Programmes We Fund

The funds raised through the 2010 Movember campaign have been used to significantly increase awareness of men’s depression through the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand’s ‘Out of the Blue’ campaign. The following projects have been funded by the 2010 Movember campaign.



Examples of Movember Funded Programs

Programme 1: The Nutters Club
The Nutters Club is the brain child of New Zealand entertainer and comedian Mike King. It is an innovative non-conventional approach to helping people with mental health conditions and has been recognised with awards for playing a major public role in de-stigmatising mental illness. The Nutters Club deals with all the tough issues associated with mental illness like: bi-polar, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, suicide, and alcohol and drug addiction.



Its purpose is “Nutter’s helping other Nutter’s live at peace with themselves and others, so that we can all lead meaningful lives.”

The Nutters Club radio show was a finalist in the 2010 New Zealand radio awards. The show is 4 hours of nationally broadcast talk back radio every Sunday night. Our “Certified Nut” comedian Mike King is the show’s host. Mike is ably assisted by “Certified Nutcracker” Dr David Codyre.

For more on the radio show click here

Highlights from the radio show are edited and formatted into a half hour show to create the television series. In 2010 12 episodes were initially commissioned. The series was so positively received that another 3 programmes were specially requested. In 2011 20 programmes have been commissioned including an hour long special with former All Black legend John Kirwan.

View the television series online click here

As a support resource The Nutters Club has fostered a burgeoning online Facebook community with just on 4,000 members and all back episodes of the radio show are available on i-tunes. The Nutters Club is also on Twitter and has its own YouTube channel which can be found here



Programme 2: SONZ - Sons of New Zealand
The issue of rural isolation can at times be overwhelming especially for families with wayward young boys. In addition rural communities are often forgotten when it comes to allocating resources. SONZ is a rural based “whanau ora” – family well-being programme; targeting wayward Maori youth. It uses marae based activities and sport as vehicles to engage with young adolescent Maori males. “SONZ” was chosen as the name to positively identify to the roles and relationships for Tane (male) Maori.

Tane Maori are over represented in all the worst social statistics for mental health and far too many other social ills. It is the aim of SONZ to set about affecting positive social change in the far north by providing a physical, mental, spiritual, culturally safe and inspiring opportunity for rangitahi (Maori Youth). SONZ takes a holistic approach to well-being. It is not only for the boys, but also for parents, guardians, and other adults who may contribute to these boys development. SONZ actively involves & encourage adults into the program to extend their life skills. They have found this works best because it bridges the parent/adolescent gaps by having a third party role model for both the boys and their parents.



Programme 3: Framework Indoor Soccer League
The program brings Mental Health Service users across Auckland together to play in four – 8 week tournaments over throughout the year. It has been an overwhelming success with up to 20 teams taking part.



The programme promotes regular physical activity and social networking opportunities for participants and their support workers. Social exclusion is often a major barrier for people with Mental Illness and sport is a great way to help Mental Health Service users get out and about.



Programme 4: “Your Story”
Through Movember funding “Your Story” is supported by Radio Live and The Sunday News. It is a short story writing competition that asks readers to tell their own story about how they have battled or are battling depression, addiction or any other mental illness. Your story runs for the four weeks immediately preceding Mental Awareness Week in October and has proven to be a very cathartic outlet for those with mental illness and very insightful for those supporting people with mental health issues. The judges were former All Black John Kirwan and New Zealand’s Mike King. Both John & Mike have overcome experiences with mental illness.



Programme 5: Christchurch Men’s Centre
The Mental Health Foundation works very closely with a number of organisations in Christchurch. While the Christchurch Men’s Centre lost its offices during the earthquakes it has not stopped the centre providing help to Men in need of support. A major project the Centre has undertaken is the publication of a one stop guide to support services in Canterbury - “Blokes Book.” 20,000 copies have been produced and we are funding distribution of the booklet in Christchurch.





Programme 6: Father & Child

Father & Child was created to provide support for Dads and kids. Married dads, solo dads, teen dads, divorced and separated dads - how do you cope and what do you do? What do you do if your partner/wife has post natal depression or you yourself find yourself feeling depressed following the birth of your child?

Father & Child is a support group run by men who care and is there to help Dads cope and care for their children. Their mission is to provide fathers and their families with help, information and support and to improve fathers’ access to family services. A new father may find himself unable to relate properly to his baby (even if he has had children before), become negligent about work commitments, be irritable, delay coming home from work, seek more solitude than usual, feel guilty about his small contribution, feel superfluous within the mother-baby harmony and even withdraw socially – any of these symptoms can indicate that adjustment problems have developed into depression. Funding will be used to support the work of Father & Child in the area of post-natal depression from a Dad’s perspective.