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  5. Unite, to ignite the hope – Sharing the FLO of life in Rarotonga

Unite, to ignite the hope – Sharing the FLO of life in Rarotonga

During the month of July 2017, the FLO team were warmly hosted by the Cook Islands’ Ministry of Health, to share and deliver our FLO Talanoa suicide prevention education workshop.  As part of the Cook Islands Annual Mental Health stakeholders meeting, the Secretary of Health, Elizabeth Iro and her team arranged for the inclusion of FLO Talanoa to be presented during this inaugural meeting.   

A second FLO Talanoa workshop was organised and hosted by the local community of Panama, Nikau, Rarotonga – this workshop was led by one of our very own FLO Talanoa trained facilitators, Moana Manuela-Ngaata.   

Both groups were able to identify warning signs relating to suicidal behaviour and had in depth conversations about the strengths and the stressors within their culture, that potentially impact on a person’s wellbeing.

This was Le Va’s second international delivery of the FLO Talanoa workshop and the feedback suggests that the content resonated with the people of Rarotonga. Check out our video from the workshops here.

Some feedback from the workshops included:

“This has been a very informative workshop. The power-points & videos were excellent. The speakers were very confident in their presentations – they know what they are talking about. Post suicide maybe a good idea to hear from parents/siblings/friends of victims.”

“I want this workshop to be taken to the outer Islands in the Cook Islands and be told into community and social organisations. Keep up the awesome work.”

“Excellent workshop – would recommend delivering this session to youth in school and to the community where the problem is and sharing the Brave tool to teach parents/family and friends for ongoing support to reduce suicide in the Cook Islands.”

“Aunty Dee app sounds wonderful, it would be good to have it running here in the Cooks.”

“The workshop was very informative and further enhances my knowledge of suicide mental health and (I) have learnt the tools of preventing suicide in young people etc.”

Workshop One

Workshop Two

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Covid-19 Update

Face-to-face workshops will not continue while New Zealand is at Level 4. We will be in contact with all participants soon.