Whakatāne role model Luke Gray earns local hero award
12 Jan, 2021 08:46 PM
3 minutes to read
Bay of Plenty District Health Board occupational therapist Luke Gray received Kiwibank Local Hero of the Year Award - Te Pou Toko o te Tau. Photo / Supplied
Bay of Plenty District Health Board occupational therapist Luke Gray received Kiwibank Local Hero of the Year Award - Te Pou Toko o te Tau. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua Daily Post
Luke Gray has been recognised as a local hero for his work supporting young people s mental health in his Whakatāne community.
The Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) occupational therapist Luke said he was honoured and humbled to receive a prestigious Kiwibank Local Hero of the Year Award - Te Pou Toko o te Tau.
Mental health services urgently needed in Canterbury, BOP - therapist Jean Bell
A Whakatāne therapist says the Whakaari eruption and Christchurch mosque shooting reveal a health system unable to deal with mass casualty events.
This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury and the Bay of Plenty.
Irene Begg, a trauma counsellor based near Whakatāne, was involved in the mental health response to the Whakaari eruption and the Christchurch mosque shooting.
She said the same problems of people suffering from vicarious trauma, struggling access to access funded mental health support, have cropped up in both tragedies, while hospital workers and emergency service staff could access counselling through their employer.
Whakaari after its eruption in 2019.
Photo: Supplied/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust
This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury and the Bay of Plenty.
Irene Begg, a trauma counsellor based near Whakatāne, was involved in the mental health response to the Whakaari eruption and the Christchurch mosque shooting.
She said the same problems of people suffering from vicarious trauma, struggling access to access funded mental health support, have cropped up in both tragedies, while hospital workers and emergency service staff could access counselling through their employer.
ACC only covered work-related mental injury and mental injury that was the result of a physical injury. Extended family members were not covered for funded counselling.