisted into February. I Am Hope has highlighted to practitioners the importance of responding promptly to service requests." The briefing also suggested the government could consider funding emergency and crisis referrals, and providing more cash to support evaluation and "verification activities".
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Gumboot Friday founder says measure of success is young people getting help fast
Mike King says in the last year no child who had asked for a counselling session via Gumboot Friday had missed out. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly The founder of Gumboot Friday's youth counselling initiative Mike King says the service is meeting demand and all young people who are coming through are getting sessions in an appropriate time frame. Gumboot Friday has had a green light for its second year of funding but has had its targets increased after meeting the minimum numbers set for its first year. In the first 12 months it has delivered 30,000 sessions for 10,000 young people, that target will go up to 40,000 sessions for 15,000 people. It now has 700 counsellors, which is a 33 percent increase over the last year. The government had announced the I Am Hope foundation (the parent charity of Gumboot Friday) would receive $6 million a year for four years to provide counselling services to five- to 25-year-olds, as part of the coalition agreement. Last year the process by which the charity was awarded funding came under scrutiny by the auditor-general who said the way the decision came about was "unusual and inconsistent". But Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has backed the charity saying it is helping thousands of young people get access to support faster. King said the young people getting help fast was his measure of success. Talking to RNZ's Checkpoint King said that this year all the children who had have asked for a session were seen in a timely fashion. He said no one missed out on counselling sessions. Currently Gumboot Friday has got 742 counsellors on its books according to King, and another 70-odd were going through CV check. He clarified that Gumboot Friday was a voluntary service, not a service provider. "We provide a platform which connects young people in need of counselling, who would like counselling with professionals who can provide counselling. "And we are meeting the demand, so everyone who's coming through is getting the sessions in the appropriate amount of time." On average Gumboot Friday provided three and a half sessions per young person, King said. If a young person needed more counselling sessions, the counsellor could reapply and Gumboot Friday would provide them with extra sessions, he said. King rejected the assertion that children could only receive a maximum of four counselling sessions through the programme. "If any counsellor comes to us and says they have a young person in need, on a case-by-case basis they will be granted extra sessions." Previously many young people could only get a counselling session if they were in crisis, which was often too late, he said. "We are an early intervention system where young people can voluntarily come forward and talk about a little problem before it becomes a big problem, before it becomes a suicidal thought," King said. "However, if a young person comes to us in crisis and they need extra care, they reach out to us and we will pathway them to crisis teams and crisis mental health where and when it is needed." King told Checkpoint that no other mental health service organisations in New Zealand delivered the same breadth of counselling services for anyone aged from five to 25 and gave "100 percent of the government funding to the counsellors" while covering the other costs themselves. "So yes I am comfortable that we do this better than anyone else out there." The minister has set a target for the next year for Gumboot Friday to organise 40,000 sessions for 15,000 people in the next 12 months. Asked whether Gumboot Friday would be able to meet the minister's new target, King said "target schmarget, we will meet the demand". King was confident that young people who came forward for counselling sessions would get them. "I have said to the minister we will meet the target of any young person coming into our service up to $6 million a year." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Mike King's Gumboot Friday charity gets fresh government funding
Controversial charity Gumboot Friday will continue to receive government funding through to 2026. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the initiative was helping thousands of young people access mental health support faster. He said New Zealand was "turning the corner with reducing wait times and increasing the workforce". "There are not many organisations that can get our young people off waitlists into counselling often within just a few days," he said. "The government is backing Gumboot Friday to deliver more. Funding for 2025/26 will deliver 40,000 individual counselling sessions, reaching as many as 15,000 young New Zealanders. "Over the next 12 months, the organisation will be looking at how it can scale up and encourage even more young people to access free counselling." The government last year committed $24 million over four years to the Gumboot Friday initiative, which was founded by mental health advocate Mike King. That was despite pressure from Labour at the time, who called on the government to pause its funding of I Am Hope/Gumboot Friday following King's controversial comments on alcohol. "Alcohol is not a problem for people with mental health issues. It's actually the solution to our problem, until you come up with a better solution," King said at the time. The Drug Foundation rejected that, saying alcohol was "really unhelpful during times of mental distress". In November last year Doocey responded, saying while he disagreed King was entitled to have his own opinion on alcohol's association with mental health, and he would not be asking the advocate to rein in his comments. On Thursday, Doocey said in the first 12 months of government funding, Gumboot Friday had been able to deliver more than 30,000 free counselling sessions. "They have supported more than 10,000 young New Zealanders who might not otherwise have access to timely support. The counselling service's procurement process had run into difficulties before. Last October, the auditor-general criticised the government's "unusual and inconsistent" process in giving $24 million to King's initiative. The government had announced the I Am Hope foundation would receive $6m a year for four years to provide counselling services to five- to 25-year-olds, as part of the coalition agreement. But RNZ revealed health officials had struggled to find a way to make the contract compliant with public procurement rules, and ended up invoking a special 'opt-out' clause. Auditor-General John Ryan wrote to the director-general of health then, saying the process was "unusual and inconsistent".
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Controversial charity gets fresh government funding
Controversial charity Gumboot Friday will continue to receive government funding through to 2026. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the initiative was helping thousands of young people access mental health support faster. He said New Zealand was "turning the corner with reducing wait times and increasing the workforce". "There are not many organisations that can get our young people off waitlists into counselling often within just a few days," he said. "The government is backing Gumboot Friday to deliver more. Funding for 2025/26 will deliver 40,000 individual counselling sessions, reaching as many as 15,000 young New Zealanders. "Over the next 12 months, the organisation will be looking at how it can scale up and encourage even more young people to access free counselling." The government last year committed $24 million over four years to the Gumboot Friday initiative, which was founded by mental health advocate Mike King. That was despite pressure from Labour at the time, who called on the government to pause its funding of I Am Hope/Gumboot Friday following King's controversial comments on alcohol. "Alcohol is not a problem for people with mental health issues. It's actually the solution to our problem, until you come up with a better solution," King said at the time. The Drug Foundation rejected that, saying alcohol was "really unhelpful during times of mental distress". In November last year Doocey responded, saying while he disagreed King was entitled to have his own opinion on alcohol's association with mental health, and he would not be asking the advocate to rein in his comments. On Thursday, Doocey said in the first 12 months of government funding, Gumboot Friday had been able to deliver more than 30,000 free counselling sessions. "They have supported more than 10,000 young New Zealanders who might not otherwise have access to timely support. The counselling service's procurement process had run into difficulties before. Last October, the auditor-general criticised the government's "unusual and inconsistent" process in giving $24 million to King's initiative. The government had announced the I Am Hope foundation would receive $6m a year for four years to provide counselling services to five- to 25-year-olds, as part of the coalition agreement. But RNZ revealed health officials had struggled to find a way to make the contract compliant with public procurement rules, and ended up invoking a special 'opt-out' clause. Auditor-General John Ryan wrote to the director-general of health then, saying the process was "unusual and inconsistent".
