Weaving our way to prevent suicide

Le Va leads New Zealand’s first national Pasifika Suicide Prevention Programme – ‘FLO: Pasifika for Life’.  One component of our FLO programme is supporting local grass roots initiatives and leaders to deliver suicide prevention projects from within their own communities. This way we are supporting Pasifika families and communities to develop and enhance their own capacity and capability to prevent suicide and to respond safely and effectively when, and if, suicide occurs.  

In 2014 we launched a one-off Community Fund that resourced and supported 17 Pasifika community projects under the Waka Hourua Maori and Pacific suicide prevention national programme that we deliver with Te Rau Matatini.   

We’re delighted to report that all 17 projects are now complete. During the process we’ve been providing clinical and operational support, as well as resources to the projects to ensure they are well supported but also to grow capacity and capability of our community leadership for preventing suicide. We have now collected and collated the invaluable information they have provided to produce summary reports capturing the unique journeys and highlighting the strengths and successful outcomes each initiative has produced for their communities.  

The purpose of the summary reports are to acknowledge and showcase their good work, and to provide evidence of the impact that community based initiatives can have on the prevention of suicide.  This information can also be used to inform future planning and funding of community-based suicide prevention programmes for our Pasifika families and communities. All reports, and an overarching summary will be available in June.

Weaving our way 

The artwork on the cover page of each report depicts the process which the community funded initiatives have been carried out – a process of planting, gathering, and weaving.

Weaving is a profound metaphor for the workings of the community itself and of how and where the initiative is placed within it. It is used here to represent the way in which each initiative has been carefully crafted, the way in which each initiative has wound through and strengthened the community, and the way in which each initiative has been woven together with other initiatives to achieve the overall aims of the community funded initiatives programme. Every thread is vital; every person, every connection, and every idea.

Although each initiative is unique – utilising unique approaches and incorporating unique perspectives – collectively, these initiatives have generated a vast body of shared knowledge, focused on the common goal of suicide prevention. These initiatives have enabled us to bring together learnings from diverse communities, and to communicate these learnings through a range of resources.  The process through which they were carried out allowed for uniqueness and diversity to be woven together in a way that acknowledged each strand, while creating a beautiful, valuable whole.

The plantation represents the way in which the initiatives have managed to sow seeds, nurture growth, and cultivate communities through their activities.

The basket depicts the way in which the initiatives have harvested the rewards of their activities, gathering knowledge, tools, resources, and leadership expertise to ensure the prevention of suicide is sustained.